Controls smash!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/24402
FlingSmash, oddly, reminds me a lot more of Yoshi's Island than anything else. The story and map design involve an island, which is presented much like it is in Nintendo's seminal Super Nintendo classic and its DS sequel. The levels are generally easy until you try to get 100 percent on a level by collecting the five medals, different power-ups, gems, and more. The comparison to Yoshi's Island isn't that out there, especially since developer Artoon was behind the DS version. Unfortunately, FlingSmash is based around a control method that is cool in theory, but ultimately fails, as the main challenge of the game is whether or not your flings are accurately recorded by the game.
The game is basically a pinball platformer. You control Zip, an energetic ball-shaped hero, and the gameplay consists of bouncing him around the screen while collecting points. The goal of each level is to obtain three medals to unlock a clam shell so you can get a pearl. In addition, there is a high score mechanic where you have to find the optimal path to go through a level, collecting all sorts of score-boosting goodies, so you can get an A or S rank. This adds to the depth of the game, but the auto-scrolling nature (right-to-left or left-to-right depending on your handedness) of the game makes it ultimately very frustrating. The game also requires a great deal of precision to do well, and the inconsistent controls don't help with this at all.
The way this MotionPlus-required game works is that you need to have your controller fixed on the sensor bar. This is your neutral position. Then, you have to fling your character from this base neutral position. You can continue to knock the character around, but that usually just makes the required return to the neutral position even more difficult, a problem that is even more recurring when the game gets hectic. You can't even sit back and make a well-executed move because you have the constant threat of being eaten by one of the many dragons that patrols the backside of the screen.
If you can get past the controls, there are a few fun gameplay variations throughout the game. In one world, you're transformed into a heavy, metal ball, and in another, you're shrunken down. Both of these alter the way you play in interesting ways. Sadly, they're limited to one world each.
The co-op is amusing in a chaotic way. It's difficult to tell who is who when the action picks up, but for the most part, it's better than playing it by yourself, chiefly because you have a second person to help you pick up items. Even so, there are sections of the game that feel like they didn't plan for a second player.
FlingSmash is a very short game. It has eight worlds each with three levels and a boss fight. The boss fights don't amount to much more than 'bounce around the screen and hit a certain side of this ball-like foe.' According to the game clock, I finished all of that in about three hours. There is some replayability if you're into getting high scores. Luckily, it's a little worthwhile to do this since there are unlockables for getting all A or S ranks on all the levels in a world. You get iterative mini-games for getting A ranks, and extra stages for getting S ranks. Still, you'll be fighting the controls more than the enemies to get these high scores.
FlingSmash is full of interesting gameplay ideas that would've been a lot more fun if the game controlled well, or at the very least, compensated for the poor controls by being a little more forgiving. The unpredictable controls come dangerously close to breaking the game. Most gamers will likely get frustrated by the controls, and most young kids will probably get frustrated by the precision required at times. Unless you really want a Wii Remote Plus and/or feel you can work with the miserable controls, you should stay away from FlingSmash.
Topic: FlingSmash Review (Read 3908 times)
