In 1984 the talented Japanese game designer Genya Takeda from the company Nintendo created an arcade Boxing simulator Punch-Out!! Its uniqueness lay in the fact that the player saw your character not on the side as in most fighting games of the time, but because of his back. The game was revolutionary for its time and received several sequels. In 2006, the success of the simulation box was fixed with the game Wii Sports, which sold a crazy number of copies, amounting to more than 80 million copies. Now, however, Nintendo decided to reinvent the genre anew, and came into the world game called ARMS. What’s special about it? Now I will tell you all about it.
It is not known how the developers of subdivisions Nintendo EPD came up with the idea of creating ARMS. But I suspect that the Japanese game designers just decided once again to destroy the main stereotype of the genre — to give close contact fighting. But how to allow players to hit each other, while being in opposite corners of the arena? Elementary, My Dear Watson! Let us give all characters in the game spiral elastic hands that can stretch several meters. It is done! For 16 June 2017, the game will go on sale exclusively for the Nintendo game console Switch. A few words, of course, need to say about the plot, although he is in ARMS marked symbolically and is present exclusively for the show. All swirling around the championship, which attracted ten talented fighters from around the world. Leading the championship is a strange creature, named Biff, which is a man in a mask with growing it on top of the palm. The new trailer introduces players to the course of the case, acquaints with the rules of the game, and also talks about the various intricacies and secrets.
The main strength of fighters of the unique fighting game centered in their fists that the game referred to it as ARMS. Here is the place to be a play on words: in English language “arms” is both “arms” and “hands”. ARMS come in several types. This may be a classic Boxing gloves all shapes and sizes, rocket launchers, launching shells into the enemy, the nozzle with a displaced center of gravity to get the opponent even if he hid from you for any specific object, and of course – slow and heavy weapons like “Morgenstern”, smashing everything in its path. All, without exception, ARMS is the main attribute: electric, fire, ice, wind, blast, stun and blindness. Electricity in this case is shocking and stunning the enemy for a short period of time, and the wind drops it with a miniature tornado. The ice that is to be expected, slow moves of the opponent, and the fire ignites and knocks him down. Before each round the player has the right to appoint to each hand of your character on one of the three types of ARMS, which he took with him into battle.
The game supports multiple control schemes. For example, you can play by taking a Nintendo console Switch in hand, or wearing controllers “Gascony” on the Grip holder. Can use Switch Pro Controller, and can and does remove Gascony and go to the so-called grip “thumbs up” when you control soldier with movements. Want to hit the right hand drop down make a movement forward, and if you slightly tilt your hand, you can adjust the trajectory of Boxing gloves. To stand in a blocking stance, just slightly tilt the controllers to each other. And so on. During the match the fighters can not only beat each other, but also know how to jump up and make leaps in different directions. Breakthrough work not only on earth, but during a jump, allowing you to Dodge enemy attacks while in the air. Hold down the jump or leap, you can recharge your ARMS that short period of time will increase the inflicted damage.
At the same time while still pressing strokes of each hand (or simultaneously hitting both controllers “daikon”), you can catch the opponent “virtual hands” and make a powerful throw of his character through the entire arena. If you adjust, you learn to throw the enemy into the air and punch him in flight. With every new blow that hits the opponent, the bottom of the screen is filled with small triangular scale. As soon as she burst into bright yellow flames, you get the opportunity to perform especially powerful combo a series of attacks, during which you are not afraid of any attack from the enemy. Such a shower of blows gives you an incomparable advantage in battle, so never forget to glance out of the corner of the eye on the fill level of the scale.
All ten of the game’s characters ARMS carefully crafted, is provided with a short biography up to indicate the height, weight, occupation and Hobbies, and also have various unique abilities. The boy named Springman, whose hands are metal springs that can recharge their fists and emit the pulse, is able to reflect the enemy attack, and when his health drops to below $ 25%, the ARMS of this character are automatically recharged. Pop star Ribboners able several times to jump while in the air and makes a spectacular Salto. Master of stealth Ninja RA easily teleported some distance in the jump and even from the state of a block. Big Master Mumm robust to various attacks and it is extremely difficult to knock down, and when he puts the block, his health is slowly recovering.
Girl Ming Ming with the hands of the Chinese noodles can during the jump the legs to fend off enemy attacks, and one of her arms during charging, turns into a fire-breathing dragon. Young talent Mechanics of flying over the ring inside his suit. Film star Twintel with ARMS mounted directly on the curls of her chic hairstyles, can slow down the attacks of opponents. Robocop Byte and his trusty metal dog Bark fight in pairs. Bytes can start from Barca and fly high above the arena. Stuntman kid Cobra faster than any other jumps, allowing him to effectively Dodge enemy attacks. Mysterious jelly-like substance helix is able to pin yourself into the ground or to stretch out like gum – to get into it. The game also have secret characters, but to reveal their identity I have no right. Let it be a surprise for you. It is not excluded that in the future Nintendo will be able to add new characters on a regular basis.
Combat strategy consists of a combination of the unique abilities of the characters, as well as from combination guns ARMS. Definitely help in the battle and unique arenas, each of which carries a special flair. Each of the characters in the game has its own arena, different from all the others not only externally, but also because of her hidden mechanisms and secrets. Arena Springman, for example, the perimeter is equipped with special springs, from which to push off and fly up high, but in the arena Rubbergirl from the floor nominated a bright glowing cubes, within which are hidden surprises. In the laboratory, which was created by the helix, set of flasks with strange creatures that can hide from blows or throwing them at the enemy. In the arena of the Wizard, Moomin under the destroyed stone ground hidden giant trampoline. And in the Snake Park, where fun kid Cobra, you can jump on floating in the air “smoebody” and fight, flying across the arena on them.
Despite the seeming simplicity of the game hides a lot of nuances, to experience and to learn that you will not immediately. For example, multiple attacks can incapacitate one or both hands of the opponent, especially if he likes to put the block. Heavy ARMS is able to easily repel the attack easier. If you are knocked down, as soon as possible tilt Gascony or analog grip controller in one of the two sides as soon as your character comes round – he rolled in that direction, dodging enemy attacks. If your enemy is often hiding behind a block and try to grab it with both hands and throw. And if he likes to make shots, stop his attempts with normal attacks. Reflecting attacks with a block, don’t forget to press the sprint button to do a counterattack. And don’t forget the game has a replay in order to analyze the behavior of the enemy and to identify our mistakes and weaknesses.
From time to time in the arenas there special items that can change the course of battle. For example, there is a bottle of “Medcompare”, which is a bit will fill your health bar if you will be nearby. Don’t forget to fling away from her opponent, so that he wouldn’t treat together with you. There is a “Swarmers”, which will charge your weapon with powerful energy. Periodically the arena drop bombs and even electrobabe. Push them in the direction of the enemy, because their explosion can at some time damage that will allow you to take advantage of his helplessness and to inflict a truly crushing blow. Use the objects and advantages of arenas with mind — and you cannot be cornered.
The game offers a whole heap of game modes. To start I recommend you with “Grand Prix”, offering consistently to beat ten opponents, after choosing one of seven difficulty levels of computer AI. Classic fights “till two wins” from time to time diluted fun mini-games. For example, “Basketball”, when you have to grab the enemy and throw it into a basketball Hoop, or “Volleyball” where you have to transfer through the mesh bomb in ball form until, until it blows up on one side. Mini-game “exactly!” offers to demolish their fists, jumping out of the ground target, and in the General account to bypass the enemy that does not sleep. For the destruction of several targets with one blow, you get extra bonus points.
Mode “Gym” supports one to four players. Moreover, if you have a second set jononov, you can play with your friend in split screen in half, sitting with him on the same couch (no TV, as it is possible to use the built-in screen Switch). The big screen, and can be divided into four parts to play the four, but it is unlikely that you home can have eight jononov. In “the Gym” you can set your own rules for matches: set the duration of the battle, the number of matches to establish the presence or absence of auxiliary items, the amount of health that the AI difficulty level and other settings. You can play teams of two on two, and also have fun in these mini-games, to which is added “the Battle against a hundred”. In this game you need to defeat a hundred opponents. Mode “Test of ARMS” will offer you to hold out in several fights with a randomly selected set of weapons. In addition, novice players will be able to go to the “Gym” basic training gameplay mechanics ARMS.
The “Lovers” implies that you want to fight against other players over the Network. The game will offer you entertainment by different rules, and to ensure that you do not get bored while waiting for a suitable opponent, you can stretch and stuff your faces to the nameless relatives Helixa. Unfortunately, I got the game before the release, so the online is virtually nobody. But the situation is no doubt will be corrected by June 16, when hundreds of thousands of players will go to the shops for the game. The second network mode is called “Pro” and is designed only for one player. As you may have guessed, is — rating fights. But to access this mode only if you have passed the “Grand prize” at least one character on the complexity not lower than 4th level. The third network mode “Friends” will allow you to invite your mates to join you by pre-agreed rules. The last mode is “Local match” is practically the same as “Friends”, only this time you will play on LAN against friends who along with their consoles Nintendo Switch located near you.
For victory over opponents and participate in different mini-games, you’ll receive a special virtual currency – coins with the letter “A”. Having accumulated 30 coins, you can access the mode “shooting ARMS”. Short game session in the dash will cost you 30 coins, at 100, and long – 200. During strictly designated time you will shoot your ARMS on timers, giving you extra seconds, targets, loyalty bonus points and boxes with surprises of which fall new types of weapons for different characters. To date, the game has 30 types of weapons, three of which are unlocked initially for each character. The rest will have to kick in the dash, and it is slow and extremely difficult. But in the end you will be able to find the perfect combination of ARMS of different characters and learn how to easily put any opponent on the shoulder.
In visual terms to the ARMS looks great. The graphics are very bright and colorful, stylish menus are intuitive, the characters are interestingly drawn and smartly animated. The arena is also impressive largely because traced to the smallest details that other developers wouldn’t even pay attention. But I have become accustomed to how serious Nintendo is about creating your own games. In terms of performance the game is sincere admiration. Frame rate in the game without split screen and 1080p resolution is kept on stable around 60 fps. When you split the screen in half resolution drops to 900p, but the framerate still shows 60 fps stable or the frame without deviating from the maximum score. But when the screen is divided into four parts, the framerate still drops to 30 fps, which is hardly surprising. In portable mode the resolution is reduced to 720p as this is the maximum ability built-in screen Nintendo Switch. Whatever it was, it is difficult to imagine that such a picture gives such a compact mobile device, especially given that the screen is something unimaginable. Once again Nintendo experts squeezed an incredible quality picture from the limited resources of iron.
Something style ARMS reminded me of the popular today team shooter Overwatch. Equally elaborate cartoon characters, sea of secrets and nuances that make the game much deeper than it may seem at first glance. The basic mechanics easy to learn, but to become “honored master of sport” on ARMS, have a lot of sweat. In addition, from the first seconds of fighting ARMS is strongly reminiscent of a colorful shooter Splatoon for Wii U. It is not surprising. For the development of both games meet the same people, today, are employees of the division EPD Nintendo, created by combining two other major divisions of the company – Nintendo EAD and Nintendo SPD. Within the walls of this Studio are the developers actively working on the creation of the game Splatoon 2, which is due out exclusively for the Nintendo Switch already on July 21.
Pros:
- The game turns the traditional idea of fighting games.
- The fantastic design of the game world, the interface and characters.
- As many as 30 weapons, each of which are worthy of study.
- Arena performed at the highest level and are fraught with many secrets.
- Surprisingly stable framerate in all modes.
- Carefully crafted and well-remembered characters.
- Multiple control options, including motion control.
- The game works just perfect. No bugs have been identified.
- Fun mini-games, able to greatly diversify the gameplay.
- Co-op mode Split Screen on the TV or the console screen.
- A bunch of online modes with fine tuning the gameplay.
- A simple concept, but very deep and thoughtful gameplay.
Cons:
- Lacks a full story campaign.
- Content in the game could be bigger.
Game ARMS embodies the perennial philosophy Nintendo: take a world old idea and breathe new life into it, simultaneously blurring in the dust all the stereotypes. To make seemingly simple concept a real feast for the eyes and mind that would be happy (and I’m sure at 100%) to play millions of people around the world. What never ceases to amaze me especially is the legendary Japanese quality control when the game is working so perfectly that even the most diligent mosquito nose will not undermine. If you are the owner of game console Nintendo Switch, at least a little fond of fighting and hungry for new sensations, headlong run June 16 to the nearest store and get yourself a cartridge with ARMS without the slightest hesitation.
Review game ARMS: the most unusual fighting game of recent years
Sergey Grey