But whatever.) So, in short, it's a really brilliant idea, and you're sure to enjoy the game you will no doubt *think* it is going to be, but like me, you'll probably end up disappointed in what the game actually is: a great idea for a mechanic put to poor use, and a casual smash-fest trying too hard to sell itself as an adventure game. (e.g., the game not informing you that you're not allowed to even *graze* walls or floors without taking damage or that you will still take damage from an enemy's hammer, even if-realistically-it's not moving fast enough to hurt a giant steel robot. I discovered that controlling the robot is slightly less annoying if you don't let the game automatically calibrate your mouse and instead manually set the mouse sensitivity extremely high, but that unfortunately doesn't fix all the problems. Or it at least seems that way, since your robot controls like a brick with a drinking problem. When they are on screen, they move with incredible finesse and maneuver their weapons with precision. But your enemies spend-literally-half of any battle flying off the screen where you can't reach them. When you start the game, immediately all you want to do is swing heavy objects around and smash things with them. Lastly, sadly, the hammer-swinging mechanic, which is such a fun idea and has such potential, just ends up not being used very well. In short, these "challenges" come annoyingly, frustratingly early and make you feel like the real game is lying forgotten in a previous chapter somewhere. Why am I doing stuff like this already? I barely have the hammer-swinging principles down, and now I'm doing frustrating challenges that have nothing to do with fighting things with hammers. For example, you are chained to the center of the screen without a weapon and must dodge an enemy with an incredibly powerful weapon for a set period of time. Hammerfight gives you one tutorial match (one enemy), then a real match (one enemy), then a battle (multiple enemies plus allies), and then it immediately starts giving you challenges. But the idea of a challenge is that it is a CHALLENGE that you give the player once they have either mastered or grasped the general principles of your game. Generally, putting challenges in a game is a great idea. Honestly, this game would have been one hundred times greater if it was nothing more than you and a friend or AI-opponent trying to smash each other with hammers in stand-alone versus matches or in multi-robot elimination matches. In some games, this isn't a bad idea, but when the core mechanic of your game boils down to sweeping your mouse to smash stuff with a hammer and not much else, the "epic" characters and story feel like they're trying too hard and just end up frustrating you as you click like crazy to skip through them in order to smash more things with a hammer. It tries to have characters, an epic story spanning across multiple chapters (which are really just encounters), and challenges. The first is that the game tries too hard to be more than what it is. So what's the problem? There are actually several. I can honestly say that it is extremely satisfying to get your weapon whirling at an incredible speed and slam it into an enemy with such force that it sends them crashing into the wall or floor, damaging the environment and leaving the enemy stunned. Once you get the weapon in motion, you need to bring it crashing into an enemy to deal damage. By sweeping your mouse in circular motions, you simulate centripetal force, which causes the weapon to whirl around your little robot. (Emphasis: when it works.) The idea is that your mouse controls a robot with a weapon hanging from the bottom. The game deserves points for inventing a simple but interesting gameplay mechanic that's extremely satisfying when it works. (Emphasis: when it works.) The idea is that your mouse controls a robot with a weapon hanging I picked up Hammerfight as part of Humble Indie Bundle 3, having never heard of it before, and my reaction to it is bittersweet, but sadly a little more on the bitter side. I picked up Hammerfight as part of Humble Indie Bundle 3, having never heard of it before, and my reaction to it is bittersweet, but sadly a little more on the bitter side.
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