Literally Earth Splitting Fights
Released: Steam, Switch
Type: Single-player, Multiplayer
Genre: Action
Developer: Jollypunch Games
Publisher: Jollypunch Games
Release date: 28 May, 2020
Fight and Flight
Type: Single-player, Multiplayer
Genre: Action
Developer: Jollypunch Games
Publisher: Jollypunch Games
Release date: 28 May, 2020
Fight and Flight
Fly Punch Boom! Is a wacky 2D Action game is all about characters flying around in an arena and trying to kill each other in various ways (40+). You can play it with up to 4 players in a 2v2 team versus that ups the ante in terms of action on the screen.
It loosely reminds one of the old Dragon Ball Z games called Supersonic Warriors that came out on DS and 3DS by being able to fly around but that’s where the similarities end.
The Lore
In the world of Fly Punch Boom! there are creatures called punchies. They are super-powered entities that have only one thing in mind: Fighting and Punching each other. Within the collision of power, sometimes new ones get created, and right now there are 8 known while 2 are hidden.
There’s an extra lore option where you can read a little bit more detailed background story but that’s the gist of it. You’ll unlock further background stories by finishing the Arcade Mode with the respective character.
The Gameplay
The Content
As it’s a small indie game this is what you can expect: Arcade Mode, 1v1, Tag 2v2, Lore, unlockables, and Online. Putting the content into perspective, there’s a good chance that its better suited as a party game rather than singleplayer. A big part of the reason is the gameplay.
There are 8+2 characters in the game and 4+1 Arenas to fight in. The latter is filled with a lot of objects to interact with.
Tutorial
For those who’re worried about going into it and feeling lost, there’s a Tutorial readily available that leads you through the different mechanics.
Controls
Very simple is probably the best way to describe it. You can move around freely in 2D space with only 4 buttons in use. Initiating Attack, Dashing, Teleporting, and Special Move are all you have to take into account when playing.
Gameplay
The basic goal is to annihilate your opponent. There’s no time limit and two ways to achieve that goal. You either hit them into a fatality obstacle that activates an escape QTE or completely deplete the health of the character.
The QTE has 3 different speed options: Slow, Normal, and Fast.
Health and Fatality
The health is your standard currency of survival. By getting hit by attacks you lose various amounts of it and when you hit 0 your character will lose its head from the next incoming attack.
The other option is to push your opponent at obstacles that initiate an escape QTE that consists of a bar with a safe zone. One of those obstacles is the limit of the arena which acts like a ring out. Others are within the arena so make sure you are aiming your attacks accordingly.
Initially, it’s easy to escape the fatality QTEs. At full health, half of the bar is safe but it shrinks according to your remaining health.
Overall, the basic gameplan is to deplete the health of your opponent while trying to earn a quicker victory by smashing them against deadly obstacles.
Initiating Attack QTE (X-Button/Y-Button on Switch)
When you’re within a specific radius of each other, you can use the X-Button to initiate a Rock, Paper, Scissor type of mini-game. Within it, you have to decide between attacking, countering, or throwing. The latter is an extra Button that is only used when you’re attacking. You can choose your attack direction while in this mode.
While there’s a slight potential of waiting for your opponent to act first, the time frame is going to be too short for the majority of the players. At slow it’s more likely but still very difficult.
Attacks beat throws, throws beat counters, and counters beat attacks though there’s more to it. Throws do no damage in itself but can leave the opponent open for a follow-up attack and target a specific direction in order to throw them into a deadly obstacle.
Counter QTE
It’s a “Simon-Says” type of mini-game that requires you to push the highlighted buttons. When the QTE is initiated both fighters are put on a horizontal line to improve the visibility of the button prompts. In the beginning, this can become an issue of recognizing on which side each player is as it’s dependent on which side they are slanted on. Deal more damage by getting the buttons right.
Make a mistake and your opponent can free themselves from the counter, otherwise, it acts mostly as a successful hit.
The counter has an exclusive particularity as it can be beaten by a throw or doing nothing which leads the counter initiator into a stunned state.
Attack Strength
By initiating the attack QTE there’s a moving bar with the small far end being the Mega Attack that delivers more damage and trumps over normal attacks. The first half of it is a complete whiff which leads to a guaranteed loss in that particular clash.
Attack Clash
When both sides are attacking with the same attack at equal strength then another mini-game gets triggered. This is a simple contest of mashing X faster than your opponent.
Dashing and Rush Attack (A-Button/B-Button on Switch)
The dash gives you a short burst of speed and when to touch your opponent with it, it goes over into a rush attack where you can pummel them by pushing the Attack button. You can move while pummeling and your opponent can dodge the finishing haymaker attack.
Slamming Objects (Hold X-Button/Y-Button on Switch)
By ramming specific objects on the map you can turn them into projectiles against your opponent. It’s recommended to hit objects to cover a bigger area and increase your chance of hitting your opponent. Pretty much all objects will respawn after a little bit of time so there’s no fear to run out of things to slam into.
This, Offensive Special State, Rush Attack, and Special Attacks are the only way to circumvent the Rock, Paper, Scissor mini-game to deal damage.
Combos and Recovering from attacks
In a traditional sense, combos do not exist in this game and it’s more akin to Super Smash Bros. where you have to follow up in a fast and specific way. After each attack, the receiver will have to push a random button prompt to recover. If the recovery is too long or you pushed the button too late, your opponent can initiate a guaranteed attack with the attack button once again.
Teleport (Left Trigger/ZL on Switch)
Sometimes you recover into an opponent’s attack and this is where the teleport comes in. By holding the Teleport button you make a quick escape as soon as you have successfully inputted the random recovery prompt.
Each teleport requires some cooldown.
Special Attack (Right Trigger/ZR on Switch)
Throughout your fight, there will appear green special items that fill up your special move gauge. Gather 2 and it becomes available. Their strength is comparable to a normal attack but the range and width are exceptional, making it a very dangerous attack when you’re on low health.
Special State
Besides the Special Gauge, you will find another round special gauge. It fills up by doing various actions and once it’s full, it will unconditionally power up your character with a special trait. There are various special traits such as spawning bombs, bone projectiles, single attack buff, teleportation, etc.
The Power Up completely returns the character into a neutral state, hence even if you’re in danger of getting knocked into an obstacle fatality, it will prevent your momentum and save you.
Both the Special Attack and Special State are the biggest differentiators in terms of gameplay. Otherwise, the characters are being played the same.
2v2 Tag Multiplayer
Only 2 characters can be arena at the same time. After each attack, you sustain you automatically switch in your partner. In an attack clash, all 4 characters will receive damage. Super Moves and the Special States are not character specific and will count for both characters.
Online
There’s Quickplay and Hosting as options. You can also play singleplayer while waiting for matchmaking to do its job. The netplay seems to work fine and you can even try it out yourself in the demo.
At higher lag situations you will see some impossible things such as the opponent not visibly recovered but still recovering before your follow up an attack which can lead to a short brain freeze if you’re not ready for that eventuality.
The issue of button mashing as a gameplay element
From multiplayer experience, the frequency of button mashing is high and can easily tire you out which prevents the players from playing long sessions. There’s no indication of any anti-turbo-button measure present so if there’s none that it’ll be the easiest way to cheat.
There’s also the issue of accessibility but that’s another topic because it would require a rework to solve it.
Gameplay Impression
Fly Punch Boom! looks like a wacky game at first glance but overall it’s very easy to pick up and play. It’s all about Rock, Paper, Scissors, and ramming things with your dash to create projectiles or rush punch your opponent. Your main source of damage is the Rock, Paper Scissors mini-game which leads to a guessing/mind game between players. By that very nature, it’s more akin to a party game rather than a fighting game.
Due to the limited amount of options, you won’t see that much variety in gameplay. The characters are practically the same when you exclude their Special Attack and Special State. When you go through the Arcade Mode you will most likely feel the repetitiveness setting in rather fast after you’ve seen all of the stages.
Another issue crops up when you take the RPS gameplay, Mashing, and Singleplayer into account. Because you the only way to know whether the CPU is cheating or not is to let it do the first move in the RPS game though you will lose the mega-hit timing for that. Even on easy, it wasn’t a walk in the park, and in the latter half of the Arcade mode, I lost about 90% of the clash mashing mini-game.
Considering the lack of a timer you can expect some lengthy rounds.
No doubt, the RPS is not purely guessing but a culmination of information about the habits of your opponent (or maybe even reaction?) and when you get it right multiple times it leaves you nothing short of satisfied.
Multiplayer is going to be a different beast and is going to be more fun as there’s a legit guessing game between players. The 2v2 can add some more fun due to different player strategies but it can also become frustrating if one side has a weaker player on their side.
Graphics and Sound
Despite the emphasis on anime, I don’t see much of a resemblance. The closest thing might be the original One Punch Man by One or maybe Shin-Chan. Looking outside of the genre it seems more in the western cartoon genre. If we want to go out there then it kind of reminds one of the N64 game Rakuga Kids.
It doesn’t mean it looks bad. The visuals are very particular full of sprite work. You can see there’s a lot of passion put into the different arenas and their animations. The character’s animations aren’t bad either.
The music is rather unremarkable as I can’t remember any of them outside of the remix of the main theme. The attack sounds deliver some additional oomph to the visuals.
Verdict
Fly Punch Boom! is an interesting take in the brawler/fighter/party genre that offers some short fun but ultimately falls flat due to the simplistic gameplay that lacks variety. All characters have the same base and it’s more about choosing your special moves than full individuals. If there is indeed differences between them, then they are so subtle I didn’t notice them. Supposedly, there are might be some hidden moves but I couldn’t find them.
The different stages can only offset so much.
Ultimately, it’s a solid game but I recommend trying the demo before purchasing it due to the pricing at $14.99. Considering everything, I’ll have to give it a Save for Later due to the lack of compelling variety that severely hurts the longevity of the game. People who like RPS and mashing should give this one a try.
