Flock! Preview

E3 2008 Preview

Do birds of a feather really flock together? They do when they're being chased by an alien ship that's trying to herd them into the mother ship. If you think this game sounds crazy, take a number: everyone thinks this game is crazy. That's the whole point. Because in a real-world setting, how do you make a game about herding animals fun? It may be possible but I've yet to see it happen. But in a fantasy setting, nothing goes together like sheep and UFOs.

The game controls easily but intelligently. Mechanically, Flock doesn't sound too deep: fly the ship (displayed from an isometric view) toward the animals to guide them into their final destination. (Hmmm, is it really final? I hope they're not anal probing the sheep. That would be baaaad.) The developers added depth with different levels and different animals. Chickens, for example, are more skittish. But they also have the ability to hover, which becomes a key element in getting them to the mother ship. In one of the levels you'll come to a fence and raised terrain that prevent the chickens from progressing. If you backtrack and guide the chickens up a nearby hill, and then push your spaceship toward them -- which they'll run from hysterically -- the chickens will jump off the cliff and hover over the fence.

Pigs and cows have been confirmed for the game, and there have been hints of other animals, including crows. Capcom also says that they plan to have multiple nighttime animals.

Flock will also play up the humor aspect of the game, as evidenced by the goofy (but not unappealing) sheep designs. Basically, you're chasing fluffy pillows with a face and legs. But the thing that could be the most hilarious is none other than the pigs, who as it turns out are attracted to cow dung. Of course, after hearing this I quickly responded, "Well who isn't?" But seriously, in the context of this game, it somehow fits. The pig levels weren't playable and Capcom didn't have anything to show us on them, but they sound hilarious.

In the end, Flock will likely succeed because of its excellent level implementation. It won't take you more than a few seconds to learn the controls. But try herding every sheep before the time runs out and the game becomes a massive challenge. In addition to gates and raised terrain, there are lots of winding paths and areas that appeared to be separated by water. There's also the fact that, no matter how tame an animal looks, it doesn't really want to be herded. It'll run into corners and gut stuck if you're not careful. When tackling a group of animals, you also have to worry about flying the spaceship too fast since it is very easy to fly past the animals entirely -- a move that disperses the little creatures into multiple locations every time.

Finally, Capcom said that the game will have a robust level editor and level sharing feature. To prove this point, they told me that the levels I had been playing in the game were created using the map editor. They were great. Sure, you could say that developers (of all people) should be great at making levels, even with a consumer-based editor. But now my mind is filled with ideas for what I could create, and all the herding challenges that could be invented. We'll get our chance to find out when the game launches on XBLA, PSN and PC this December.

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