Knuckle Sandwich is an acid trip in 8-bit form.
After some brief, slightly disconcerting trial stints, you secure a job at the rundown Gorilla Burger.
What follows is a fight while taking out the trash, resulting in a dead thug.
What results from that… is some dubious meat being served to customers.
Lots of little details help bring Bright City to life, too.
And Brophy flexes these design muscles during story beats to, frankly, staggering effect.
All of it furthers Bright City’s penchant for the abnormal in really creative ways.
Another time, I had to find three rooms on a cruise ship and help whoever was in them.
Later, on an deserted island I had to backtrackagainand find several pallets to build a raft.
Come on, man.
For these reasons I felt many of the toughest fights lacked the weight of context.
I made you look!".
When it comes to skills, your performance in Wario Ware-style minigames often dictates how effective they might be.
The same goes for when enemies attack you, too.
A rat king had me scurrying out the way of his loyal minions.
I’ve driven a car, avoided UFO catchers, jumped over rain clouds.
I’ve also nearly broken down in tears.
Knuckle Sandwich’s difficulty ramp is, it seems, more of a random slalom.
All the while I dodge and complete minigames perfectly, which could either nullify damage or deal loads.
I might hit 36 or 48 off these counterattacks!
Then I might mess up one (1) counterattacking minigame, take 66 damage, and die.
The lack of consistency isinfuriating.
Perhaps the only consistent thing is feeling like most fights, especially boss fights, outstay their welcome.
The same rings true as you tackle less important fights.
The holy grail, though?
The option to skip battles entirely.
Here’s hoping things change.
This review was based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.
