Killer Queen Black Review
Killer Queen Black
Publisher: Liquid Bit LLC
Developer: Liquid Bit LLC
Genre:
PEGI: 10+
Comments:
Killer Queen Black is on Nintendo Switch! For those unacquainted with this indie arcade title, allow me to get into the details of what this game is all about, namely the competitive multiplayer madness, combined with the fact that you can take the game on the go with handheld mode, it makes it much more enjoyable!
Judging from the looks of everything on screen here, there’s a lot that goes on in a match! Don’t worry, I’ll explain – so try to keep up! Matches are played in a 4v4 layout, Blue vs Gold. There are three ways a team can win: Economic Victory, where workers collect the max amount of berries on their side of the field, Military Victory: where a team slays the opposing team’s Queen three times to win, and Snail Victory: where one snail waits in the middle of the map and workers can jump on to slowly ride it back to their base to win. Each of these win conditions can happen at any time, so it’s up to the players to keep an eye out on everything that’s happening! It’s also imperative to master the course layouts, as all four sides of the screen wrap around!
Let’s go into the details of the Queen Bee and Workers. One player on each team is a Queen Bee, while the other three are Workers. By tapping the jump button, the Queen can fly all over the map. She can also attack with horizontal lunges or downward dives in order to attack the opposing team. Since every attack is a one-hit-KO, she’s the team’s primary attacker. Not only does she attack, but she’s also able to fly in front of gates to claim them for your team’s use only. More on gates later. Although the Queen is able to move throughout the map quickly, she’s the only player on the team with limited lives. If you end up losing three of your Queen lives, you lose the match!
Let’s talk about the Workers now! These little guys are essential for game-winning objectives! They have unlimited lives and if they grab a berry and stand in front of a gate, they’re able to power up into Soldiers, who can wield maces, swords, shields, lasers, and even combo those power-ups to go from docile to aggressive! It’s up to the player to decide specifically how they want to help the team achieve victory! Do you spend the time and power yourself up, only to get KO’d by the opposing Queen or do you start grabbing berries as fast as possible and hope the other team doesn’t pay attention? It’s so dynamic!
Was that a lot to grasp? Don’t worry. The game comes with a very well-made tutorial section that will allow players to get the hang of all the elements. Trust me on this one. It may seem a bit intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll want to play round after round! After playing through the tutorial, the game has a few different modes that you can spend your time with.
For starters, there’s a Spectate mode. This is a mode where you can sit back and relax while observing the latest games that the servers are broadcasting. This is a great way of learning different strategies and tactics on all sorts of maps in order to benefit you and make you a better teammate.
Playing in Local Wireless is a great way of getting in on the action. You can connect two Nintendo Switch Consoles, each with four controllers, for some intense 8-player action!
If you don’t have anyone to play local wireless with, online play is where it’s at! Killer Queen Black is cross-play with PC and Xbox, so the accessibility is pretty huge! By default, voice chat is turned on – which is a very awesome addition due to the fact that this game requires a lot of communication between teammates. If you don’t have a headset with a mic or if you don’t want to chat online, the game allows for manual emotes that can help convey messages or pings to alert the rest of your team. You can ping certain areas of the map, such as the snail or the berry deposits, to give your teammates a heads up as to what’s going on.
When you’re online there are a few types of matches you can play:
Quick Play is the mode where a majority of matches will take place. This is where you can jump in and randomly get paired up with whoever is online.
Ranked Mode is an intense mode where you will be matched with players of your skill level or join in with three friends to compete against other online teams to increase your score, climb the leaderboards, or face the special Black Team – the highest ranked team in the world! The Black Team will keep it’s title, as long as it’s never defeated, so it’s up to you to obtain it!
Custom Match is a mode where you can create a private game and invite up to eight players online to battle or you can even set yourself up with bots to practice offline.
Now that you have a full understanding of what the Killer Queen Black is all about! After playing a few rounds with the developers before launch, I instantly fell in love with the fast-pace, hectic flow of the game! I found myself gravitating toward playing as the Workers, as their gameplay is very easy to get the hang of. When playing as the Queen, I found that the downward dive, comboed with the dash attack seemed like a pretty awesome combo to use to destroy opponents.
Aside from the simplistic art style, I really enjoy the little bits of detail within the game. Case in point, each of the Workers have different outfits and depending on which one you play as, you’ll get a different winning animation! Also, there are tons of hidden secret match endings based on all the different actions happening. For example, if you manage to KO the opposing Queen three times as a soldier, you’ll get a “Hat Trick.” It’s going to be pretty fun to attempt to discover all the hidden achievements while racking in so many different ways of winning!
The rounds go by so quickly, I often found myself wanting another quick round. Next thing I knew, an entire hour had passed! Having the ability to play this game online with friends and voice chat is pretty awesome for an eShop title. Taking the skills learned on Nintendo Switch and applying them to the actual physical in-real-life arcade would be the next progression! Watch out, my friends. I’ll be honing my skills on Nintendo Switch so that My Killer Queen will be ready for you when we meet either online or at the arcade!