Day 232, Game 232 - Divekick

I know I have written about fighting games before. I can't remember exactly which game it was that prompted me to share my thoughts on the fighting game genre, but I know I wrote about it. If you remember that post, well, for one, you should write in to me and refresh my memory what game it was (so I don't write about it again), but secondly, you should remember my personal feelings on fighting games. Well, that is, if your memory is better than mine. 

As a refresher, let me break it down for you real quick. I love fighting games. Absolutely adore them. Unfortunately, my skill level of fighting games doesn't even come close to matching how much I love to play them, which is bizarre. You would think that if someone loves a genre of games, and plays a bunch of them, that they would be half-way decent, right? Well, I'm the exception to the rule. No matter how much I play a fighting game and how well I study the move-sets and practice them, I get absolutely destroyed by others when I try to put my training to the test.

I really can't explain why, either. I would say my hand-eye coordination, but that would effect other types of games, if not all video games, as well, right? Maybe I'm just not fast enough, or have slow reaction times. Maybe my fingers can't accurately hit the diagonal position of the D-pad as accurately as I need. Like I said, I really have no idea. 

With all that being said, and risking the possibility of writing a post exactly like an old one, I can happily say I found a fighting game that I can be good at. Not just good, but dominant. Well, I think I can. That's the thing with Divekick; no matter how good you think you are, the game revolves around sheer luck and guessing, meaning any Joe Schmoe off the street can play for the first time and easily beat a seasoned veteran. How is that possible, you say? Allow me to explain. 

Divekick was not created to be played by hardcore fighting game fanatics, or be a tournament game at Evo, the largest fighting game tournament in the world, where the best of the best compete. No, this game is made for everyone else, who play fighting games for the fun of it, and just want to have fun while playing the games, not be constantly devastated by inabilities to perform perfect combos with perfect timing. Divekick is for the masses, as they say.

This game is the epitome of simplicity. There are only two buttons to control the action. No, seriously. Just two buttons. One for jumping, and the other for divekicking. You can't move your player forward or backwards, you can't block, you can't perform any sort of combos. All you can do is jump up, and divekick in the direction of your opponent. You can perform a kickback, which is an evasion maneuver, for most characters by hitting the kick button before jumping. Also, pushing both buttons at once will perform a special move, individualized for each character. If you manage to hit your opponent before they hit you, you win. Just one hit ends the round. The fact that there is even a health bar is comical in its own right. 

Each fight consists of a best-of-nine series, which basically means the first one to win 5 rounds, wins the match. With one-hit kills, the matches usually go pretty quickly, unless you and your opponent play a game of chicken and just keep jumping up, afraid to make the first move. In reality, this game is all about timing. Nail the timing of your kick and you'll reign supreme. If your opponent has better timing than you, that will mark success in their favor. Sure, some skill comes in to play, but overall, it's a lot more random and luck driven than skill-based. Which is why this game is fun, not frustrating. 

This game is available for Steam, but also for PS3 and Vita, which are available as a cross-buy. Buy it for one Sony platform, get it for the other one for free. Sweet deal, huh? For me, I'm playing it on my Vita, but only because it is such a fun, quick little game to pick up and play in short bursts, especially on the go. 

So there you have it. A fighting game I can fully support. That is, until some who has never played before challenges me and destroys me. At that point, I'll swear off fighting games forever. Maybe. Probably not, but it's nice to think about anyway. 

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