FiNCK

By: Derek Yu

On: May 25th, 2010

Nifflas released FiNCK (Fire Nuclear Crocodile Killer) yesterday. Ostensibly inspired by Super Mario Bros. 2 (and possibly Lyle in Cube Sector?), Finck’s protagonist’s only real abilities are jumping, picking up things, and throwing them. You can also drop things in mid-air to give yourself a slight double jump. Each room in the game has one or more doors which take you to other rooms, and getting to the doors usually requires solving some simple puzzles using those mechanics.

FiNCK is a short game and consists of five small, mostly linear areas. The puzzles aren’t particularly difficult, either, but completists may feel compelled to backtrack in order to collect every coin in the game (I wasn’t particularly inclined to, to be honest!). Overall, I found it to be an alright game. There are some clever puzzles but also some tedious ones that involve carrying a lot of blocks back and forth from one end of a room to another. The colorful graphics and signature Nifflas music are not bad at all but feel a little bit bland, in my opinion. It’s… alright, okay? That is to say, it’s okay… alright?

Anyway, the game and the level editor are both free to download but it costs $4 to unlock the ability to play custom levels. The game’s soundtrack is also available for $3.

TIGdb: Entry for FiNCK

Posted in Freeware, Platformers, Windows | Tags: Nifflas

trialbyicecream

Yeah… I decided to play this just to give nifflas another chance. he does atmosphere well, but i've never been a fan of his gameplay. there's just not enough there.
one thing i did like about this game was the bombs and figuring out how they work.
bycreamicetrial

Decided… yea I play game just to give chance. Nifflas. Atmosphere, Never I've been fan gameplay. Enough there, just isn't. Bombs, one thing I figured out. Bombs work, and how.
byicetrialcream

Nifflas. Just give another play to this. I does well decided chance atmosphere. Never been gameplay fan. Not there just enough. His game did this thing figuring the bombs. How they work. Is. This like. But. Does.
Malasdair

Maybe this has more potential as a content-creation platform. The game Nifflas has released with it is a bit painful and tedious – not bad, but by the fourth or fifth 'carry six blocks across the room one at a time' puzzle I was pretty much done with the game – it didn't feel like gameplay but work, pure padding.

Still looking forward to whatever Nifflas comes out with, but I feel like this was a misfire.
phubans

Wow, this is totally a nod to Lyle in Cube Sector… Which is great, because that happens to be one of my favorite indie games ever! I just wish that this game supported fullscreen WITHOUT anti-aliasing those beautiful pixels :(
Skofo

Eh. For some reason I'm not feeling the “magic” that I felt when I played the Knytt games and Within a Deep Forest.
bored

eh, yawn, nah.
gamecreator

I think the idea is great but the design kicks the gameplay in the nuts. This could have been awesome, if it didn't focus on the items so much. But then again, I guess that's the point. It's more a puzzle game than anything else.
http://jamesgecko.com/ James

Either I broke the game, or I'm missing something. I'm in area 4, with two bomb dispensers, a door up out of reach, and a door behind a brick wall. The bombs have three second timers, so I can't get them to the brick wall in time. Also, there's a nasty thing that interacts with bombs by dying and kills me if I touch it. :-(
Smirnoff

This was very disappointing.
rinkuhero

if you're not enthusiastic about a game, why review it? i thought this was the cream of the crop blog :)
http://www.derekyu.com Derek Yu

Well, I previewed it in an earlier post. It's decent and I enjoyed it, it just didn't live up to my expectations. I thought people might be interested in hearing about a new Nifflas game and how underwhelmed I was by it, that's all!
James

That's your excuse?

“alright, okay? That is to say, it’s okay… alright?”

You're even worse than the guest editors.
Bennett

Nifflas is cream of the crop as a developer, even if this game doesn't quite live up to his reputation.
http://www.derekyu.com Derek Yu

Whoa, that must be pretty bad, James!
Mm

Isn't it a problem if people get reviews on the frontpage based on who they are, and not how good their games are?
Lurk

I gave it a try. It's pretty neat- the fact that there are no aggressive monsters (a staple of Nifflas games) means you can relax and think about the puzzles. The ambience is different from the knytt/deep forest universe – for some reason it made me think of William Wobbler on the c64.
raigan

you can pick up the bomb dispensers.. does that help?
chrknudsen

I think whether a game is newsworthy or not doesn't just depend on the quality of the game. Nifflas is somewhat of a known developer, so I'm sure a lot of people are interested in a review of his latest game — negative or positive.
chrknudsen

Oh, for fuck's sake. My comment was in reply to Mm. This new comment software really leaves a lot to be desired…
nope

nope
rinkuhero

understandable position, even i still think it'd be preferable to let someone who *was* enthusiastic about the game review it (if possible; maybe a guest reviewer) — that'd be the best of both worlds
http://jamesgecko.com/ James

Hence the edit. :-)
http://jamesgecko.com/ James

I dunno; I was pretty excited about the game going in, but my enthusiasm died about the second area. The puzzle and action segments aren't balanced out particularly well and, as the review alluded to, it's tedious.

For example, one of the puzzles required you to run back and forth across the level four times. The physics are slightly slippery too, so I had to restart it multiple times after accidentally kicking (nonreplaceable) blocks into a bottomless pit. Lyle in Cube Sector solved this problem years ago by having respawning blocks. :-P

I don't know. I feel the review is pretty accurate. There are a few really clever puzzles here and there, but it really feels like Nifflas had a lot more fun making the game than we're having playing it.
Paul

But they got to be who they are because their games were good. The fact that this one isn't is still newsworthy.
http://elkovsky.1up.com Elkovsky

Yeah, that sounds a lot like Lyle. I'd be interested to see how the game itself holds up… **goes to download**
Lau

I looove this game
Yes, if you are only playing the game to race to the finish line it is pretty dull and straight forward. The brilliance is that all these simple puzzles always can be solved in unique mind boggling ways in order to reach secret areas and gold coins.
Give this game a chance and try to dig deep into it, there are lots of fun experiences if you can see beyond the obvious solutions.
mechaelwiz

Am i the only one who cannot adjust to the fact that 's' is jump and 'a' is lift and not the other way round? That is the only thing keeping me from enjoying the game :-p I think having the jump button left is most logical, as it makes the keyboard seem like a mirrored nes-controller, but ofcourse it's just a matter of taste. An option to choose button layout, would be cool though.