GameSpot writes: "While many publishers are still trying to figure out how best to pursue the digital download market, Capcom has been doing just fine for itself with a recipe book that calls for rereleases of beloved classics sprinkled with the occasional brand-new title. We recently got a chance to check out a game residing in the latter category, a newly announced puzzle platformer known as Flock. Scheduled for release this holiday season on Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, and the PC, Flock puts you in the cockpit of a UFO as you try to wrangle up various farm animals in levels with increasingly bizarre and humorous obstacles.
In each of Flock's levels, you're given a quota of farm animals that you need to safely guide from one area of the map back to your alien base for safe abduction. In terms of mechanics, guiding these animals is simple. Flock seems to be taking a similar approach to Capcom's recently released light-strategy game Plunder, with a control scheme light on excessive button-pressing and heavy on contextual, automated interactions with the environment. Your UFO has three functions: scare, push, and pull. You scare farm animals along simply by hovering over them. They'll automatically flee from you in terror, but it's up to you to keep nudging them along in the proper direction. If you encounter tall grass, you might need to push it down with an energy beam to clear a path for your animals. But more often, you'll need to pick up certain objects with your tractor beam to clear away obstacles from your animal's path. The trick is that you can't simply pick up your animals with the UFO. We learned the hard way that they can and will burst like a piñata."
VGChartz's Lee Mehr: "It's fitting that Flock wants to treat players like its plethora of creatures: softly wooing you to stay as long as you wish. Sure, it still utilizes basic design principles: the wonder of what's hiding beneath the clouds, frilly cosmetics to alter your style, and an engaging collect-a-thon system wedded to the main objective; however, you never feel confined by them. That description may seem too abstract and imperceptible in writing, but that warmth within its design is immediately felt with a controller in hand. Sometimes that relaxed vibe could've been more substantive in its quest structure, but leaning too far would've diminished its unique identity. For whatever creative or technical missteps, virtually anyone who Flock Tuahs Richard Hogg & Hollow Ponds' latest is sure to enjoy it."
Flock is the latest game from Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg. Nurture and guide your own flock of adorable flying creatures.
Review - Consider Flock like the finest of fine wines: enjoyed best with a group of friends having a chat, taken at your own pace, not rushed
