From Russia With Love- Hammerfight Review

The gameplay is a bit like Joust with complex physics simulation. Your flying machine hovers with a weapon hanging from it. As you move the mouse, usually in a circular motion, your vehicle will move accordingly and your weapon will swing and spin realistically. The game often places you in combat situations with other riders and timing your swings to land directly on their vehicle, as they attempt to do the same, results in a form of bizarre aerial fencing. As you land blows, shock waves, flames, sparks, smoke and debris will fly outward realistically making your actions feel concrete and powerful. Sometimes it gets so thick you can hardly see and this adds a realistic sense of desperation and panic.

Such a simple gameplay mechanic is kept brilliantly fresh through tasking the player with a wide variety of objectives. Hunting, arena combat, “hammerball”, escort missions, and a branching storyline path do a lot to keep you coming back. The game also features a wide variety of weaponry and items that one can obtain, mix and match on their vehicle. Skilled players will even be able to knock enemies’ weapons off of their machines and steal them for use in the remainder of the game. Altering your favorite load-outs to appropriately tackle each mission becomes important and a lot of fun. The game is very challenging from the start but, if the player uses the right load-out and strategy for the situation, the tight game-design will reward them.

Hammerfight‘s alternate Middle East setting and aesthetic are detailed and beautiful, bearing resemblance to Panzer Dragoon and Prince of Persia. Most of the character animations are choppy and a little on the ugly or awkward side, but they’re at least small. The music is sparse but memorable and contrastingly soothing using the appropriate and exotic Phrygian dominant scale.The sound is handled excellently. Crowds and bystanders will cheer as your impacts yield appropriate thumps and clanks, and debris crashes about.

The game’s positive qualities far outweigh its flaws, but it is not without fault. The game’s user interface can be a little problematic both mechanically and aesthetically. The interface is simplified to a few mouse button clicks and hotkeys. This had me occasionally choosing options and doing things I didn’t mean to. At one point I dropped an important item and accidentally chose to move on to the next mission.The game autosaves so I lost the item for good. The graphical portions of the user interface in-game can sometimes obscure things and transparency could really help there. The sweeping motions the player has to make with the mouse for prolonged periods can result in a sore arm. It’s possible a single analog thumbstick might have worked even better, but the use of a mouse does make the hard hitting gameplay feel more real. Luckily, it seems that most of Hammerfight‘s issues are small and could easily be patched.

Hammerfight is a great game and value. At only $9.99 USD, you get a lot of game with branching paths, extra modes and even support for multiplayer via plugging in multiple mice! (A cool feature to be sure, but online multiplayer would be better.) I fully recommend Hammerfight. It’s beautiful and surprisingly deep action game with simple but unique mechanics. Give the demo a try.