by Console-like action games don’t always make the most graceful of transitions to iOS devices, and English developer Ninja Theory certainly knows the console side of the genre, having designed such well-regarded affairs as DmC: Devil May Cry and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Luckily, the studio’s first touch screen effort doesn’t try to shoehorn a controller-based experience onto iPhones and iPads, instead delivering a streamlined, free-to-play take on a beat-’em-up brawler.
Fightback – published by Chillingo – takes its situational cues from ’80s action flicks, with cheesy dialogue and a bulked-up hero trying to track down his kidnapped sister. To do so, he’ll punch, kick, and shoot through more than 90 levels across a neon-tinged nighttime city, scaling towers packed with different combinations of foes to pummel with fluid combo attacks.
Character movement is automated in the brief stages, letting you focus on skillfully dispatching the various foes that approach from the right and left. Taps let you punch, while swipes trigger kicks, and combinations of the two can lead to brutal combo moves that deliver extra pop. Dodge and evade moves are also available, but if you find yourself in a bind and need a quick assist before failing out, you can hit the gun icon, tap the enemies on the screen, and watch as they’re blasted with ease. Firearm usage is limited by bullets, which can be purchased with in-game currency. Expectedly, given the free nature of the game, you can purchase stacks of currency with real cash if you see fit.
Nina Kristensen, the Chief Development Ninja at the studio, says that while the early levels we tried were relatively easy to smash through, the game scales quite quickly to offer a significant challenge on the back end. That’s likely where the temptation to pump real money into the game will come in, as you consider whether to grind away at stages to pay for character and weapon upgrades, or try to speed up the process with a quick influx of cash. With a free-to-play game like this, the flow of earned currency will be a huge part of its lasting impact, and with luck the average player won’t feel backed into a corner too quickly by the challenge and lack of resources.
Our only other concern comes from the simplicity of the combat and whether that will hold up over potential hours of gameplay, but from what we played, we’re mostly encouraged by the slightly silly tone and iOS-centric gameplay approach. Ninja Theory absolutely knows what makes a great, violent action game tick, and here’s hoping that the move to a touch screen plus a free-to-play model doesn’t diminish the studio’s immense craft.
