I'm sure I've said this before in some other reviews, but side-scrolling beat 'em ups were my bread and butter becoming an adult in Jersey. Whether it was X-Men or Turtles in Time, I would spend nearly all my quarters at the Electric Circuit arcade on those machines (but still fall under the trap at a number of LA's finer barcades which include those cabinets now). So, it was having a childlike fervor that I jumped into Way from the Passive Fist, an appreciation letter to those old-school brawlers that also offers a few unique twists which help solve the problems those classic beat 'em ups faced.
Players take on the role of The Wanderer, a product of the volatile but mineral-rich planet of Zircon V who stalks its nearly uninhabitable wastes. Those minerals have lured in many from over the galaxy wanting to get rich quick from the planet's resources, but not many are ready for what the wastes hold that can compare with our protagonist. You see, The Wanderer has mastered the Art of the Passive Fist-a defensive fighting style that allows him to soak up and channel the power expelled towards him to put on his opponents down. However, the total amount is shifted when foes stronger than any he's seen before arrive on Zircon V-foes which wield enhancements similar to The Wanderer's own mechanical gauntlet.
Way of the Passive Fist gets right to the point with regards to how it is about. Like the cartoons a lot of those late '80s/early '90s beat 'em ups were according to, there's no large amount of story within this game-beyond telling you immediately that you are an anti-hero of sorts who's instructed to save his hellish world since it is all he has got. Obviously, older games had cartoons and comics to help flesh out the story for potential players, so filling out narrative gaps wasn't always an essential job for the sport. We do not obtain that here using the Wanderer, and it is sad, because it seems like a terrific world that might be ripe for more development if it wasn't so focused on making use of nostalgia. I could easily see the Wanderer as the star of a 'life was imple' cartoon with his own action figure line, or even teaming up with other popular heroes in weird crossovers. As is-and without all the advantage of transmedia-I would've loved if Way of the Passive Fist could've given me only a tad a lot more than it does with regards to the Wanderer's tale.
The major reason why I wish to know more about The Wanderer and Zircon V happens because the remainder of Way of the Passive Fist is so good. The intense, bold colors, number of locations across the game's 10 stages, zany henchmen that cross The Wanderer's path, and surprising quantity of enemy variety (despite the prerequisite palette swaps to signify a harder variation on each) gave Way of the Passive Fist an authentic cartoon vibe which was a feast of these older eyes. It emulates that early 90s aesthetic perfectly, along with the music, featuring a tubular tempo which get your foot tapping as the Wanderer dispatches the brightly-colored foes in the path.
What's most impressive, though, is beyond these surface aesthetics. As hinted at in the game's title, The Wanderer is a passive hero-instead of throwing a flurry of punches, kicks, or offensive special moves at his opponents, he lets the battle arrived at him. Each time an opponent tries to punch you, your job would be to parry it. An effective parry will drain the stamina of the enemy, and if they run out of stamina, they'll hunch over exhausted, meaning The Wanderer only has to tap these to knock them out. Some enemies will try to seize you, requiring you to dodge; others will throw things to you, which you can either parry or dodge (though a successful dodge on most of these items enables you to throw them back for massive damage). Every enemy (and palette swap) includes a different pattern for their attacks, so learning these patterns and how to react accordingly is necessary for achievement. This concept supplies a fresh challenge on what is otherwise an always-straightforward genre.
While you parry the right path through the adventure, you will also increase your combo counter. Longer combo chains will power up The Wanderer's power gauntlet, allowing him to unleash rare offensive moves to expedite your fights. For example, a Power Punch is great for taking out a single enemy, whereas the harder-to-charge Super Slam is effective at crowd control. And, later hanging around, you can unlock the Gravity Well, a screen-clearing super move that requires a combo of 25 or higher which is best reserved for dire straits. Of course, if you miss even a single parry or dodge, the counter resets, and thus will the power meter-making that pattern recognition all the more important and raising the stakes when ever exactly to apply your special abilities.
What may be the most impressive thing about this parry-only system, however, is that it solves long-time issues present in those old-school beat 'em ups. There is nothing more frustrating during these types of games than to think you have an opponent lined up for an attack, simply to whiff since your character is slightly out of alignment with your opponent, with poor hit detection meaning your attack was for naught. Instead, enemies always needing to attack you means the AI takes care of this as the enemy is always going to be aimed right at you, and all sorts of you need to do is time your button presses properly. And, even if you break that line, most times the enemy will reset, or a different, closer enemy will relocate to fight. It's a simple solution to a problem that has plagued beat 'em ups as far back when i can remember, and it was welcome since it really allowed me to focus on my timing more than anything.
There were a few hiccups with the system, however. When looking to take the attack myself with a super move that wasn't Gravity Well, I'd still occasionally miss basically didn't wait for a enemy arrive at me. Also, when you are getting later in the game and begin dealing with enemies with increased complex patterns, you might be tempted to position yourself to ensure that weaker enemies with easier patterns may be used to build that combo meter again. Sometimes multiple enemies would activate, however, and two enemies would attack me simultaneously. While The Wanderer is very adept with Passive Fist, it does have the drawback that you have to continually be facing your opponent to correctly parry, and may only parry one move at any given time. It is a small glitch, also it didn't happen often-but if this did, it was frustrating.
Way from the Passive Fist also solves another problem those old-school quarter munchers have experienced recently: replayability. When –X-Men and Turtles in Time were recently re-released on home consoles with unlimited continues as an option, the charm and replayability that came about as a result of lack of lives went by the wayside, leaving their lack of depth to become startling apparent. There's already much more depth of gameplay in Way from the Passive Fist to start with, but it goes so far as also to offer four special sliders that can change the way you play every time.
I beat the sport on “Way from the Warrior”, that is basically as “Medium” as you can get in Way from the Passive Fist. But, if I wanted, I could've cranked the Enemy Strength and Enemy Encounters number in place and turned it into “Way from the Bold Eternal Warrior” where each chapter would have extra scenes (each chapter's smaller sections) and enemies with stronger stamina bars. I could also provide made achieving combos easier by turning down Combo Mastery, to ensure that even late parries increase my combo meter, or turned down Resourcefulness, which would have given me more health items and checkpoints. There's any number of combinations between these four meters which make every time you play Way of the Passive Fist different compared to last. And, when you beat the 10 chapters in Story (such as the somewhat disappointing final boss fight), additionally you unlock Arcade Mode, which channels those quarter-munching days of old by providing you only a particular number of lives to try to complete the sport, adding more challenge and replayability to the experience for us arcade veterans.
Way from the Passive Fist is an attractive ode to some genre whose glory days are behind it. It's inventive solutions to problems that have been in existence for generations should be appreciated, and it's an awesome opportunity for those of us who grew up in arcades to experience new things that would've fit right in 30 years ago. I am not sure when the new generation of gamers will be as in it, however it made me crave a slice of greasy pizza along with a soda while basking in this way of nostalgia like few games happen to be able to give me recently. So, if you love beat 'em ups like I actually do, Way from the Passive Fist is a distinctive challenge that you ought to definitely check out.
