Like it did with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Switch, Nintendo has struck gaming gold with pugilism simulator, Arms.
As the name suggests, this punching game centres on the arms of the pugilists, which are spring-loaded with one of three different “gloves” providing light, medium and heavy attacks. Take Spring Man, example, his toaster arms look like boxing gloves, his boomerang arms fire two-bladed boomerangs and the tribolt arms fire three rockets at foes. You can mix and max so each arm has different gloves, if you like. Punch your foe with the left arm then knock them down with the right!
The game play is mixed up with skill-based rounds every now and then: It might be having to punch beach balls over a net before they explode or knock down targets or knock your opponent into a basketball hoop. The fighter that scores the highest moves onto the next round.
While you might think Arms would get repetitive quickly, it doesn’t as it has enough depth and a roster of 30 fighters (each fighter has their own unique ring, too) to keep things moving along nicely. You can use either the JoyCons unclipped from the Switch, waving them around, or using a controller or attached to the Switch itself. I actually felt more control waving the JoyCons around as if I was actually fighting. It just felt more natural, with pushing both hands forward grabbing opponents and turning them into each other putting your fists up to guard your face.
The fighting isn’t that deep but you can curve punches to catch opponents unawares, dash and jump, as well as using the arena environments to your advantage. One takes place in a street with parked cars as obstacles while another has platforms that rise and fall as you’ve playing. Grabbing opponents with both arms and throwing them to the ground is great fun. I haven’t played any online matches yet but the game play modes include ranked matches.
Arms looks fantastic on the Switch, too: It’s running at a crisp 720p and 60 frames a second, in both docked and un-docked mode.
With Arms, Nintendo has again delivered a knock out with a game that is simply put, fun. Arms is FUN. Pure and simple.
My thoughts exactly Gerard.