See? I know of what I speak.
Concept
The land of Oukoku is in deep trouble. Three legendary beasts have emerged unto the world to wreak havoc, and nobody can stop them... until the little Chibi Knight comes along. What follows is a long journey to destroy the three beasties and restore order to the land.
Or maybe not so long. This is a browser game, after all. Either way, Chibi Knight is, at least to me, most closely compared to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in that it's an action RPG where you spend a bit of time on a map, but most of the game in side scrolling screens, killing monsters with swords and building up your abilities via experience. A fun formula, but does it work in practice?
Well, to be brutally honest...
Yes. Yes it does. (I'm so clever.)
Controls
Chibi Knight may be an RPG, but it's a fairly simple RPG in terms of control. Up is jump, side to side... takes you side to side... and A swings your sword, while S lets you choose from a small selection of spells. Very easy to get used to, and the controlling is so smooth overall that the chances of suffering cheap deaths on Chibi Knight is almost nil (and it helps that you can take several hits before keeling over).
Graphics
Though it already looks fine in still frames, Chibi Knight is only truly revealed in motion. It's a smooth, picturesque ride, with lots of neat-looking baddies who are totally convincing when you see them in action. They bounce, they whirl, they slash, they... live. You'd swear you were watching a cartoon.
If I had ONE THING to complain about in Chibi Knight, it's a slight lack of selection. The enemies get repetitious. This is a browser game, granted, and each enemy (especially the bosses) probably required a lot of work, but some more tweaks to the sprites beyond simple colour changes would be appreciated.
Sound
The music on Chibi Knight is quite well done, with an appreciable epic fantasy feel that never really betrays its cutesy roots. There's a lot of symphonic stuff that fits right in with the setting, and it's not as repetitious as you might think.
What really stood out for me sound-wise, however, was Chibi Knight's voice. I don't know who they got to breathe life into the little guy, but they're perfect. PERFECT. It sounds exactly like I would have imagined a chibi character sounding, which is to say, they sound like they're five years old and possibly about to get their cheeks pinched by a bear of an aunt. Kudos to the voice actor for a job well done. (And if you DID just get a five year old, well, good idea.)
Challenge Rating
Chibi Knight is not a difficult game. It's not EASY, but it's not hard, either. The level grinding nature of the early parts of the game can easily be abused, to the point that the first few bosses are absolute pushovers. (And since I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing at first, that's exactly what I did. Musta killed the first boss in about ten seconds. Whoops.) If you're looking for extreme challenge, you're looking in the wrong place.
Does that make Chibi Knight a bad game? Not at all. It'll still take half an hour to an hour to fully complete, and even then it's fun to go back and challenge it again with a different take on your level progression. The enemy attack patterns could use some variation, perhaps, but I won't complain too much - this is a casual game, and should be treated as such.
Conclusion?
Chibi Knight is a browser game I have no doubt I'll revisit in the future. It's not even remotely groundbreaking, but everything it does - aside from a teensy bit of repetitious gameplay at the beginning - it does really well. Thumbs up.
PLAY CHIBI KNIGHT
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