Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: Oct 11, 2019
No. of Players: up to 8 players
Publisher: Liquid Bit, LLC
Developer: Liquid Bit, LLC
Price: $19.99
I had the pleasure of playing Killer Queen Black a few times over the last year or so. We got some hand-on time at Indiecade inside of E3 this summer and we’ve played it at other events we’ve attended. Each and every time we approached the booth, gamers were crammed around the screen hooting and hollering like it was some sporting event. The game just drew people in and I never saw anyone walk away unhappy. So needless to say I’m going to like this one now that it’s out for the Nintendo Switch.
There is so much going on that each game feels like it could go any which way
Killer Queen Black is a very simple 4×4 battle/party game. Two teams go head-to-head to try to earn victory over the other. But where most games offer players a single objective to secure victory (capture a flag, get enough kills, guide a payload) Killer Queen Black offers up three all at once. This means there is so much going on that each game feels like it could go any which way. It’s tense, exciting, and just when you’re in reach of a victory you could lose it all because you weren’t paying attention to something else happening on the field of play.
The goals are as simple as they come. Each team gets a number of workers with one player taking on the role of the titular Killer Queen. Workers have a few options and can secure victory on their own. In fact, no matter what role you play you can win the game for your team giving each and every player an important and vital role. Workers can pick up berries and return them to their base to place in available slots. Fill up these slots and your team gains an economic victory.
A worker can also jump onto a large snail present in each level and slowly ride it back to your team’s goalposts for a snail victory. Your queen is where the action bit happens as that player can fly around the screen attacking workers or killing the other queen three times to earn a military victory. There are a lot of ways to win a match and a game that looks lost can easily be turned before you even realize it. Constant arcade action in the best possible way.
The fun bit comes from using a bit of strategy to work together to win. You can jump into the voice chat and assign roles to players. Maybe some focus on berries, one on moving the snail, and maybe the queen on protecting the snail rider or the workers funneling berries. There’s this give-and-take that really keeps each match going right down to the wire and a good team can mix things up on the fly to deal with threats from any potential victory. That enough would make for a really fun battle/party game, but Killer Queen Black has a few more trick up her sleeve.
Workers can impact the game in fun ways if they use the berries in battle. They can throw them to block an enemy and can even access powerups in each stage that turn them into fighters. They can fly, but earning a flail and running about can quickly change the tide of battle and means that you can now have multiple players capable of killing an opposing queen and workers.
Place one of these to guard a snail rider and you got yourself a fighting chance. It’s a serious blast and somehow manages to make each of the two classes equally as fun. Usually, I would have a preference in a game like this but I found setting my role preference to random as being the most fun.
Graphicly everything looks vibrant while still keeping a darker tone in the palette. There are a lot of dark blues and purples that almost give the game a cyberpunk look and feel. With so many players on a simple stage, it would be easy to lose track, and I did sometimes when players get crammed in certain chokepoints on certain stages, but overall thanks to the color choices everything is clear with players not getting lost in the background.
It’s a multiplayer experience that I prefer to even the likes of Super Smash Bros.
Killer Queen Black takes a lot of inspiration from Joust, among others, one of my favorite arcade games of all time. Hell, I even own a mini table-top version on the game I like it so much. Arcades may be dead but nothing can replicate the feeling of getting a bunch of people around an arcade machine. Thankfully, Killer Queen Black comes to the Nintendo Switch in top-notch form. Everything runs smoothly, and while I prefer playing on the TV because of the size of the player sprite, it’s still fun on the go for some quick matches.
I’d actually recommend the game on the Nintendo Switch over the other consoles because of the fact that you can take the game and get your friends playing. Anytime I took the game over to where a group of people where it became the center of the party.
Whether it was people playing it or watching the action unfold over a few drinks people were drawn to it like they were at the developer’s E3 booth. It’s a multiplayer experience that I prefer to even the likes of Super Smash Bros., a fun game, but one that can be easily dominated by a single player.
But while I do love the experience that is Killer Queen Black, it isn’t a total perfect one, although the issues are small. You can join team-chat thanks to Vivox, but most people don’t know that as of yet and getting a team of strangers to work together is a hassle under even the best of circumstances.
Online is pretty stable during my time but the Nintendo Switch isn’t known for its network so some lag does pop up here and there. Killer Queen Black is still a great deal of fun online but it’s a whole different beautiful beast in local co-op. Thankfully, that is an option, although you’ll need another copy of the game to get the full experience with added controllers.
There are also a number of modes to experience that will cater to different types of players. The ranked modes are where you’ll see the serious player meet, and there are serious players, while custom matches allow for private groups and the addition of bots if it’s just you and a friend. You can even spectate matches to see how those MLG Pro kids are playing with can serve to better your own game. Still, finding ranked games for such a large group can be a hassle until more people pick up the game.
Killer Queen Black is everything great about the classic arcade experience. It takes all the best bit of the classic arcade games of old and leaves out all the annoying stuff. In that regard, it’s a modern-day classic that should definitely be in your collection, especially if you love party-style games. It also means it’s still best in an arcade setting. Still, it’s a near-perfect arcade conversion that shines brightest with a couple of friends on the couch with you.
“It’s rare that a game is as fun in defeat as it is in victory”
Final Score: 4.5/5
*a review code was provided for this review*
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