Flick Champions: World Edition Review

Just in time for the 2012 London Olympics, the Flick Champions are back. Flick Champions: World Edition (Out now, $0.99) features 8 Summer Olympic sports. There’s Running — with or without hurdles — Swimming, Volleyball, Kayak, Hammer Throw, Handball, Synchronized Swimming and Javelin. The controls for each are fairly simple. Swimming and Running require a tap to start and some swiping, while others like the Hammer Throw require you to spin your finger in a circle until you reach the necessary power to toss.

Most of the games are a blast to play, especially the Javelin and the Hammer Throw. The Sync Swimming is a little odd; you have to lead each of your athletes into a circle and that somehow constitutes synchronized swimming. Which doesn’t make much sense and isn’t all that challenging, and I’m sure there are other Olympic events that would’ve suited the game better. The Kayak event is a little hard to control and the goalie in the Handball event is challenging. You need to tap to the spot you want your goalie to be in order to make the save but I would’ve preferred to be able to slide the goalie back and forth in order to make the stops. There were times during the Hammer Throw event where I tossed prematurely due to what I guess was a slip. But having said that all the other controls for the events work perfectly.

The game looks good and the blocky characters work well for the design and the sound also works in most cases. The sound of your feet while you run during the Javelin event is great and so is the groan you hear when you lose an event. But the constant crowd cheering sounds too fake and it’s constantly annoying.

All the events are unlocked this time around and the only IAP that exists is for special abilities in each sport as well as for extra tokens, which are required if you want to add a special ability to your event. These can be unlocked by grinding through the game and gaining levels or unlocked Game Center Achievements, so it’s not really necessary unless you want some quick and early victories.

The harder difficulties will most likely require a special javelin or volleyball of some kind to beat but the good news is that losing isn’t as frustrating in this game as it is in others and you’re going to want to play again right away. There’s local multiplayer in which two players share the same device to go head to head. This probably works better on the iPad, but the iPhone is kind of too small to share. There are cups to win in single events, a ‘Champ Mode’ which you can win a medal after winning in four events. The medals are added to country rankings so if you want your country to excel in the leaderboards go for Gold. The daily challenges are even more of an incentive to come back to the game on a daily basis to earn XP and level up.

iFanzine Verdict: Flick Champions: World Edition is a really fun and well-made game — especially for the price. There are tons of features and modes that will keep you coming back for more and you’re going to want to win medals for your country and send it to the top of the medal standings…I mean leaderboards.