Written by Thomas G.J. Sharpe
The first thing that hits you (especially if you’re from the
UK) is Brian Blessed’s cataclysmic voice. Yes, once again the shrinking violet
Brian Blessed, man mountain who mans mountains, has hit the video game voice
over scene. It is no surprise that Blessed ended up in this sphere with such a
characterful and entertaining voice. His video game credits are now rather
lengthy, from movie tie-ins to some real classics like the equally colon-stricken
Kingdom Come: Deliverance. While not seal of quality, Blessed is a
strong selling point, and his performance makes the expository dialogue
sequence bearable. The story is that Camelot is flung into a void as a
shattered landmass floating in a crack in reality (sort of like Loop Hero,
I understood), which sets up King Arthur as our player character, aided by
Merlin (played by Blessed) in a quest to bring the whole situation back to
reality. This is an effective set up for the style of game chosen, given that
the different “biomes” that one has to battle through can be visualised as
separated islands or areas in this floating void. The “hub” of the destroyed
Camelot is set up as a place to pick loadouts, spend found currency and
aesthetically develop.
If you’re familiar with Cult of the Lamb, Hades,
or Enter the Gungeon (to pick a few notable titles), you already have
the measure of this. As Arthur picks his base abilities, representing the
styles of the other knights of the Round Table, you battle through a series of
areas and then a boss. Each time you fail, you gain more experience of how to
fight mechanically, but also develop your power and tools at the hub. There is
a little flexibility with play style, but it feels somewhat restrictive because
of the awkward controls in combat. I never felt a sparky cohesion of responsive
control and hitbox management. Things just never felt connected to me. Due to
this, I favoured the direct, melee fighting styles rather than the ranged
attacks (I recall similar issues with Cult of the Lamb, causing me to
feel unsatisfied before too long). Adding into this problem is the animations
of the player character and the mobs are all “marionette” style, that have
always felt quite unnatural and give vague visual cues about movement and
perspective.
To follow this line of weakness, there are a mixture of art
styles across this game that became distracting. While not unattractive, there
feels a lack of singular purpose to it aesthetically. This is not, however, and
unfun world to be in. There are lashings of humour, a positive charm, a good
deal of decent dialogue, with some of it quite well and spiritedly voiced.
Please, do not go rabbiting for any interesting Arthurian interpretation. There
is artistic licence being taken everywhere, and this is not a criticism unto
itself, but just a warning if you were looking for a slick reinterpretation of
the ol’ legends.
Where Knight vs Giant really succeeds is not
necessarily in the “knight” bit, but the “giant” part (the Chibi style of the
Arthur player model is particularly and irritatingly out of step with all the
other characters). The hulking bosses are wonderfully realised and are
consistently the best bit of the actual gameplay. They are a fun mash-up of garish
Eldritch and Kingdom Rush cute, leaving most of the rest of the enemy
design in the dust. These are great moments that do some of the heavy lifting
to keep the game afloat after hitting the same, quickly tired, areas again and
again.
If Hades was a bit mawkish and Cult of the Lamb a
bit Hot Topic for you, you could do well with this. Getting in and out of runs
was a bit laborious for me, the execution a little clumsy, but still has a
decent bit of fun to be had. Flawed, but not forlorn.
Overall - 6/10
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