Flock! (puzzle game from Capcom)

[LesJarvis]

I'm genuinely surprised that there's not a thread on this game already. It comes out today for PC, Tomorrow for 360, and then Thursday on the PS3. For those unfamiliar with the Flock! (which I'm guessing is, uh, most everyone), it's a puzzle game where you control a UFO that has to herd sheep and other livestock across a rather whimsical landscape and into a large mothership (termed the motherflocker by the design team). You do so by manipulating the game environment and coercing the livestock about with your UFO. Rather than yapping on, here's a video:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/46740.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT1YDeo9yXw (different video provided for the Gametrailers averse)

Anyway, based on the AVClub's positive review (not bastions of gaming credibility I realize) and the fact that Steam was offering 10% off for preorders, I went ahead and bit the bullet, but it doesn't unlock until this afternoon. The art looks great if nothing else, and the premise is certainly novel. Metacritic indicates that Eurogamer gave it a somewhat poor review (5/10) but the site is inaccessible as I write this, so I'm not sure exactly what they didn't like about it. It also has a co-op mode with a handful of dedicted levels, and comes with a level editor.

So, anyone else interested in this or perhaps played it yet?

Edit: finally accessed the Eurogamer review. Cliffs Notes: frustrating, samey, and not enough charm.

[tromik]

it's a puzzle game where you control a UFO that has to herd sheep and other livestock across a rather whimsical landscape and into a large mothership (termed the motherflocker by the design team). You do so by manipulating the game environment and coercing the livestock about with your UFO.

Sounds great!

The art looks great if nothing else, and the premise is certainly novel...It also has a co-op mode with a handful of dedicted levels, and comes with a level editor.

Even better!

Edit: finally accessed the Eurogamer review. Cliffs Notes: frustrating, samey, and not enough charm.

Awww.

I'll still give the demo a try. I'd heard of Flock , but had no idea what it was. I didn't realize it was an XBLA game, I just assumed it was a WiiWare game for some reason.

[BobJustBob]

The controls are not designed for a keyboard at all. It's fine during gameplay (in the demo anyway) but the controls in the level editor are amazingly awful. Hopefully it will let you plug in a gamepad.

[Shiroko]

Gave the demo a try, here's my 0.02:
It's simply not interesting, a puzzle game unlike a FPS is totally useless if it doesn't have anything original or captivating. And this game simply seems "meh", most links for flash games that pass around this forums make for more interesting games.

[porousnapkin]

I found the controls really frustrating, and their difficulty seemed to be the primary challenge of the game. The visuals and sound design were great, though. Downloading the demo was worth the 20 minutes I played it.

[cliffski]

I would have preferred to control a dog

[tromik]

I would have preferred to control a dog

I'd go for the pig class.