Indie games will always be a mystery. They can be dreadful that you question what was going on the developers’ mind or they come out amazing. Flipping Death is one of those games that gives genuine smiles to the Players and enjoyment from start to finish.
Reviewed: Playstation 4
Platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
Developer: Zoink! Games
Publisher: Zoink! Games
Release Date: August 7, 2018
MSRP: $19.99
This review is based on a copy provided by Zoink! Games
The story line revolves around a girl named Penny who is very capricious, loves death and has too much enthusiasm. While going about her average life in Flatwood with his boyfriend Elliot, they stumbled upon this graveyard. Penny decides to be her playful self and frolicked in an abandoned rickety Mausoleum. Much to her surprise, the Mausoleum’s floor cracked open, and she fell to her untimely death. She then wakes up as a ghost in the afterlife and meets The Grim Reaper only to find out she had to die to be his Temp!
Clad in a black hooded cape, Penny is very much excited to fulfill her new role and deliver souls to their destination – not! As she was exploring, she meets fellow ghosts who can’t seem to get over their deaths. They have unfinished business in Flatwood an only Penny can save them. Becoming the Grim Reaper comes with certain advantages. She can now possess all living creatures available in that chapter, all she needs is to collect spectral flying heads in the afterlife which is very abundant in the area. Some characters need more work to save but no worries there because unfortunately, collecting other possession requirements is not much of a challenge at all.
As a Grim Reaper she needs to have the signature scythe! Not only does this serves to be appropriate, but this helps her in moving around the map quicker. It acts like an extender when Penny throws the scythe; it’s followed by a spectral tail that enables you to teleport through that path and transport you where your scythe is. Very helpful if you want to jump platforms quicker, collecting those spectral monkeys in a timed mode, escaping that monster who is chasing after you or if a platform area is too far to reach.
I understand the Death in the title but what about Flipping? As what i have pointed out earlier, Penny can possess living creatures. Meaning she can go over the flip side and control their bodies. Another perk of her becoming the Grim Reaper. Not only can she control where the character goes but she can also read their minds. This is where the gold humor lies! These whimsical characters tell the most hilarious thoughts and at times, they would have mind dialogues. Kinda like talking to yourself where you might look crazy to someone who accidentally witnessed the whole ordeal.
Anyway, these characters are essential in solving out the mysteries that plagued the ghosts who can’t move on. Sometimes they might drop hints here and there that helps you in your quest. Do not fret however if you seem lost since on the pause menu, there are hints available that can help you on what you should do next. What I like about it is that these hints don’t give you instructions or directions on what to do or where to go but it gives out drawings on what should happen. How it should happen is for you to find out.
On the other side of the coin however, possession challenges could be more challenging in a sense. There should be a penalty or a heavier disadvantage if you can’t figure out the mission whenever you check out the hint screen. This became a habit of mine since at most times, I felt lost and there isn’t really any difference whether I check out the hints or not. I am also uncertain if it’s a feature of the video game to lessen the sensitivity of the Jump button as I usually find myself jumping too much at times even if I just pressed it once. First few minutes of the game I would end up going over too much and fall. This cycle gets really annoying especially if the climb is really high.
To finish the chapter, Penny has to solve the major mission but needs to solve minor missions that are essential to solve the major one. It feels linear from that point since the player has no choice but to complete them. There should be more minor quests even if that doesn’t affect the major one since these stories are so intriguing and full of quirkiness.
At the end of the day, the music really keeps your head banging. The artwork is truly magnificent and very unique on its own. It kind of feels like I’m watching one of Tim Burton’s animated film but the script was made by Melissa McCarthy or Ellen Degeneres. Full of sarcastic humor and freaky dialogues, it just mixes together like one giant bowl of goodness. It’s also an added bonus that the voice characters really fits the character and they don’t die too. So you can practically do anything you want with them and genuinely chuckle on their reactions.
