I used to hate seeing Vampire Survivors clones. I unashamedly loved that game and its lo-fi brilliance and jittery twists, and laughed when it displaced games hundreds of times its size at awards ceremonies. Look at this outrageously basic pretender getting all the attention: it was anarchic and exciting. But because he had such a brilliant moment, imitators inevitably followed, drooling over their imagined low-investment, high-return piece of pie. That they lick even the crumbs off the plate still bothers me; They offered nothing but greed.
That's the mentality I saw Karate Survivor arrive with: a squinty-eyed martial arts grimace. Here's a game shameless enough to even mimic the name Vampire Survivors. Aren't you ashamed? But I'll tell you one thing: it's great. It completely uses Vampire Survivors as a base, but it also does more than that, and shows that this subgenre still has interesting things to offer when approached with the right mindset.
So how can you take advantage of the Vampire Survivors idea? Simple: you introduce Jackie Chan. Not literally, I imagine the license comes with a hefty price tag, but these are the same kind of late 80s/early 90s kung-fu action movies that Chan is famous for. Think Police Story or Rumble in the Bronx. Think of Chan wandering around kitchens while grabbing pots and pans and hitting people over the head with them. Think of Chan climbing ladders and then using the same ladders to spin around and punch people. Think overwhelming odds and yet somehow Chan pulls it off.
That is Karate Survivor, a kind of rethought beat'em-up with an auto-attack system to the Vampire Survivors, and colored in a bright '90s stonewashed jeans aesthetic. It's full of ridiculous roundhouses and packed with every kind of prop you can imagine to beat someone up with, a bit like the games Yakuza and Like A Dragon. You can run and somersault off walls, fall on tables, kick concrete mixers, buckets and destroy the landscape; even spinning around in office chairs to do a sort of lazy hurricane kick. You can do something with almost everything you see.
But what I admire is how deeply the martial arts theme has been applied, right down to the core of the game. As you level up, you unlock new moves (and passives) that you place on a hotbar and then they are “played,” so to speak, in sequence. The trick is to chain attacks in numbered order to activate bonus effects, just like you try to chain complementary sequences of martial arts moves in real life. Hey, I practiced ninjutsu for five lessons, so I think I know what I'm talking about. Match the color of the moves, too, and the combo bonuses will be even better: attacks gain additional shockwaves or glowing Hadouken-like effects, and these will dramatically improve your chances of crushing the punk-haired, ripped-sleeve horde that's coming your way. surrounds
But do you prefer red or blue attacks? Or hold out hope for the lucrative yellows, which are incredibly powerful but also incredibly rare? Wait too long and you could miss the opportunity to create an entire series of attacks in a different color. This is the Karate Survivor strategy and it's satisfying to chew on. On top of that, place a selection of passive upgrades and plot routes around levels to maximize potential environmental damage and access powerful pickup items, and there's plenty to think about, as well as the basic skill of timing your attack sequence correctly. and stay away. from the reach of the enemies.
I like it and I also like how it looks. The attention to detail in the animation is lovely, when you crouch and twist, start kicking the ground and then lean forward so your heel rises towards someone's taunting movements, or when you lean back and You kick and punch in all directions like the wonderful actress Michelle Yeoh. Impossible Stunts: It's the reason I watch martial arts movies in the first place: I love watching people do things I can't.
It's an impressive package. There are different levels designed like VHS tapes, as if you were putting in cassettes to play them, and there are bosses with nice graphical screens and multiple difficulty levels for when you feel like upping the challenge; although it is difficult enough. Plus, the more you play, the more new moves you unlock, which are just as fun to see in action, whether they're attacks (I love the helicopter kick) or environmental interactions like elbowing a piece of wood. so punch an enemy or pole-vault over the gaps between buildings (a nifty escape route). It means that the more you play, the closer you will come to tearing through a level like a tornado, spinning, throwing, hitting and pulverizing everything that comes your way. Like Jackie Chan.