Developed and published by Jollypunch Games, Fly Punch Boom! is a fighting game straight out of Anime. Featuring exceptionally fast and action-packed combat, Fly Punch Boom! ensures that every fight is technical, explosive, and fun. This is our review of Fly Punch Boom! on Steam, PC in which we land some explosive punches and defeat our opponent by feeding them to a giant fish.
Fly Punch Boom! is a very unique fighting game. It feels like something straight out of Anime like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto when it comes to gameplay and combat. However, it is at its core a fighting game and it is a really good one as well. Despite having really straight forward controls, you need some time getting used to the unique combat system. While playing Fly Punch Boom! you need to master two things. These are the Rock Paper Shotgun style mechanic of what beats what and your recovery timing if you miss an input. The gameplay comprises of three main key inputs apart you moving around the game world. You can hit, throw, and counter enemy attacks.
Now each of these is stronger against one and weaker against the other. Hit beats Throw, Throw beats Counter and Counter beats Hit. You will need to keep this in your mind while playing the game. This is used during the Clash mode of the fight. While fighting your opponents, you will mostly enter the Clash Mode which is like a small QTE section where both players choose their move which could be Hit, Throw, or Counter. The player using the more powerful move takes the upper hand here while if the players use the same move, another short QTE begins where you have to quickly spam the buttons to make sure that you fill your meter quickly and deliver the blow to the opponent. You can also use your Ram to hit different buildings and objects in the game and damage your opponents as well.
During the Clash mode, a Clash bar appears on the screen which has three sections. There’s Black, Blue, and Yellow. Pressing any key in the black fails your move and gives your opponent a clear chance to take you down with anything they want. Pressing in the blue zone lands or contests your move. If you manage to press in the yellow section, you get a chance to deliver a Mega version of your desired action which deals bonus damage. Since I am quite good with QTEs, I was mostly pressing in the yellow zone and because of this, I was mostly getting a really good boost in damage for most of my attacks. Missing Yellow zone is still safe because you land in Blue zone but if your goal is Blue, pressing in Black accidentally might make you the next piñata of your opponent. To enter the Clash Mode, you just need to press the right key that pops up when you are in the range of your opponent. Your opponents can do the same to you as well.
Fail this and your opponent will deal the blow and throw you back where you are given yet another chance to revive yourself quickly and get out of way. Fail this again and you are again taken on yet another punching session around the sky. After this, you can get yet another chance to recover. This continues until the opponent backs off; you land too far or if you are about to die. If you are about to die, you will enter another mode called Death and a Death Bar will appear on the screen for you to try to stay alive for a final time. Press the button in the yellow zone and you get another chance but fail this and you are dead instantly. This works only if you are about to die because of any environmental hazard. If your health reaches zero, you are dead without another chance.
Depending on where you die, your death will be a unique one. I’ve seen plenty of deaths in the game such as dying on a Pyramid’s face, getting eaten by a giant fish, exploding into candy-like a piñata, and exploding into small parts. During the time I have spent in Fly Punch Boom!, I noticed that you actually die more due to failed QTEs rather than your health reduced to zero. The speedy gameplay plays a vital role in this mechanic in the game as you only have a few seconds to make it inside the right zone or you will die a painful yet funny death. For each round, you can head over to Options and select how many rounds you want to have in the game before you or the opponent wins. The ultimate goal is to defeat your opponent to win. At the end of the game, the person with the most round wins secures the match. The game gives you plenty of options to make a comeback so you have to be really quick and be aware of your controller layout to nail them. Also, memorize what mechanic beats the other and you will be nailing victories in no time.
Apart from the normal attacks, you will also find special green energy pickups which will fill your Ultimate Attack bar and once it is full, you can unleash your super attack. These super attacks deal massive damage to your opponents however you must try to land them at the enemies. They are not homing attacks and if you miss the attack, you miss a big opportunity to take down your opponents. These special attacks are unique for all characters in the game so you can try out each different fighter and try out their super attacks. Apart from these super attacks, the rest of the combat plays out exactly the same for all fighters in the game so you just have to find the character that looks best to you and has the super attack that favors you.
Fly Punch Boom! features animated visuals that look a lot like anime video games. Each character has a power aura around them which looks really cool and it changes while you dash or enter the Smash mode. Apart from the character design, the levels are brilliant as well and there is a lot of action going on especially if there are more than 2 players present on the screen. All fights are fought in the air so you are always flying here and there. The levels have a lot of space for you to fly around and mess around and as the distance between the fighters increases, the camera pans out. Come closer and it zooms in as well giving you a much better view of all the action going on. Each of the levels is closed by a rope-like boundary which can be easily broken if you hit your opponent hard enough triggering an environment kill if they fail the QTE.
There are plenty of game modes for you to choose from. The game supports both local and online multiplayer. You can have 1v1 and 2v1 local matches and if you want to take it against the AI, the game features Mortal Kombat style Arcade ladders of different difficulties where you can really test your mettle against the AI and practice for online matches. If you think you are ready to take on the world, head to Multiplayer and jump in Quick matches or host or join matches at your own will. To ensure that there are enough players in the game always, the developer has also introduced cross-play between the full game and its free demo so you can play with your friends online who simply own the demo of the game.
Final Verdict:
Fun Punch Boom! is a great fighter that brings the best of different worlds into one package. It features excellent yet fast combat mechanics that require a bit of thinking and understanding to execute. The numerous QTEs involved during the fight ensure that there is no spamming involved and every player wins by using his skill and quick reflexes. This ensures that only skill prevails in the end rather than sheer luck of spamming an attack. The characters are funny and the level design is brilliant. I can say that Fly Punch Boom! greatly surprised me after I played it. For whatever reason, I was not expecting the game to be this good and addictive. Jump in a few matches and I am sure that the game will make you hooked. This game should be on your must-buy list if you love fighting games that require skill and quick reflexes rather than spamming controllers. I loved playing it and I am sure that you will love it too.
Final Score: 8.8/10
