Tech Smartly

This is a very fun game, with a steep learning curve. Essentially, it is 2 characters, facing each other, moving in a free form way trying to score the most points by doing damage. The selling point of this game is the fact that every major joint (e.g. not toes or fingers) can contract or extend. For example, you can raise your right arm, contract your right pec on the same turn, and lower your right arm to attack. The game is split into a certain amount of frames with the default being 10. What would have happened was in the first 10 frames, the right arm would have be raised while moving in front, and then, brought downwards like a karate chop. Not the most exciting thing, but this sort of free form movement allows you to create your own moves. Another example would be to contract the right and left knees, fall down, then extend both knees to kick off the floor, do a flip and… just kidding, when you start the game, you’ll most likely fall down and appear to have a seizure as you move around on the ground, wondering why it’s so hard to control yourself. Playing this game at first will mostly likely require that you look up how to do certain moves. Eventually, it will become easier to know how changing certain things will react in a certain way, although this will come with time, and until then, it’s an uphill battle in terms of controls. There is also online play, allowing you to test your skills on real people, rather than against a non-moving opponent. There isn’t much that can be done in terms of AI, since it is completely freeform, although there is a lua script that can sort of simulate AI, but all it does is do some preset movement, I imagine.

I started playing this game a year and a half ago. Eventually, it became shareware, a decision which I did not like at all, since I did not feel that this game was good enough to merit the $20 it was worth when I checked. It almost completely fell off my radar. Now, version 3 came out, which I thought was still shareware. Once I actually looked into it not so long ago, I realized that version 3 is completely free, and it has more than 300 mods you can choose, as well as servers that have those mods. It also got a facelift since last time I played it, since it now has shaders, giving everything a new look.

Online play has gotten way better since last time, especially with the inclusion of mods. There is a ranking system, where you can go up to black belt, and then further more, by obtaining a higher Dan grade. Several different main mods are being used in online play, with different rules. You have the classic style of gameplay, which is the default in the game. Then there is judo, where the players are slightly farther apart, with the length of the frames being 70, which means it’s more based on balancing yourself and disqualifying the other player, which can happen when anything other than the feet or hands touch the ground. There is also gripping, which means that if the hand touches anything that isn’t the ground, it will be permanently stuck to it, unless released. Of course, the hand could just be ripped off, leaving the player with a bloody stump. Some mods disable gripping, meaning different tactics have to be used, such as in the wushu servers.

Once you get really good at this game, you can do some really cool moves, as well as make awesome replays. That is another features in this game, you can have a fight and save the replay, which you can share with your friends and others online. Not only that, the replays can be edited, so you can stop at a specific point, and start controlling it from there. Editing replays is not done within 10 frames either. You can change what you’re doing 1 frame at a time, meaning you can make some spectacular videos. One of the most amazing videos I’ve watched so far is the video above, showcasing the new shaders, and also showing all the different moves that no beginner would ever be able to do, even through sheer luck. It is quite amazing, I just hope it doesn’t raise all of your hopes too high when you realize you can’t do this sort of stuff even after playing the game for a while.

Very fun game, I really do enjoy the mods as it gives so much more replay value.