Don't let the game's seemingly cute exterior faze you, this game is fun and very challenging later on.
Take a look at most NES era games and you'll have an idea at how detailed things are, however I do have one thing to say about this that separates Kickle from other NES games, it's more bubbly and shiny. More like a cartoon than a low resolution NES game. That graphical quality is something that sets it off from other NES games of the time. Nothing outstanding but it was passable graphical endeavour on par with other puzzle games such as the Adventures of Lolo for example.
The sound is a repetitious cycle that's saccharine sweet, yet wholly forgettable. The sound effects are few and far between besides blowing snow, smashing ice blocks and smearing enemies or using the various obstacles and tools in the game. The boss music is intense and less sickeningly sweet. Being an NES era game mind you, don't expect a lot in terms of dialogue or especially voice overs, but rather Peanuts-esque "wah wah wah wah" with digital beeps and boops instead.
The game itself basically takes place on a square grid of ice and rocks and enemy producing squares and other obstacles. Kickle needs to gather all 3 magical bags or pouches, whatever they are. Why? It's never made clear, but you do, so deal with it. You have to make ice blocks to fulfill your mission and traverse the board and get the 3 bags.
To make the blocks you usually have to freeze enemies, and most often those are little slimey blue blobs with eyes. When you kick the ice block it slides forward until it hits something, whether that be water, another wall, a self made ice peg (Kickle can do that without needing monsters to freeze), a hammer or spring or whatever. Some levels are simply freeze a few monsters, kick the ice blocks into the water and get over the newly made ice bridge. Others involve using a properly setup array of hammers to move the block in a path that Kickle would normally be unable to do linearly. Others involve freezing a block, but allowing an ENEMY to kick it at you in the right direction, namely testing your skill and patience. Other missions simply involve navigating narrow corridors and blocking off enemies with your ice pegs at the proper time.
The game I admit is quite easy until you reach the 4th kingdom for the most part, then it really ramps up. And for those who want even more of a challenge, take on the bonus round at the end of the game, I've never beaten it in the past 17 years since I first played this game.
All said and done, I've probably flew through this game a good half dozen times, each play through is about 4 to 5 hours long... assuming you are good at puzzles or have beaten it first. I can't say how long it takes to beat the bonus rounds at the end because I've never accomplished it, but it certainly is a nice bonus. So anyone looking for a fun old school puzzle game, I suggest looking into this game and ignoring it seemingly kiddie exterior and pay attention to the rich puzzle interior.