Divekick

8.3 Overall Score
Gameplay: 8/10
Fun Factor: 9/10
Sound: 8/10

Extremely fun | Simple controls | Voice acting

Finding an online match | Can get repetitive in story mode | Lackluster special moves

Game Info

GAME NAME: Divekick

DEVELOPER(S): Iron Galaxy

PUBLISHER(S): Iron Galaxy

PLATFORM(S): PSN, Vita, PC Steam

GENRE(S): Fighting

RELEASE DATE(S): August 20, 2013

Modern fighting games are hard.  With characters possessing a seemingly infinite amount of finger-twisting moves to input, it’s pretty easy to get turned off rather quickly, especially when playing online against (what must be) aliens with four arms and 16 fingers.  This is where the simplified Divekick comes in, both paying tribute to and parodying the fighting game genre.

MarkManSKill-PNG

Dive.  Kick.  Those are your only two moves.  Seriously.  That’s it.  Just two buttons (of your choosing) are used for the entire game, including in the menu navigation.  You don’t even get to use an analog stick or control pad to move your character.  Instead you move by diving (aka jumping) and kicking forward.  You might say this would make for an extremely shallow and funless game.  You’d be wrong.  (You should also stop saying funless because it’s not a real word.)  While everyone’s move set is limited to these two actions, each character performs them differently.  Some characters jump higher or descend slower.  Some characters come down with their kicks at different angles.  Each character is noticeably different in how they perform these moves (except for the identical palette-swapped twins Dive & Kick that pay tribute to Ryu & Ken), providing a great deal of depth as you figure out the best method of attack.  You can also choose a gem before you fight that can enhance your diving, your kicking or the building of a meter that lets you perform special moves.  These moves are more like an overbearing mother’s definition of special however, as they mostly consist of a quicker or floatier dive or kick.  There are a few exceptions, like the ability to change locations via a portal or the playable final boss’s block/transport abilities.  I mostly ignored all of these special moves because they didn’t seem to help in any way, except for the ones mentioned above.

MrN-PNG

But is the game actually any fun to play with these limited move sets and differences?  The short answer:  yes.  The long answer:  hell yes.  With only two buttons to worry about, you can concentrate more on setting up your attack or defenses and less on inputting 108 button presses and stick rotations in 2.3 seconds for an unblockable mega-ultra combo.  Besides, you don’t need combos, because every match is a one-kick kill.  That’s right.  Get kicked once, you lose the round.  Get kicked in the head, you start the next round dizzy.  First to five kicks wins the match.  As you can imagine, this makes for some pretty frantic matches as you narrowly avoid making contact with your opponent.

Each of the 13 characters features their very own hilarious back story that unfolds in story mode.  These story modes are fun in small doses, but can get a little repetitive if you try to binge on a bunch at a time.  If you fancy real opponents, but nobody wants to come to your house because you never offer them any good snacks or soft toilet paper, you can compete online in ranked or unranked matches.  You can also create lobbies to find your friends or the perfect opponent.  Online play is smooth and I didn’t experience any hiccups in game play.  You can see the current lag ping before every match, so you know what you’re getting yourself into either way.  I did have a hard time finding a random ranked match to play only two weeks after launch on PS3.  It was enough times to be noticeable over the course of a weekend, so hopefully the community continues to grow in that regard.  While this is a great time playing against the AI or online opponents, it is at its best when playing a fellow human on your couch.  While there is voice chat when playing online, the interaction with your local companion can’t be beat.  Though beware of playful elbows to ribs and creative curse words.  I can see this becoming the next big bar tournament game.

RedactedMarkMan-PNG

The art style of Divekick definitely has a cartoon feel to it, but it works perfectly with the game.  Some of the character designs do seem a little generic, but overall everything looks good and animates nicely.  The music is your standard forgetful background music, but the sound really shines in the cries of defeat each character exclaims when they are kicked down.  Hearing a rotund fighter in pink footie pajamas yell “Dolla dolla bills, y’all!” in a high falsetto voice is a particularly fond highlight.  The announcer work is also stellar, eliciting a chuckle before every match as he comes up with a new way to shout “DIVEKICK!”  Another subtle touch that adds to the charm of the game is the pre-match loading screen tips dispensed by Uncle Sensei.  These tips mock a wide range of pop-culture topics, including the pointlessness of their very existence in other fighting games.  Make sure you read each and every one if your face enjoys smiling.

KickSensei-PNG

THE RECOMMENDATION

While the concept of Divekick doesn’t seem terribly complicated, it’s a blast to play, especially with other people.  Sure, it’s not perfect, but if you’re looking for the ultimate easy-to-learn-hard-to-master fighting game that anyone can enjoy, regardless of skill level and double-jointedness, you should give Divekick a look.

**Review Based on PS3 Version

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Author: Shaun Zimmerman View all posts by
Still waiting for the Commodore 128... Find me on Twitter @Zimm108