Silver Dollar Games have finally released One Finger Death Punch on Xbox Live and it is without a doubt an instant hit. This kung-fu fighter is fast paced and action packed. If you think this is a simple game, you are severely mistaken. The concept of the game is you’re a stick figure ninja who stands in the middle of the screen and fights hoards of opponents, wielding weapons and throwing objects. When you play One Finger Death Punch, there are only two buttons you have to hit. That’s it; you don’t move, you don’t jump. You hit two buttons – The X button to hit opponents on the left of the screen, and the B button to hit opponents on the right of the screen. Nothing more, nothing less. There’s no button mashing going on here like regular fighting games. You need to hit the opponents when they come into your strike range, and if you hit too early or too late, you’ll miss.. This game is all about timing and creating killer combos. It’s amazing how much this stick figure kicks serious butt.
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When you play One Finger Death Punch, you can play through over 250 Levels, or you can play Survival mode. The Levels mode has three difficulties that you unlock by beating the levels on the first difficulty, which is Student. You then move up to Master and Grandmaster. In Survival, you have XB Survival, and then Blind Survival which you unlock by getting 500 kills in XB Survival. There is a mystery mode that’s unlocked after 500 kills in Blind Survival. I have focused a lot of my time so far in levels, because there are 13 different stage types that you’ll see, and they’re all very different, but a lot of fun.
Stage Types:
I won’t go through and list them all because there are a ton of great stages, but there are a few stage types that really stick out.
Light Sword Round- This is my favorite stage type for one simple reason; you get a “light sword”, and it is awesome. You get to be a Ninja Jedi and it’s amazing. Slicing through a hundred people running at you with ease is tons of fun.
Nunchuaku Round- To go off of what I said about the Light Sword Round, this round is awesome because you get nunchucks. But you don’t just get regular nunchucks. They’re these sort of light sword nunchucks. They also shred through opponents with ease and are tons of fun. These stages are the only time you get to use the Light Sword and Nunchucks.
Thunder Storm Round- This round is so unique and different from other rounds because of the art style. You and your opponents are blue, but the rest of the screen is dark, and sometimes flashes of light hit the screen when lightning strikes. This doesn’t make the game harder necessarily, but it makes it look amazing and it doesn’t pop up often.
Game Features:
One Finger Death Punch is such a deep game in terms of what weapons you can have, and what skills you can possess. You have five different kung-fu styles from Drunken Fist to Praying Mantis, and they all offer a bit of variety in the types of kicks and punches you land. There are also 12 different weapons that your opponents will carry with them into battle, and when you defeat them, you get their weapon. This can include arrows and daggers you can respectively shoot and throw. However, it also includes also swords and other pointy weapons that can widen your attack range and make for some gruesome stick figure kills. My favorite weapon in this game hands down is the Ball of Death. After you kill an opponent with the Ball of Death, you can kick it around like a soccer ball, it kills the first person it hits, then bounces back to you and you can kick it again. This is so much fun and it is extremely effective in taking out tons of people.
There are also 21 different skills that you can unlock and use that are very helpful. You can use three skills at any one time and they all offer something unique. The first couple skills you unlock will add the amount of arrows and daggers you get from your opponents from 1 to 3. From there, the skills range from forcing enemies to back off in fear, which activates after 32 kills, to your next attack wiping the screen of enemies, which activates after 37 kills. They can be super useful and offer up a change in pace and gameplay.
Summary:
One Finger Death Punch is a lot of fun and offers a lot more than most indie games can boast. I had little expectations going into this game because I had not heard a lot about it, but it turned out to be amazing. There are so many levels and weapons and skills to learn. The gameplay is very fun and easy to learn, but difficult to master. You will see hundreds of enemies on any given stage, and it’s fun to find new combos and creative ways to take them out. The variety of stages you will see is great and offers a fun change up from the regular Mob Stage, where you just go after a hundred or so bad guys. Plus, the game can speed up or slow down depending on your skill level. The art style of the game is amazing. I love the stick figures. It’s hilarious because once in a while after a nice combo, your character will perform an X-Ray on an opponent, much like in Mortal Kombat 9. It shows you punching their eye or heart out and it’s gruesome, but hilarious, because it’s done on a stick figure. I love this game and can’t say enough about it. It’s legitimately my favorite game right now. You need to check it out. It’s only a dollar on Xbox Live (and I hear it will be coming to PC soon)!
Final Score: 5/5
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