Fight Forever is a choice-based entry by Pako, and it poses some challenges.
As a work, it is heavy on interactivity and light on story.
You are given one line of explanation ("After all failed, now that
everything is lost, you will fight") before being asked to choose a
destiny (character?), a sensei, and a team. Then you get to a screen with your character's
stats. If you select the "oracle" option, you can choose
the "about" link:
"Think of it as Second Life meets GTA meets Fight Night meets UFC meets Street Fighter."
That sounds amazing. But that wasn't my experience.
Another statement from the oracle:
"This interactive fiction is in itself the white paper. The goal is to grow this project from it's neonatal text-based existence to a console playable open-world that will bring esports to the minds of older audiences."
I was unable to find anything like a tutorial, or tooltips, or a meaningful discussion of what each choice meant. Someone who follows professional fighting tournaments might recognize some of these options, but I had no idea how choices would affect any of the stats being tracked for my character. (Similarly, I did not know how my stats would affect my performance.)
Inside Fight Forever, a walkthrough is available:
"As much as this is a fighting game, it's a word game. The further you get into it, the more cumbersome it is to take note of opponents' styles, fighter traits, strategies, and techniques. Take notes."
For a game centered around fighting, it's odd that the fights themselves involve no input from the player. Fights start, there is a loading sequence, and then the outcome is reported. If you don't die, you are returned to the screen with your main character's stats.
As a diagram of the backdrop for an amazing fighting game,
this entry looks great. As an actual game to be enjoyed by players, it needs a
lot of work.
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