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There ’s something inherently entertaining about look on a studio milk a grease monkey for all its Charles Frederick Worth . Keen - One Girl Armyis one such experience from developer Cat Nigiri , an action - puzzle game that takes the turn - based roofing tile movement of something likeHitman GoorSwim Outand pushes it to its limits with a full story , secret room , and sanguinary zombies . While always surprising , there can be a point where the simple gameplay ca n’t manage the weight of all these accession . Sometimes , the unsubdivided puzzle book approach is best after all .
Kim is the titularOne Girl Army , a martial artist in training who has inherited her family ’s sacred polearm . Armed with this weapon , Kim can slay anything in front of her as long as it ’s positioned in a straight transmission line . Every one of her movements is a full dash ahead , stopping only when she hits a bulwark or wooden crateful . Any enemies in her track get sliced into bits , and any enemy stand next to her when she stops gets a slash for their trouble . Of course , any foeman that move next to Kim after she contain get their licks in . Enemies only shamble a exclusive tile after Kim move , making every elbow room a puzzling quest to make it to the way out without carry harm .
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Each level contains many elbow room to solve , all connect to form navigational puzzles once enemies are dealt with . Because Kim ca n’t stop wherever she like , certain door remain inaccessible unless she comes at it from a certain angle . Keen - One Girl Armyshines when it salute these conundrums , peculiarly in the long passageways and way that can be unwrap with some quick persuasion . The scrap finally turns into rote trial and mistake as strong enemy cover to appear , but the navigational spear carrier never quit to strike . In addition , these optional track reward additional eyeball that eventually grant Kim new abilities , further enriching gameplay .
These new power are also hidden in rooms off the principal course on the human race map , however , which is a peculiar option . Nothing is so secret that it ca n’t be obtain , but it seems like the game honor its best players with tools to comfort the difficulty . Meanwhile , those who ca n’t get the hang of the mechanics are leave to flounder . thing like healing opportunities and additional attacks should likely just be rewards for progression , but instead , they ’re optional extras that point ca n’t really take advantage of because they ’re not going to be encounter by every player .
Scattered throughout the biz are also some tale section , but there ’s nothing remarkable about the world ofKeen - One Girl Army . Kim is a chosen one , her grandmother is teaching her martial arts and her long lost motherprobablyhas something to do with the malevolent corporation releasing snake god into the man . The game is generic , written at a level where only those unfamiliar with old loop would revel . Kim ’s house hamlet is hollo " Village " and her granny is just " Grandma . " Kids will probably care the mobile earpiece - esque graphics as well , but the complexness ramps in such a mode that they ’ll likely turn it off before the concluding fight , while adults will check over out of the game ’s story early on .
Despite all that , it ’s still satisfy to conquer a particularly difficult elbow room after countless attempts . Perhaps it the mood euphony , sounding in its skilful moment like a motley between synth goodness and something that might play inany casino in Vegas . Perhaps it ’s the stand-in of move forrad after a bad checkpoint presents the same soft - to - master rooms over and over . Whatever the case , Keen - One Girl Army ’s levels are the character of puzzle that demand complete focus . When stick to , it ’s often a good mind to come up something else to do rather than repeatedly bankrupt Kim ’s top dog into a brick wall of a problem . It works , but when that wall comes up multiple times in a undivided grade , it can also suffer the game ’s pacing .
In the end , there ’s the core of something keen inKeen - One Girl Army . When it ’s firing on all cylinders , it is redolent of one ofNamco ’s arcade refreshes , a modernized rendering of a never - released coin - guzzling bully . It ’s a shame that a mountain of those impressive additions can offer excess complexity at the same fourth dimension , create a counterbalance that is n’t always maintained . Ultimately , that makesKeen - One Girl Armylandslightly abruptly of exchangeable gamesthat know when to keep it simple .
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Keen - One Girl Armyis available on Nintendo Switch and personal computer . Screen Rant was provided a Switch code for the purpose of this critique .
