ARMS

[Claytone]

Anyone tried this yet? They're running a beta (Global Testpunch) right now, and I'm interested in people's takes.

Some of the big figures in the Smash Bros. competitive community have praised it. I'm definitely interested in at least giving it a shot despite previously thinking it looked mediocre at best. Any thoughts?

[Kong Wen]

It looks like launch-window shovelware.

[Kreegs]

Its looks meh to me. I will wait and see, but I have many other games to play first. Picked up the Shovel Knight pack, and have already preordered Splatoon 2 and the new Retro Sonic game. Still looking for a great Neo Geo game that someone can recommend.

I dont want to get Arms just because it is an option during the launch window. I will get it if its good, but I am in no hurry.

[Claytone]

Right. I initially agreed with both of you, but I at least raised an eyebrow after seeing tweets of praise coming from multiple trustworthy (imo) sources from within the Smash community that have been given early copies of the game (of course, it bears mentioning that that generosity is the result of their relationship with Nintendo, which no doubt introduces bias). As with any game, I'm still in "wait and see" mode with respect to this, but hearing good things from folks that have actually played it inspires at least a little bit of early confidence.

In any case, looks like the only beta window I can really make is this Friday, so I guess I'll make my best effort to try it then. I'll let y'all know what I think.

[MerlinDrazziw]

I've played 3 matches on saturday, but did not get any feeling for the game. It looks ok, but just isn't a game for me. If they would give more offline practice time, maybe I would've given it more time. If it ever sells below €10 and has a proper offline mode, I might get it.

[Kong Wen]

I at least raised an eyebrow after seeing tweets of praise coming from multiple trustworthy (imo) sources from within the Smash community that have been given early copies of the game (of course, it bears mentioning that that generosity is the result of their relationship with Nintendo, which no doubt introduces bias).

I like the way you phrased this, because I agree that it hints at the truth. I don't think they'd be prone to bias because of a free copy of a game, for example, but because of the relationship that prompted Nintendo to deliver said game. It's likely that their excitement stems from the fact that Nintendo seems to be indicating they're planning on treating this like a competitive tourney game, which will make those players happy.

[neuzd]

Despite not being my kind of game and I don't think I'm going to buy it (at least not at full price), I had a ton of fun during the global testpunch, saturday.
I found it very polished, both in looks and in gameplay mechanics and it smelled of Nintendo from a mile away. I wouldn't call this a shovelware.
Not being a competitive person I don't think I'm qualified to add anything else.
Fun, yes, very much.

[The Shoemaker]

I played it twice, walked away not sure how to feel. I never got to the point where I felt like I understood the controls and the flow of battle, couldn't decide if I liked motion or button controls better. It feels like a game that would have a lot of momentum once you figure out how to play, but I didn't quite get to that point.

The way the Testpunch worked is they would throw you into either 1v1, 2v2, 1v1v1, and volley ball battles based on the available people in your lobby. I think I would have had an easier time understanding the controls if I could just play 1v1.

Currently, I feel like it's a good game with not a lot of content. But I feel the same way about traditional fighting games too. I was pretty excited about the game before the Testpunch, but I guess the Testpunch reminded me why I'm not a huge fan of the genre in the first place.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on reviews and word of mouth to see if there's more there than just what meets the eye.

As a side note, this game comes out the week of E3, the last day of E3 I'm pretty sure. I wonder how early they'll let reviews come out.

[neuzd]

The way the Testpunch worked is they would throw you into either 1v1, 2v2, 1v1v1, and volley ball battles based on the available people in your lobby. I think I would have had an easier time understanding the controls if I could just play 1v1.

Me too I struggled a little with the controls, but the ability to play warm up between battles was an unexpected welcome addition. I used that time to practice with controls, especially movement.
On a side note, I played only with the classic controller and there were also 4 players free-for-all. Definitely the worst matches, couldn't understand a thing of what was happening.

[Claytone]

Ended up buying this because I had enough friends getting it to justify grabbing it for some online fun.

My first impression is that it is remarkably feature-light. It's basically just your traditional single-player ladder mode and online/offline versus. That's it. Hard to justify that for $60 US, but I guess I paid for it, so here we are.

Beat the single-player on the easiest difficulty and had enough fun. You have to beat it on level 4 (out of 7) in order to access online play, so I've got a ways to go, but I find the gameplay fundamentally sound. Really looking forward to playing some humans whenever I unlock that ability.

I think this game has potential for a strong sequel or a goodwill, free update by Nintendo to flesh it out substantially. I would certainly like to see one or the other.