Drunken Streets of Rage?
Street fights have never been funnier! Drunken Fist is a physics-based brawler that never takes itself too seriously. Take the role of a drunk guy as he looks for food and collects booze across 7 challenging stages. Along the way, you’ll cross paths with jocks, hipsters, punks and a motley bunch of other enemy types, each with their own unique combat styles. Hilariously simulating the feel of a drunken fight in dynamic 3D physics, the blows fly past, you constantly fall down and behave ridiculously. Will our inebriated hero ever get home?
Drunken Fist is a bizarre game, a solid idea as you try and fight your way home in your drunken state. The game however has other ideas with a game that doesn’t just make your drunk guy handle drunk, but the game itself does as well, including the camera so it’s a bit tricky to actually get our protagonist to do what you want him to, plus he needs to bleed the lizard every now and again or he’ll keel over till you do. The urine can help though as it can make enemies slip and fall over, perhaps allowing you to wail on your enemy with your drunk fighting moves. The screenshots I’ve added to the review are GIF’s so if you click them, you’ll see what the game looks like in action.
If I can compare it to anything, it’s like the drunk equivalent of Surgeon Simulator as in you don’t really feel like you have that much control over whats happening, but you try regardless to see it through to the end. I wasn’t expecting this to be a difficult game but it is, I died many times trying to get back home thanks to the awkward controls and camera. The concept is a gimmick and while it is fun to see your character just fall over for no reason or punch thin air and collapse afterwards, it does wear thin quickly and becomes increasingly frustrating the longer you play.
The good news is that the game is cheap at just £7 but you can actually get it much cheaper on Steam for £2.09 and there’s even a free demo version for those who want to try before they buy. I’m not sure why the game is just under £5 more expensive for consoles, but I personally would try the Steam demo before deciding if this is worth splashing out either £2 or £7 on. The visuals are simplistic but have a charm to them, though the load times and overall performance could have been better.
The Verdict
It’s hard what to say about Drunken Fist. It is a nice idea and it has some relatively funny moments, but they do wear thin quickly and handling the game can sometimes feel so bad that you might find yourself thinking getting drunk yourself might improve your skills. I tried that approach as well and nope, it was even worse. It’s not the worst brawler I’ve played and it’s cheap so I’d recommend playing the Steam demo before deciding if its worth it for you.