Check-In, Knock-Out is a 4 player brawler that takes place in a QUADRUPLE overbooked hotel. There’s only one way to figure out who gets the room, an old fashioned fist fight!
Playing Check-In, Knock-Out is simple, use environmental items to knock other hotel guests right off the map! But be careful, because as items are picked up, there is less room to stand, the last thing you want to do is pick up the last block and fall through the bottom of the map. Using the environment as a weapon is a brilliant mechanic to ensure matches fast, fun, and have a steady difficulty increase. Environmental props will also pop up, allowing players to pick up explosive blocks, or a refrigerator that will plow through entire floors! In addition to the environmental aspect, each hotel guest has an unique ability. ‘The Mind’ can control thrown blocks with his mind, ‘Bob’ has wings that help him get around the map, ‘Dr. Doctor’ will throw explosive blocks, and Destiny gets 2 for 1 block pickups.
At PAX East, I randomly chose the controller for Destiny. At first, everything happened so fast, I didn’t even realize Destiny gets 2 for 1 blocks. After a couple matches, I started to get the intricacies down, noticed my abilities, other character abilities, and what to do. Matches started to get longer as players would counter, or plan their strategies more wisely than only grabbing the blocks directly below them. Check-In, Knock-Out is definitely a game that takes a few minutes to learn how to play, but tons of practice to master. Having that perfect learning curve ensures players will enjoy Check-In, Knock-Out long after its release date.
Lionade Games is developing Check-In, Knock-Out, and one interesting tidbit is all three employees of Lionade Games are students! Alex (CEO, tinyBuild) told me that he was visiting a college and stumbled upon Check-In, Knock-Out. Once he saw it, he had to play it, after he played it, he immediately saw its potential. Not to mention, Check-In, Knock-Out’s music is pretty awesome!
If you’re anxious to get your hands on Check-In, Knock-Out, it is coming to PC and (unspecified) consoles in 2015.
(Side note, picking up blocks from the ground oddly reminded me of Super Mario Bros. 2. I’m not exactly sure if that’s significant, but I enjoyed the nostalgia while playing Check-In, Knock-Out.)
Check-In, Knock-Out GIFs!
