The "Test Punch" is going on now. I pretty much scoffed at the first trailer. Uninterested in a game trying to recapture that Wii mote stuff that I was never interested in in the first place. But trailers have gotten me more interested with the charming looking characters and swapping gloves and what-not.
Playing it has sold me on it, for sure. A lot of fun. We'll see how the "legs" are on it but it's the most excited I've been for a Switch game now since Zelda.
I really love the lobby system; I've not seen something like that before. You are placed in a game with 8 or so people and it just randomly matches you up with 1, 2 or 3 other people into various game modes. And once that game ends you are immediately matched up again with the same people into a new game. Really love that; makes for fast games. Also, I'm not sure but I think maybe ur portrait gets bigger as you win more and more in the lobby? Basically signifying you are the person to beat... could be wrong on that though.
Yeah, I came away from my half hour with it today very impressed. The motion controls feel really precise. Aiming the punches is easy and pretty fun, and since you sort of lock onto your enemy at all times you really just need to worry about moving around the axis in between the two of you, so the movement feels good as well. The only buttons used are the shoulder buttons which you press with your thumbs.
The different arms feel distinct and there's a fair amount of strategy involved in deciding on what combination to use. I was playing Min Min for her air dodge ability and found that the Ramram (a fast punch) and her dragon arm that shoots a laser beam at your opponent was an effective combo. Bait a dodge with the fast punch and then use the laser. I never grabbed when I didn't mean to, and only had a few instances of blocking when I was trying to move to the side or backwards.
The lobby is cool as hell. You don't pick modes or anything, so there's no problem of certain match types having a low playerbase. Once you're in a lobby with some people you get thrown into random battles. It looked like you're earning currency for every battle, more if you win, and that number shows to the lobby, so maybe that's what shows who is dominating? Also the shoulder buttons do a little emote with your character's portrait in the lobby so that's fun.
Nintendo insinuated they'll be supporting this on the level they did with Splatoon, so I'm expecting a pretty large amount of after-release content. Splatoon gained like 3 new match types and a shitload of weapons, clothes, and maps, so hopefully they'll do right by ARMS. I think it has serious potential.
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