ARMS – Review

ARMS – Review

Platform- Nintendo Switch

Developer –  Nintendo

Publisher – Nintendo

MSRP – $59.99

Introduction:

ARMS

is a brand new IP coming from Nintendo and debuting only a couple of months since the release of the Nintendo Switch. ARMS is a fighting game but not in the traditional sense. ARMS’ fighting mechanics uses boxing as a reference point but allows the player to maneuver through jumps and dashes for intense and fast paced brawls. ARMS is a great new IP with tons of color, personality, and fun but lacks a serious amount of content for those seeking a single player modes on the go.

Story:

ARMS’

promotional material marketed this game’s story about humans developing crazy and powerful extendable arms for fighting. Alas, this narrative is nowhere to be found in the actual product of the game. Many of the story elements are hinted at, but there is no comprehensive mode that adds any kind of narrative substance. Each fighter has a unique backstory that is never fully developed or are summed up as one liners. The ARMS Grand Prix gives a bare-bone introduction for each fighter and the presentation is severely lacking. There is hardly any voice acting other than the announcer and the fighters yelling in battle. Finishing a Grand Prix rewards points, but each fighter’s ending is lack luster and without any context what so ever. ARMS rewards a player’s Grand Prix run with a badly drawn picture about what each fighter did after they beat the champ. This game not having story content is inexcusable when considering that other Nintendo IPs have story modes! Almost every Smash Bros. game includes a story mode, even Splatoon had a small single player story mode that was mediocre. ARMS not having a story mode hurts it’s chances to stay relevant with fans as a staple core Nintendo product, especially when you have a small cast of colorful and unique fighters. NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat and Injustice series have robust story modes with several character iconic characters. Namco Bandai and Arc System Works games also have story modes that gives backstories for fans about the characters they love. ARMS characters have a great design and look to them, characters like Min Min and Ninjara are memorable like Overwatch heroes! Granted that Overwatch is also lacking a story in their game as well, but there is enough material provided by both Blizzard and the community to fill in the gaps. I would like ARMS characters to be given proper stories and be fully fleshed with more single player content.

Gameplay:

ARMS’

gameplay mechanics are built on a solid foundation and implements a weakness triangle similar to the weapons triangle in Fire Emblem games. The ARMS triangle consists of punch, grab and block. Punches will beat grabs, grabs beats blocking, and blocking beats punches. This is a small tip of the iceberg that encompasses ARMS fighting mechanics. The game also heavily relies on spacial awareness, defensive tactics, and maneuvering curved punches. Players also have access to a Rush Attack, when the Rush meter is full you can unleash a series of punches that do a huge amount of damage in a small burst. Knowing when to use your Rush Attack can also be the deciding factor between victory or defeat. All stages have unique designs and stage hazards that the player needs to aware of in order to avoid certain pitfalls or using stage’s geometry to their advantage. There are battle items in the game that are delivered by a small drone during a fight. The drone can drop off a Rush Juice, Health Juice, a Fire Bomb or Shock Bomb. The juices will replenish your health or rush meter, depending which one is dropped, as long as the player stays withing a designated circle for a short amount of time. Fighting for control is key to healing or getting your Rush attack faster, similar to King of the Hill game modes. Fire Bombs can be punch into an enemy player’s direction and players caught in the blast will take damage. While the Shock Bomb will stun players caught in it’s blast, which leaves fighters wide open for a charged punch or Rush Attack. ARMS’ gameplay is carefully designed to make sure players are engaging each other at all times through he use of items and stages.

The controls are simple and easy to understand. There are a variety of ways to control your fighter. You can play with both JoyCons in each hand by using motion controls.  Which also involves having to use the triggers and bumpers to dash, jump and unleash a Rush Attack. You can also play using the JoyCon grip that came with the switch, a pro controller, or with a single JoyCon. Motion controls are a great and aren’t as horrible as other motion based games. Motion controls allow for precise punches while curving punches are much easier. Using the JoyCon grip and traditional buttons, the player can have faster inputs when chaining dashes and jumps for defensive play but at the cost of curved punch precision. Playing with motion controls is fun and great way to play in local multiplayer but online matches are a different story. Online matches requires more precision and speed when fighting other players. I’m glad that the game takes into consideration all the controller options but lacks the option to button map each action. Many times I accidentally used my Rush attack because I pressed the ZR when I didn’t mean too.

ARMS’ entire premise is built on using extendable ARMS(Boxing Gloves) that can spring across the map while manipulating its trajectory. Attacking in ARMS is satisfying and easy to understand but difficult to master. Punching requires precise timing, knowing where to punch, and knowing how to curve them. All fighters use the same techniques to fight each other but not all of them are created equal. Fighters like Min Min, Spring Man, and Ribbon Girl also have unique abilities that change their gameplay style. Min Min’s aerial dash can block an enemy punch and her left arm turns into a dragon, which powers up her left fist. Spring Man can dash cancel when charging his ARMS and block enemy attacks. He also has the ability to have fully charged ARMS when his health is low which makes him deadly if you can’t finish him off. There is a lot of variety and potential for competitive play when considering which fighter you bring, what ARMS you equip and what stage you fight on. Different ARMS have unique properties and effects that promote various attacking styles and strategies. Some ARMS like Chilla are medium-sized boxing gloves that can freeze opponents and slow down their movements. The Slapamander attacks like a whip and a fire Slapamander will do more damage while a wind Slapamander will push the opponent away. The Hydra shoots three vertical rockets which helps cover air space and is effective against aerial fighters like Ribbon Girl and Twintelle.

ARMS’ combat and fighting mechanics is not only fun but has potential for competitive play like Smash Bros. Knowing which ARMS or fighters to use will separate the casual player from the pros. There’s no telling how ARMS’ meta game will develop and if Nintendo will continually tune characters or ARMS through patches or content updates.

The Game Modes:

ARMS Grand Prix

ARMS

 offers a variety of fun and quick game modes that are perfect for local multiplayer or on the go gaming sessions. The main arcade mode is called ARMS Grand Prix with a total of 7 difficulties levels. Grand Prix gives a small introduction to each fighter and consists of 11 matches of one on one fights and other modes like V-Ball. There is a final boss that you must defeat in order to win and claim a huge amount of points to get more ARMS. On higher difficulties, there is a second secret final boss that is much more challenging and extremely difficult to beat.

Versus:

Versus mode allows up to 4 players to fight in various gameplay modes. Fight is a regular all out brawl between two players or a computer opponent. Team Fight allows for 2v2 fights with other players locally or against computer opponents. 2V2 fights have one small change when compared to other game modes. Both players on each team will be attached together with a color coordinating chain, this encourages teamwork and sticking to a strategy. V-Ball is ARMS version on volleyball were you punch an explosive volleyball into the other players side of the net. When the ball lands it will explode and award a point to the respective player. Hoops is ARMS version of basketball, grab a fighter and dunk them through the basketball hoop. You can also punch players into the surrounding springboard in order to land a dunk. Skillshot is a small mini-game between two fighters that face each other and race to see who can punch the most targets before the time runs out, all while avoiding each others punches and bombs. 1 on 100 is a solo game mode that is similar to a survival mode but lacks any kind of deep depth or progression. Training ARMS is a small training mode that introduces players to various ARMS and practice using them. Training is the last mode that has various tutorials to learn help players get better at dodging, counter grabs, and etc.

Party & Ranked Matches:

Party Matches can be played online or with another player, all players get placed in a lobby and the game will set up various fights with everyone in that lobby. Anything goes in Party Matches as you will engage in 1v1 fights, free-for-alls, V-Ball and other game modes. You can see everyone in the lobby as floating heads and the game will start pairing up available players. You gain more points in Party Matches the longer you play and there is a bonus for continuous wins. Players who aren’t doing well start the match with a full Rush Meter in order to balance the lobby. Ranked Matches are 1v1 fights against another ranked player online. Winning matches increased your rank and losing matches will rank you down. This mode is meant for competitive players who want to climb the ranks but there is no other incentive or progression other than gaining a higher rank. Ranker Matches are regular 1v1 fights meaning no V-Ball or Hoops.

Get ARMS:

You can unlock new ARMS by spending points earned through Grand Prix runs or multiplayer. The only way to get new ARMS is by playing a mini-game that requires the player to punch several targets, similar to Skillshot. This mini-game brings a new and fun twist to unlocking in game items when considering that the video game industry is moving towards randomly generated loot boxes. In Get ARMS, you spend 30, 100, or 200 points to play for a certain amount of time. The more points the player spends, the longer the timer and the more chances you get to unlock new ARMS. Get ARMS may be fun and a cool twist than unlocking a loot box but grinding for points makes the game feel longer than it is. Gaining enough points to play is inconsistent and unlocking the same ARMS gives you a + version of it, meaning your Slapamander hits a little bit harder than the regular one. It is still random which ARMS will drop during the mini-game and unlocking ARMS for characters you will never use makes it seem pointless. This game rewards a small amount of points in order to artificially pad the game length. Otherwise players would unlock everything in a matter of hours because there isn’t enough content to keep players engage other than multiplayer. Get ARMS is great and fun way to unlock more ARMS but grinding for points isn’t. You would need to fight an insane amount of multiplayer matches or run the Grand Prix for the billionth time.

Visuals and Sound:

The game visuals and sound design are perfect when conveying a silly but competitive fighting game. Character models are bright and vibrant with plenty of detail and personality. The main ARMS theme is catchy and the sound design for all the stages meld well with the background music. One of ARMS‘ greatest strength is the look of their fighters that is supported by the visual designs of various ARMS and each fighter’s corresponding stage. However, I do have to note that the backgrounds of each stage look terrible. The background is filled with stands of cheering fans that wear hats, the hats symbolize which fighter they root for but they look like construction paper puppets.

The game looks at its best when it is played in TV mode, in handheld mode some of the colors become a tad muted but its hardly noticeable. ARMS not only lacks a variety of content but its also proper voice acting for various fighters. There is an announcer that introduces each character when playing a Grand Prix, she will let you know when the fight starts or ends. The music is great and catchy, which emphasize the fun and silly aspects of ARMS’ combat.

Conclusion:

ARMS

is built on a great foundation and the fighting mechanics are fun for multiple players. This game has great potential to rise in popularity and become a mainstay Nintendo IP, similar to Splatoon. The fighters are unique, colorful, and all of them have their own style of ARMS combat. What hurts this game most is the lack of story, content for single players, and meaningful customization options. ARMS feels even more bare-bones then when Splatoon first launched on the Wii U. $59.99 may seem steep for some but ARMS is still worth the price of admission, since its doing something unique and special that can be enjoyed with multiple friends. If your looking for single player content and story, I would look elsewhere like Injustice 2.