So I remember a few years past when stickman animations were running the show on YouTube. They were so amazing, it was pure entertainment, with different variations coming out. I searched for "naruto stickmen fight" , "goku vs naruto stickmen fight" and all sort of things.
Of cause things quickly got over the top, with people creating stickmen "ultimate" figure fight with massive weapons and all those things, lasers, machine guns, super powers.
Gaming with stickmen
The first game I played that used the stickman idea was "super action hero".
It was a game with no clear objective. You simply battled waves of enemies in mission style platform based gameplay.
There were masks that could be collected that had special powers or so to speak.
A very fun and interesting game, it had a server option I think, where players from around the world could battle each other, although the servers are mostly dead now.
Its all nostalgic, when considering that yet again, another game seems to be out that runs on the stickmen concept.
Stick Fight:The game review
I have only played this game twice or thereabout. My friend has it running on his computer and its fantastic.
So at first glance, this game seems to be everything that a stickman fan could want. According to the developers, and the official description on steam,
- Stick Fight is a physics based couch/online fighting game where you battle it out as the iconic stick figures from the golden age of the internet. Fight it out against your friends or find random sticks from around the world! - stick fight steam description
Even from the description, we get the idea that the main feel going on here is the classic stickman youtube animation feelings and they get that down flat.
The game can be played by 2 to 4 people, connected online or through a local multiplayer system, unfortunately there is no single player mode, so if you're one without friends, you are going to have to find random players online to play with, which I must confess isn't as nearly interesting as laying with friends, so get some friends!.
The game is run on a physics engine. If you have ever used newton2 on after effects, you get the idea of what a physics engine runs like.
The interesting part of the gameplay is Tue vast varieties of weapons, stages and surprises that can jump at you.
The first stage almost always seem to be a greenish tree zone, then after that the game seems to randomly select.
The steam description gives it as "80 highly interactive levels!" and "lots of weapons!"
So far so good, I have seen the following weapons
Pistols, shotguns, snake guns, railguns, lasers, knife, grenade, alien tech, and so much more.
On any given level, you can be surprised by several instances, chief of which is the blackhole.
I personally have not yet experienced the blackhole, but YouTube videos show it happening. There are levels which are set like a balancing scale, movements and bounces and other actions makes the entire stage to topple over, or you could be in a state where lasers shoot from the sky!
The gameplay experience is really awesome, there are a few pros and cons though.
Stick fight pros
- Very visually pleasing, I.e the colour scheme is awesome, the 4 stickmen have the colour, blue, red, green, yellow.
- Can choose from a lot of weapons
- Maps are interactive and awesome
- Local multiplayer is available(really helpful for us in Nigeria that has a slow internet)
- the gameplay and animation is exciting, hmm, like really interesting, jumpy, explosive, etc.
The cons
- No single player mode
- No achievement tab
- No map selection
- No map skipping
- No 2v2 gameplay, at least a PvP gameplay should be interstings, instead of only free-for-all
Overall
All in all, the game is very interesting, but as it is, it only serves as to occupy the mind for a little while before you eventually get bored again, the game needs a few more spazz.
If the 2 player vs 2 player gameplay, and more level, achievements, leaderboard etc are added, things would go really well.
That's all for now, please tune in to my blog again.