The Tickler is a very interesting Flash game on Kongregate that really goes down to the bare essentials of casual gaming. You're a robot and the purpose of the game is for you to kill (by grabbing on and shaking) waves of foes that drain your life by the very touch. Created by a 'mad scientist' the very first level is only doing on thing: killing your creator, this doesn't turn out to be very difficult, however.Throughout the game, the difficulty rises as the enemies become more powerful, and to counter this with multiple upgrades you can only get by spending cash you miraculously acquire by killing with 'death pinchers'. The enemies vary from seemingly innocent yellow attackers to zooming robotic mercenaries, and more.
It's a pretty predictable and basic game with some perks that make it nice. The design is very smooth overall, and the controls are the very same way. The music is fun, though there is apparently no toggle music button, which is quite inconvenient for the many gamers who enjoy listening music while they play games. Luckily, the music is pretty quiet and easily masked. The difficulty is definitely good, as it doesn't progress too fast or two slow, though some levels drag out without actually adding anything fun or challenging, which can make the experience a bit more boring than it should be.
The upgrades are a little less basic, letting you buy and upgrade certain weapons ranging from claws to lightning. Money isn't too plentiful, meaning during the course of the game you can usually only get one or two upgrades after each level. This adds a good difficulty, and prevents people from simply buying the right upgrades to pass through levels.
The Tickler has some obvious influence from other games of it's sort. It's very reminiscent of older 'upper view' shooting games where waves of foes are sent your game. They're very similar, though what makes The Tickler especially unique is the lack of long-range weapons and the large variety of enemies. You would think a killing robot would be equipped with arms, but obviously the scientist had no intent of adding them. (instead you're equipped with flying sawdisks)
Pros and cons:
Pros:
- Fast, exciting gameplay
- Nice paces developement
- Good upgrades
- Satisfactory difficulty
Cons:
- Lack of mute button
- Can get a bit boring after a while
Overall The Tickler is a smooth game, with it's only large flaw being it's lack of a mute button. Most aspects of the game are 'good', though not phenomenal. If you're looking for a quick, casual game where you kill and destroy, this might just be the game for you.
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