Oh no! The king of the realm needs you to save the princess from the evil clutches of the Dark Knight! Go figure, right? Wind-up Knight is a mobile run and jump adventure very similar to Canabalt HD except you get a fancy sword and armor to fight enemies while dodging traps to make your way to the princess. Convenient items in adventuring, yes, but it won't save you when the Dark Knight starts getting really serious about stopping you. A knight's mettle will never be more tested and neither shall your timing skills as pits, enemies, and environmental dangers stand in your way.
All your little toy knight's actions like shielding, jumping, rolling, etc. are activated by using the virtual buttons on your device's touch screen. Run through grabbing coins and finding hidden cards to get secret items and notes (a.k.a. money) to spend on new levels and items. The knight runs along the level automatically but needs to keep grabbing wind-up tools to continue chugging along, so the timing of your actions is important. The journey only gets harder as you complete more of the 52 levels, but fear not, for your reflexes and timing will be well trained to handle anything. Plus, you will repeat levels a lot because it is very easy to fail. Trust me.
Wind-up Knight improves upon the genre standard with more complex obstacles and added combat mechanics other similar games generally lack. The challenge level is also quite high, as you must collect almost all of the notes to unlock new levels. It's tempting to give into the in-app purchasing system just so you can see more of what the game has to offer. If you're serious about perfecting a great arcade game, or you just want a challenging distraction for the long bus ride, don't hesitate to grab Wind-up Knight so you, too, can show that Dark Knight who is boss. Just don't get burned, stabbed, bitten, drowned, impaled, scratched, or crushed in the process!
NOTE: This game was played and reviewed on a iPod Touch. Game was available in the North American market at the time of publication, but may not be available in other territories. Please see individual app market pages for purchasing info.
I've had this game on my Android for quite some time now. It's incredibly fun and addicting. Like most run-and-jump games, it comes down to memorizing the levels and knowing exactly when to jump, roll, or fight (and when not to). One aspect that I like about this one is the hidden cards that you find in each level. Some are obvious, some are devious! One major drawback I have to the game is that even though the developers stated that you can complete the entire game without spending any real-life money, there is constant requests for you to purchase in-game credits. My only suggestion if you go the don't-ever-spend-any-real-money route is that you don't get any of the shop items (swords, shields, etc.) unless you absolutely need it to get through a level. I think many of the items are just there so you waste your in-game money and must resort to purchasing more with real money so you can unlock all the levels. Once the final book is unlocked you can begin purchasing all the "fluff" items in the store.
Ultimately, this is an extremely enjoyable game. If your phone can run it. (I guess most phones nowadays probably can. Back when it first came out, though, it was rather "high end.")
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