In a time when the misogyny of the games industry is coming under ever-increasing scrutiny, we need a game that reminds us that women have a place in gaming…that they can be portrayed as strong. Independent. Capable of kicking just as much ass as their male counterparts. So, praise be that we now have such a game. Nope, not The Last of Us, no. No, not Beyond Two Souls either. I am, of course, referring to XBLA one-on-one fighter, Girl Fight… (Xbox Live Arcade, £6.75, published by Majesco, produced by Microprose and Kung Fu Factory)
Did you all pick up on the sarcasm? Good, because this game could only be more sexist and voyeuristic, if it had an up-skirt camera option.
The premise of the game itself isn’t the worst, assuming I’ve picked it up right. As far as I can tell, a number of females with unique abilities from a young age have been selected by a shady organisation called The Foundation to be moulded into elite fighting agents. Once of the correct age, these young women are inserted into a Matrix-like virtual construct to hone their skills in preparation for whatever dastardly deeds The Foundation requires of them. However, a rogue element within the construct appears to be revealing the truth to each of the women and encouraging them to fight their way back to their physical bodies and the freedom that brings.
Unfortunately, the reason I say “as far as I can tell” is that the game does a generally poor job of explaining this story in game. The story is told in arcade mode via poorly-voiced and unhelpfully vague narration between fights, as well as an entirely unexplained ending “movie”, which lasts all of 10 seconds. The real shame in all of this is that there is some pretty interesting backstory for each character, but it’s disgracefully locked away behind a pay wall of sorts, only able to be viewed in chunks in exchange for “Combits”, which are the game’s virtual currency gained during bouts.
Of course, Girl Fight being the game it is, you can forego buying these chunks of backstory in favour of buying “art” of the fighters, all of which features them in some salacious pose and state of undress. I’m all for freedom of expression, but it’s just a shame in this day and age to see a game sell itself in such a way.
Wrench. A mechanic. Of course.
As for the game itself, it appears to model itself pretty closely to the Dead or Alive series, moving along at a fair old pace and assigning all punches, kicks and grabs to just three buttons, with an additional button for guarding and countering. Unfortunately, it lacks anything approaching the depth of the DoA series, featuring only very basic combos and very few special moves.
Where Girl Fight tries to set itself apart is with its implementation of buffs, known in this game as “Psi Amps”. Every fighter begins each round with two “Psi Amps” at their disposal, mapped to the triggers. These provided temporary buffs on the offensive or defensive sides. For example, with the character Warchild, pressing LT triggers something called “Steel Skin”. Unsurprisingly, this reduces the amount of damage you will take from your opponent’s offence for around 7 seconds. Pressing RT triggers “Life Leech”, which essentially transfers health to your health bar for every hit you land on your opponent. Some of the “Psi Amps” are actually pretty handy, especially in later rounds, and new or upgraded “Psi Amps” are another thing that you can spend your hard-earned “Combits” on.
Graphically, the game is competent without being spectacular. The character models are animated well enough in a nice cel-shaded art style. Collision detection is solid. Replays are generally smooth. Backgrounds are a little sparse, but serve a purpose. The game’s main problem from a performance standpoint is that the pace of it can sometimes cause some pretty substantial dips in frame rate, which is a little disappointing for a game that can’t be pushing the hardware too much.
Putting aside the game’s questionable method of selling itself, perhaps the game’s biggest problem is with its rather cheap attempts at forcing replayability. There are 8 selectable characters in total. However, only one of those – Warchild – is available from the start. To unlock the remaining characters, the game forces you to play through its entire arcade mode on seven separate occasions. That’s seven separate 8-fight campaigns against the same seven characters with the same movesets and the same “Psi Amps”. I accept that it’s a cheap downloadable title but, in these days of rosters in the 40s, it’s just too repetitive to contemplate.
Lastly, the game features an online mode, but as you’d expect, it’s already sparsely populated and, as such, as I wasn’t actually able to find anyone to play against, so I can’t even judge its netcode and any inherent issues that go along with it.
So, in conclusion, as a fighting game, Girl Fight certainly isn’t as bad as some would have you believe. Its fighting mechanics are most definitely a step up from Kung Fu Factory’s previous effort in Spartacus Legends, and everything feels pretty solid. However, once you add in its questionable focus, its artificial lengthening, its miniscule roster, and its maddeningly hidden backstory, it’s just too difficult to justify a purchase against similarly-priced-but-much-deeper titles such as Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Skullgirls or Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
Judgement: Girl Fight may be worth a pop when it inevitably ends up in a half-price sale, but it’s just too difficult to recommend at present. As such, it’s a MISS, I’m afraid.
You must be logged in to post a comment.