Review: Muffin Knight
Muffin Knight (also available as a free version) is a polished, fun, and often intense arena-based arcade platformer.
Gameplay consists of running and jumping around a somewhat small arena, dodging and shooting enemies, and collecting muffins to increase your experience. Collecting experience allows you to level up your attacks, unlock new stages, and gain new power ups.
The stages are presented in a 2.5D style that is somewhat reminiscent of the Super Smash Brothers series, with gameplay strongly inspired by indie classic Super Crate Box. But similarities granted, Muffin Knight is no mere Vlambeer game clone – this game expands and enhances the original formula with a rock solid presentation and a unique power-up system.
Ahh yes, the power-up system. This brings us to Muffin Knightâs most interesting aspect. Every time you collect a muffin, your character changes attacks and abilities. One minute youâre an archer with a powerful ranged attack, the next minute you could be a panda with a high jump and body slam, or a gnome with a short-range shotgun attack. Or a unicorn that craps exploding rainbows⦠didnât want to forget that one. This variety makes for a level of unpredictability, which makes the game much more entertaining. Youâll love some characters and hate others, but the time spent mastering each of them further keeps the game from ever really growing stale.
Add boss fights, multiplayer, achievements, and ability leveling to the in-built variety of character switching, and you can get a feel for just how much this game expands on its basic formula. The basic gameplay is addicting enough to bring you back for more rounds, and the expansiveness and variety of content keeps those rounds from getting too repetitive.
Muffin Knight hits all of the features youâd want in a truly classic iOS game. Universal compatibility, smooth framerate, multiplayer (online and local, battle and co-op), achievements, leaderboards, great voice acting, perfectly appropriate music, beautiful graphics, excellent controller support with both Standard and Extended controllers. Everything here just feels polished. There arenât any rough edges – this is just a premium quality experience through and through.
Muffin Knight, through relentlessly polishing and expanding a solid foundation, manages to earn a place as a truly classic iOS game, and a strong recommendation for anyone with a game controller.