‘Knife Hit’ App Store Game Review: A Cut Above The Rest (Kind of)

There have been many hit games released over the last year, from Super Mario Odyssey to Monster Hunter World, even all the way back to Persona 5. Compared to 2016’s failures including No Man’s Sky and Mass Effect Andromeda, it’s as if the world has decided to give us what we truly want as gamers: good games. For those who don’t give a damn about this crap, however, I have a game that you might enjoy. A simple game revolutionary in nature can be found on the app store, as Knife Hit brings you an easy-to-understand, great game. No, I’m not talking about marijuana knife hits, although you can find a lot of those videos on YouTube when you’re, say, trying to find a trailer for Knife Hit.

Back in the day, game developers had no idea what people wanted to play, forcing out travesties like ET and other movie video games, yet the inception of video games is extremely telling. The very first video game, by Atari, was Pong. Before the oversaturation, there was no need to do anything except move something up and down or press a single button, and this exceptional simplicity was found in games like Galaga, Space Invaders and Pac-Man. What was up with the focus on space? Great question, probably because a black screen with white dots on it wasn’t so hard to program.

Cool, great history lesson. Point is, Knife Hit couldn’t be more simple. Shooting knives with the tap of a finger on your cellular device, the object of the game is to riddle a circular, spinning object with a set amount of knives, varying for each stage. The only catch is that once you hit another knife with your knife, it’s game over. The spinning movement patterns change from stage to stage, providing the much-needed challenge for this relatively simple concept.

As I’ve said, it’s very simple in nature, so what brings the fun? While stages may get repetitive as you are forced to take on the same challenges every time you get a game over “boss stages,” always with a theme of stabbing a circular object, awards you a custom knife for every time you beat it. Every five stages, boss battles are random, offering you one of at least four standard battles, yet RNG may sometimes award you with a “rare” or “legendary” boss battle. These are harder, yet it’s always an exciting feeling to be surprised with an unexpected gift. You may also purchase knives with apples, yet this is where some negative territory comes into play. Lootboxes, am I right?

Keep in mind, this is a free game that doesn’t expect you to pay for anything like EA would, therefore each and every free version of the game has a plethora of ads. This is understandable – when it doesn’t hinder the overall gameplay. That’s right, it’s commonplace for ads to cause the app to spaz out a bit, slowing down and skipping frames of gameplay when you need them the most. Not only this, but even when you’re not trying to earn apples for lackluster-looking knives, advertisement videos are forced down your throat every fourth game. This makes the gameplay experience as fun as sword swallowing, and considering it’s an iPhone app, it needs every good moment it can get.

Do I recommend buying it by removing ads? Hell no. Am I suggesting you try out the app? Sure. It’s not amazing, it’s a shame that the creators have decided to settle with ruining the gameplay experience simply for a quick buck. They would make far more money by including far less ads, as Fruit Ninja might have proven. A simple Fruit Ninja clone in nature, its slight innovations have prevented it from becoming a great app. Still, give it a shot. If you’re considering downloading this app enough to read about it, you’re certainly not about to download a productivity app.