Arms. They’re handy.
Well, the handies are the things on the ends of them. But, unless
you’re Rayman, you’d be pretty useless without them. Uh, arms that
is, not hands. Although you’d be pretty much stuffed without them,
too, we guess.
Hmm, this isn’t going well.
Hey,
remember Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! on the NES? That’s
basically what ARMS ar- erm, is. Except the boxer with a
penchant for ear nibbling is replaced by a bunch of different robotic
suits and sproingy-woingy limbs. So, mash Mike together with the
roster from Overwatch and you’ll kind of have an idea what
you’re in for.
Pick a battler, choose your special weapon
for each hand, select an arena, and go the springy biff. Seriously, just try
not to have fun.
The big advantage over Punch-Out!!
is being able to play with Joy-Cons. Sure, the Power Glove was all
kinds of awesome (in every way except useability), but it had
nothing on this. Hold them sideways and upwards, one in each hand,
and just punch. Bend your jab in mid-air and go the bendy blow. Tilt
them in towards each other to block an opponent’s puny attempt at
hitting you. Tilt them both the same way to move in that direction.
Use the top buttons to variously jump, sneak forward or fire your
special attack once charged.
Give it 10 minutes of
acclimatisation and you’ll have the basics of ARMS down.
Give it longer and you’ll nut out sneaky strategies – which will
vary depending upon which character you’ve chosen as your metal
puppet.
ARMS may not have the depth of many other
games, but it has a fun factor that’s through the roof. With a slick
online system, local single or multiplayer and more characters
promised – and for free - it’s destined to be... wait for it... a
big hit!
