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Post Date: 13:40 27-06-2010
Rating: 8
Author: awesomedrako
Comment: Toribash is a great game, and I really want to rate it higher. But, it does have one inherent problem. I'll talk about this later in the review. Firstly...
Graphics: 8/10
Graphics are simple I admit, with just two opponents to render, and both being basically stickmen. However, this has a purpose. It keeps you focused on the action instead of anything else (and in most fighting games, are you focused on the background or the fighters?). The stickmen-like combatants are also integral to the gameplay system, which I'll explain later. Finally, there's a lot of gore in this game, which adds to the 'fighting feel' of this game, but careful if you're squeamish!
Gameplay: 8/10
Now, on to the main topic of this game. The gameplay, which is the backbone of this game. Toribash uses a very unique combat system that is based on body parts. Yes, body parts. The reason why the combatants are stickmen is because it allows the game to show the major BODY PARTS of the combatants (for example, the abs, the knees, hips, the elbows...). The game splits the body up into several body parts, and combat happens in frames, almost as if you are editing a video when you're playing it.
You can choose how many frames to advance by, but what happens is:
You can contract or relax specific body parts.
You then advance the frames, and these body parts would be contracted, or relaxed as the frames progress.
You repeat this step over and over again, and the idea is to contract and relax body parts to make your combatant move and do something.
BUT, this is the inherent problem of the whole system. It is VERY hard to master. The learning curve, to me at least, is practically vertical. There are many body parts to choose from, and first time, you wouldn't know how to make your character do ANYTHING, let alone even execute a punch.
There are tutorials in the web, with some people posting step-by-step video tutorials of how to execute moves. I did these, and they worked, I executed punches, even a decapitation on a still AI. But I didn't know how to do anything else. To play Toribash, you'd have to know exactly what each body part will do when you contract/relax it. And then you'd have to contract/relax specific body parts to execute the moves you want, in ANY situation.
Unless you are an expert on martial arts, and what each muscle does in the body to execute a particular move, or even for the body to jump forwards (believe me, this is VERY complicated), Toribash will be very daunting to a new player. That is why I gave up on it, because I just couldn't be bothered to figure it out.
Conclusion: 8/10
The game idea is great, and it includes MULTIPLAYER! But, the very steep learning curve lets this game down a LOT.
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