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Arms Review Thread

This is as bad as I thought it would be. The content is just not enough. They should've sold it for like $29-$49 it will be easier to swallow. It should also have combos i feel it would make the game more engaging than just guiding a punch like a bullet. More characters would've been nice as well. They seemed to have put a lot of effort into the models.
 
xxbrothawizxx63 said:
I get that, and I'm sure many reviewers took that into account. Still, the game doesn't exist in a vacuum. While it may be the only quality title in the genre on the system at the moment, that could change.

At the same time, Kid Icarus: Uprising might as well have been a new IP, but that didn't stop Sakurai and Sora from releasing one of the most content complete games Nintendo ever produced. It could have been done.

If anything, I wish Nintendo was able to find a unique way to adapt their design philosophies and reluctance to dive head first into the character driven story telling and campaigns that are common today (probably for the better in terms of wide appeal) to the Arms gameplay formula like they were able to with Splatoon.

Maybe on the next go around.
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Well, Sakurai is a saint.

His games also almost always get delayed. I would have loved an ARMS story mode, but I would have probably had to wait until 2018 for it.
 
Neoxon said:
SFV had Character Stories & Survival on Day 1, too.
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There's a big difference between SFV and ARMS at launch, the online works flawlessly on ARMS and the party match lobby system is amazing to just keep playing online with barely any fuss.
 
About what I expected from the test punch, fun game but nothing mind blowing. I could see it becoming great through updates like Splatoon.
 
KingHippo1967 said:
Seen a lot of people suggesting there may not be a lot of content there for single-player gamers.

For what it's worth I've played it and there's a lot there to keep me busy.

Grand Prix mode: every fighter gets a trophy next to them when you win it, and each difficulty has its own (stackable) trophy too, meaning to 100% that you need to win Grand Prix on Level 7 with all 10 fighters.

Given that starting from scratch (with no experience) I beat a Lv 4 Grand Prix in about 45 mins I'm estimating around 10hrs to pull this off.

You've then got the matter of unlocking every arm for every character. There are 30 unlocked at first (three for each character) and 300 in total (you unlock every other character's arms, so 30 arms x 10 characters). Completing Grand Prix mode gives you enough coins to unlock 5 or 6 of these each time.

Finally, 1-on-100 mode, which is deceivingly difficult, is separate for each character, and each character needs to unlock every stage by scoring 100 on each.

So that's:

10 x Level 7 Grand Prix trophies
300 arms to unlock
100 x 1-on-100 matches to complete (10 for each character)

Dunno what other reviews are saying but that's going to keep me busy for a hell of a long time without having to touch online, and that's before any new characters are added.

My review:
https://tiredoldhack.com/2017/06/07/arms-switch-review/
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That's not what content is for most reviewers. That's a bunch of repeating the same task to gather items. Reviewers are probably looking for expanded gameplay content.

Like if the new Mario had only one world but had a million coins in each level. You wouldn't be able to pass that off as tons of content.
 
Nintendo nails in on a certain gameplay concept, but fails to provide a sizable package in terms of content. It's a common problem with their new IP's.
 
Pretty much what I was expecting, maybe slightly lower since I assumed around 80, but still above. Doesn't change my opinion on it really. I know more content is coming out for it, and it's from the MK team so I'm not worried
 
Neoxon said:
I think the concern is the lack of announced single player DLC.
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Well, all of that DLC will be playable solo.

But I doubt there will be any sort of story mode DLC.

Neoxon said:
ARMS is definitely doing fine, but I feel like it coming so soon after Injustice 2 & Tekken 7 may have been to ARMS's detriment in terms of expectations.
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I think this would be a far bigger issue if ARMS were a traditional fighting game. I think the market will largely give the game's light solo content a pass, due to how unique it is. Plus, you can still play everything in single player, fortunately.
 
ARMS is definitely doing fine, but I feel like it coming so soon after Injustice 2 & Tekken 7 may have been to ARMS's detriment in terms of expectations.
 
TalentAlwaysWins said:
This is as bad as I thought it would be. The content is just not enough. They should've sold it for like $29-$49 it will be easier to swallow. It should also have combos i feel it would make the game more engaging than just guiding a punch like a bullet. More characters would've been nice as well. They seemed to have put a lot of effort into the models.
Click to expand...

Complex combos feels like it would just make like any other fighting game, no?
 
These reviews arent encouraging... It really depends how much DLC Nintendo adds and that's a wild card.
 
I will say this, if I only cared about solo play, this game might not have seemed that good, content wise. Luckily I plan to play online where the real fun/challenge will be. I loom forward to seeing the online community evolve.
 
Neoxon said:
To be fair, I don't think anyone here expected a Cinematic Story Mode from a new IP like ARMS.
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What about the people who expect a SP story mode in old IPs like mario kart? mK never got knocked for its lacking and stagnant SP.

I agree that not all games need a SP or MP mode but only if the main gameplay is super rich and deep. Neither mk or arms are to be acceptable to survive solely on MP. These games need more content in my eyes to warrant a purchase or have longevity.
 
Macka said:
Not a chance. Andre of GameXplain has been a massive advocate of the motion controls, and even he said in his review that he ultimately had to change to pro controller to stay competitive online. They just aren't precise enough.
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"Not a chance"? We'll see, shan't we?
Other reviewers said:
"best-in-class motion control set-up"
"For high level play motion controls may well prove essential"

heckmanimation said:
What about the people who expect a SP story mode in old IPs like mario kart? mK never got knocked for its lacking and stagnant SP.

I agree that not all games need a SP or MP mode but only if the main gameplay is super rich and deep. Neither mk or arms are to be acceptable to survive solely on MP. These games need more content in my eyes to warrant a purchase or have longevity.
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Mario Kart Wii is the highest selling (not primarily bundled) game of all time.
 
KingHippo1967 said:
So that's:

10 x Level 7 Grand Prix trophies
300 arms to unlock
100 x 1-on-100 matches to complete (10 for each character)

Dunno what other reviews are saying but that's going to keep me busy for a hell of a long time without having to touch online, and that's before any new characters are added.

My review:
https://tiredoldhack.com/2017/06/07/arms-switch-review/
Click to expand...

Grinding =/= content. If the only reason I would play most of those modes is to unlock characters, I would say they're more of a negative than positive. 100 man sounds like a cool distraction though.
 
TalentAlwaysWins said:
This is as bad as I thought it would be. The content is just not enough. They should've sold it for like $29-$49 it will be easier to swallow. It should also have combos i feel it would make the game more engaging than just guiding a punch like a bullet. More characters would've been nice as well. They seemed to have put a lot of effort into the models.
Click to expand...
It's a new IP with no existing assets to draw upon, 10 characters at launch is perfectly fair. Likewise, intricate combos wouldn't work very well in a game like this.
 
AndrewDean84xX said:
I will say this, if I only cared about solo play, this game might not have seemed that good, content wise. Luckily I plan to play online where the real fun/challenge will be. I loom forward to seeing the online community evolve.
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Itd be nice if there was solo stuff to go back to in between multiplayer but this game doesn't seem to offer that complete sp/mp package.
 
I've seen a couple of reviews mention 10 difficulty levels and others mention 7, what's up with that.

Bronetta said:
Itd be nice if there was solo stuff to go back to in between multiplayer but this game doesn't seem to offer that complete sp/mp package.
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V-Ball, Hoops, and Skillshot would be those less-intense distractions. It's easy to play online as well.
 
Tom Nook Sawyer said:
It's Andre. There's a good chance he's played it more than most others. He was singing the motion control praises in the previews too, even in the review
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Regardless, I think everyone underestimates how long they've been using a standard controller and believe a new kind of control method should be as easy to master and pick up. Doesn't really matter though, people will use what they want.
 
Artanisix said:
looks to be an extremely average game as anticipated

"evo worthy" LUL
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More like your post LUL. You think people at Evo care about how much content a game has? It's purely based on the mechanics of the fighting system, whereas most of the reviews docking points are because of content. They're two very different priorities.
 
Lack of any story and depth in arcade mode is unfortunate.
Same as MK8 I guess...

No custom controls is a mistake IMO. Neither setup is great and some slight remappings would be welcome. I think a hybrid setup would be best. Curving with joycons, but most actions mapped to buttons (including guarding...)

Games like Splatoon, Arms, MK8 would greatly benefit from some simple Smash like rewards/achievement system. It forces you to explore other characters, modes, weapons/karts, etc.
 
It should've had a story. The characters all have unique personalities and would make for interesting little stories to tell but I guess they either didn't think it was worth it or didn't have the time.
 
Zen_Arcade said:
A counter example to why I think Splatoons method of release is bad wouldn't be a game that did poorly. That wouldn't prove my point at all. If I'm saying that the method Nintendo uses is bad, the counter example would be something successful that uses the standard method of release and still keeps an active player base.

My point wasn't that Splatoon wasn't successful. It's that the release method was unrelated to it's success. The game would have kept it's momentum regardless of when the maps are released because it's an engaging game. We have proof of that by looking at the many many online games who release a full package at launch and still keep their player base up without drip feeding them content every month.
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You're not getting more content with your model. It's all from the same pool.

Witholding from the original release lets your post launch schedule be more aggressive. Splatoon had something substantial every single week, and its long term sales reflected that.
 
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