Sega does what Namcon't. A rich alternative to Mappy. Looks great for 1984, an infamous year for some but not a hint of complete government control is reflected in the game, it feels great to be in the good timeline. This is... surely... the first game where you control a periodt, I mean mother and since daddy ain't home you have to retrieve your children to apply for full custody of the kids at the local town hall. My media literacy is unmatched hmmm yes I believe that's the story. And some of your kids have a sense of fashion already! That or, they're blind, probably that they keep running away from me like they don't want none of that child support. The Flickies bout to turn into the Nuggies if I wasn't the good gamer I claim to be.

Mama's enemies are birds' apex predators, cats! And lizards. Yeah they're in the mix who cares any kind of content is impressive in these old games. They didn't have Unreal Engine yknow they struggled for every line of code. You're in for a bad time if they catch you, but no worries... they won't. I'm on the case. That and I have the steam collection with rewind features, damn look what you got me to admit. I'm ending the review right here idc you think I care do you well not on my watch I never asked for any of this you know daddy he just came into my life just like that and just like that I gotta take care of a dozen unruly kids like you you think it's easy huh but no you just had to be the man if you'd done your job known your place we'd all be fine right now

My favorite thing about video games? Layers. Stack those sweet sweet systems high and lemme get a slice. Flicky’s got more layers than an ogre’s onion. All these systems — collecting chicks, avoiding cats, holding a projectile, firing that projectile, cat spawn points, chick exit points, level design dependent platforming — are all coexisting and informing each other. On top of that delicious design it’s also technically stunning. All of these myriad objects onscreen are clear and concrete and feel like they physically exist in a real space, even if it’s a cartoon. When you get hit, the chicks you drop stay where you dropped them. They don’t reset. They don’t flicker. You can leave them offscreen and come back later. In short, Flicky is an immersive sim.

In Flicky, you play as a small bird who has to rescue chicks. Once you run into them, they’ll follow you, but disperse if a cat touches them (if the cats touch you, do die). You have to gather them all up and take them to a door. These can be done one at a time, but you’ll score far more points if you cash them all in at once.

It’s a simple game, but surprisingly good fun. The jumping can be difficult in the tighter maze-like levels, especially as Flicky bounces off walls, but it’s all very charming – it reminds me of a game I used to play called QWAK.