ARMS - a game released only for the Nintendo Switch console. I think I can see a pattern of how game worlds are created in Nintendo. First, someone comes up with the game mechanics, and then someone else works out how to create a reality that will allow you to use these mechanics in the most bizarre way possible. Hence, in the ARMS world, some individuals exhibit a strange mutation that turns their upper limbs - and in one case the pigtails, why not - into stretchy springs. These spring-arms have been taking part in the popular boxing championship since then, because there are no strange mutations for this, not to make them amuse for the people. And this is where the ARMS storyline practically ends because the game has no story - there are some characters, their personality characteristics are limited to one sentence during the presentation and these characters are crashing into the arenas with their ... "fists" The game's story mode it's not a story mode, but just a series of fights punctuated by a text commentary by a sports commentator who says a few words about each player and has an arm on his head. Yes, the commentator has a shoulder on his head because the game is called ARMS.
Let's take a look at the gameplay. ARMS is Nintendo's biggest marketing and image lie. Both the advertisements and the game itself suggest at the beginning that movement is the correct method of playing here. Take two Joy-cones in your hands and hold them with your thumbs stretched out. By tilting them together, you can walk, cross and block, and by dealing physical blows, throw the spring-fists in front of you and twist them by twisting your wrist during attacks. The buttons are only used with your thumbs to jump, dodge and launch a charged special. And yes, it can be played like that. For half an hour, maybe an hour. And only in single-player modes, and not too much. And it's not because the hands hurt, it's not even the point. The problem is different. Games with motion control are associated quite every bit. Well, we will wave our legs, we will tire, we will release endorphins, we will get over something by the way and it will be generally idyllic. Only not here. At the start of a singles competition, the game asks about the difficulty level. For starters, I chose one in the middle of the scale. The game ran over me with a tank. I went a little lower. The game rolled over me.
I went even lower. I almost won, but what if “almost” if it still means I lost. It was only in the lower parts of the difficulty level scale that I started to achieve something, and only because on the way I stopped waving my paws like a gorilla and started using buttons and an analog to play, because yes - in ARMS you can play motionlessly, using classic controller elements. Because ARMS is not a random swing of limbs in the style of some Punch-Out. This is a - quite peculiar, but quite playable and rather difficult - brawl. A fight with a view from behind the back played in a fully three-dimensional environment, built on a lot of interesting assumptions. Here is our player. We can swing one fist with one button and the other with the other. Strikes can stop a block, but blocking does not protect against grips that are made by attacking with both fists at the same time. Meanwhile, an incoming catch can be smashed with a normal blow.
It's such a classic system in the style of paper, stone, and scissors - each attack loses to one and wins to the other. The blow wins with the catch, the grip with the block, and the block with the punch. In addition, there are jumps, dodges, and the limbs thrown in front of you can be twisted to make it difficult for the opponent to escape from the incoming slapster. In addition, each character has a special property - multiple jumps, anti-shock mass, stronger attacks with low health, and so on. And there are gloves. Each player has his own set to choose from, he can wear a different glove on each hand, and over the course of the game, we unlock the weapons of other characters for a given boxer. There are large, slow balls that push other people's gloves out of the way, there are three arrows that extend the range of the blow, boomerangs flying in an arc, and many of them, after charging, gain additional effects - setting fire to, slowing down and freezing or electrocuting and shutting down the enemy's limbs for a moment. fighting.
All these elements allow you to create various tactics and create a fighting style of a compressed boxer, and the pace and relatively precise collision detection constitute the challenge and depth of the game. Because that's the point - ARMS is simply difficult. Like a hardcore, serious fight. And playing it with movement is a completely missed idea - in a single you can still win something with it, but when we want to try the main course - network fights - only the buttons will save us from a disastrous defeat because they offer faster and more reliable reactions. The thing is at 60 frames per second, offering solid control responsiveness, and you can fight each other locally on a split-screen. Playing in motion would require the purchase of an additional Joy-Con set, but if we play using the buttons, a single Joy-Con is enough for each player and you can easily play with two using what the basic console set offers.
In addition to the usual one-on-one duels, the game also has a few additional modes - something like volleyball, in which you throw the bomb to the opponent's side, basketball with throwing the opponent into the basket with grips, scoring points by capturing shields popping up between players and a few others. There are also two-on-two battles, and even co-op fights with a tight boss, but overall the game doesn't impress with overactivity. I mean - there are enough characters, as many arenas, and there are a lot of different types of gloves, so from the core side of the game nothing is missing, but there is a lack of a campaign with a bit of story, background for individual characters - something that characterizes almost all fights.
And that's probably ARMS's biggest problem - the game looks like a very well-functioning prototype, but lacks content. As if someone had built a system, developed and polished it so that it would work well, but the budget for the project did not include making it a decent, big game. For comparison - such a Splatoon 2, although also relatively low-cost, compared to ARMS is a much more complete production with a campaign lasting several hours and a lot of additional activities. Nevertheless, it is very fun to play, duels with online players bring a lot of emotions and show how many different tactics are possible thanks to the combat mechanics invented by the creators. And ARMS generates fewer problems at the match stage than Splatoon 2, but that's not surprising - here you need one opponent to start a fight, not seven. And here's the whole ARMS. Stylistically pleasant, well-designed, and unusual killing, which is not at all a casual, fitness game that it may seem from a distance. It is a pity that this solid, spring-loaded skeleton is a bit lacking in meat - as if it was more of a prototype than a finished product. Still - it's good to see that Nintendo is still trying to come up with original games and can still surprise you with good ideas. Well, enjoy infusing yourself with spring fists!