Kick & Fennick

 PlayStation Vita
Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. The Vita Lounge
    Feb 16, 2015
    92
    Kick and Fennick is easily one of the most exciting new IP's to hit PlayStation Vita, and as Jaywalkers Interactive's first release, is a very impressive effort. Be sure to pick this up and play it, you won't be disappointed!
  2. IGN
    Feb 19, 2015
    77
    A pleasant surprise in a crowded platforming field. The obstacles present--portals, bounce pads, zip ramps--have all been seen before, but their implementation is anything but stale.
  3. InsideGamer.nl
    Feb 10, 2015
    75
    Kick & Fennick has a slow start, but the last hours of this adventure are certainly worth your time. This side-scroller offers an awesome puzzle world with challenge and action, but we do feel that this game could have been much more. A deeper story and less repetitiveness perhaps?

Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Best PS Vita Game of 2015
17
#17 Most Discussed PS Vita Game of 2015
43
#43 Most Shared PS Vita Game of 2015

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 41 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 41
  3. Negative: 4 out of 41
  1. psvitaroundup
    Feb 6, 2015
    8
    From PS Vita Roundup

    Ever had one of those days? Where you wake up, the house is carnage, all your friends have vanished, and there's no    From PS Vita Roundup

    Ever had one of those days? Where you wake up, the house is carnage, all your friends have vanished, and there's no one else around but a burbling little flying robot with fox ears? Meet Kick (the kid) and Fennick (the foxbot), they are having that kind of experience.

    Kick and Fennick looks gorgeous from the off, in native resolution, with vibrant colours across all layers of the 3D background. Their adventures start out with a few timid steps in a futuristic city, exploring across a 2D plane, before Kick stumbles upon an energy weapon, just casually left lying around the place.

    Its purpose is two-fold. The laser side of it can knock out weak walls or blast the enemy bots, while the recoil allows him to take huge leaps around the scenery. That feature can be used to find plenty of hidden secrets and collectibles tucked away in the corners of each level, with some subtle 3D tilting and zooming to help show the way.

    It maybe gets a couple of minutes to get used to the jump mechanics, and questions of 'why can't he climb?' or shouts of 'just walk around the obstacle' soon fade away. There's also the handy kickback of the weapon to help crash through obstacles. In later levels, power-ups for the laser-bazooka give you some extra zing, but the special cogs you can find around each level become harder to track down.

    Their mission is to get Fennick a new battery, but surely there are battery shops in every high-tech future building like these? Still, off you trot through each level, heading to a tower in the core of the city. Your first encounter with an enemy happens to be a massive mechanoid happens a few levels in, but isn't really much of a battle.

    From the second set of levels onward, there are more regular baddies to zap, and more electro-pitfalls that would lead to your doom, if Fennick wasn't around to restore you to just before your last klutzy move. Get things wrong enough times and you do go back to the start of the level, but they're mostly short enough for this not to be a crisis. Fennick can also show you where to go, if you run into a dead end.

    Kick can survive pretty much any fall, and manoeuvre a little in mid-air to control his landing point. The double jump mechanic is essential to master, so spend some time practising it, using the slo-mo effect to land that second stage. You'll soon be double jumping under or over electric beams, making massive blind leaps and using magnets, bounce pads, teleporters to advance.
    A New Breed of Hero?

    It is hard to be critical of such a smooth game, that is so pure in what it does, with its steady progression of new tricks through the levels. Yet, there's remarkably little interaction between the duo. I suppose doing so would have risked having them labelled as a would-be Ratchet and Clank, or Jak and Daxter, but is that such a bad thing? Also, you find a Special Gear on each level, but rarely do they provide anything "special" beyond the odd costume change.

    If I was being picky, there's little reason to go back and search for that last missing cog, except for completeness' sake and the trophies I guess. But, there's nothing like the replayability of a Mario level, and little in the way of alternate routes. Also, across 45 levels, they are perhaps just a touch too similar in look and overall design to each other.
    That said, Kick and Fennick is a gorgeous, challenging puzzler that perhaps isn't quite ambitious in the gameplay stakes as it makes out through the superb graphics. Certainly a bigger, better, badder sequel would be something to behold (where's the speed run option?). And it proves that you don't have to be Naughty Dog or Nintendo to create a new generation of lovable gaming characters that could happily sit atop their own franchise.

    File size 824MB
    Not compatible with PlayStation TV
    Developer: Jaywalkers
    Genre: Platform adventure
    Players: 1
    Price: £7.99 (free on PS Plus in Feb)
    Score: 8/10    … Full Review »
  2. brows76
    Feb 8, 2015
    9
    Really fun vita game with little to no hype behind it. Angry Birds meets Super Mario. I can't recommend it enough for a leisurely good timeReally fun vita game with little to no hype behind it. Angry Birds meets Super Mario. I can't recommend it enough for a leisurely good time with your Vita.… Full Review »
  3. Vahagnmk
    Feb 7, 2015
    9
    It is strange that this game did not get much attention from gamers and critics. First of all it looks great for a handheld game. Although aIt is strange that this game did not get much attention from gamers and critics. First of all it looks great for a handheld game. Although a litttle repetitive the backgrounds are very bright and colorful. You control a little kid with a huge gun and by using the powerful recoil of the gun you make big leaps around. While in air you can aim again in slow motion and make a second jump. There;s not much more to the gameplay. However this core mechanic of jumping around is incredibly fun and addictive and the game makes as much use of it as it can by offering plenty of complicated platforming and puzzle sections. The game is divided into many short levels where you can just clear the level or clear the level by collecting all of the gear scattered around and earn perfect rating.… Full Review »
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