Flock takes multiple approaches to the genre of puzzle games. On one had you have an insanely cute and ridiculously charming aesthetic, but on the other you’re granted a devilishly tricky and considerably maddening method of play. You’re roped in with an inviting atmosphere, given a few easy levels to build an addiction, and then once you’re roped in you’re hit with a baffling difficulty level that you can’t help but embrace. Flock, essentially, follows the rules of game design quite well.
The mechanics were largely unchanged from E3. Controlling a flying saucer, you’re charged with the task of abducting animals on earth. Mechanically, this involves using your saucer to coral animals into a rocket for the mothership. For example, you need to get ten sheep, but in order to get them in your ship you’re going to have to cover them in water so they shrink and fit through a fence, and then heard them over a ramp and around some mole hills before they can make it to the rocket. Dozens of challenges sprout around this, but the basic design remains the same – use your brain, think outside the box, and do whatever is possible to abduct mammals.
Perhaps Flock’s most intrinsic (and unspoken) quality is its wicked sense of humor. Everything is cute and fluffy, but no one the game won’t hesitate to kill your animals unfairly ( by running them off a cliff), or smiting them with amoral decadence (making pigs roll around in poo, trust me it’s for a good reason). Flock should be in the $10-$15 range, look for it soon on Live Arcade and Playstation Network.
