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[i]Billion Beat[/i] is a boxing game following in the steps of [i]Super Punch-Out!![/i] and offers a great deal of challenge--great potential for self improvement and introspection as you progress through the game. The game is currently in Early Access, but it certainly doesn't seem that way. The only way I know is because the developer has made that clear.
[h1]The Basics[/h1]
You can dodge opponent strikes with moving left, right, or ducking. You can block by not dodging and not attacking, as long as your hands are held in the correct position between up or neutral. You will be able to punch left and right, use weaker and stronger attacks, or to make sure you punch in the position that you desired to do so. The game keeps reminding you to dodge before striking, and this is a critical element in the game itself. Mashing buttons will get you pretty much nowhere.
The game has a series of 12 opponent fighters, each set of 4 grouped into a smaller in-game tournament that unlocks after you have defeated each fighter from that set. This is the case for Story Mode anyway. Each opponent has unique attacks, strategies, and strengths and weaknesses. You will be spending a lot of time learning the individual fighters and their idiosyncrasies to take advantage of.
[h1]The Extras[/h1]
The game gives the player an option of picking Story or Arcade mode when starting. There is a minimal story but there are RPG elements behind Story mode. As you fight, you will gain experience and level up your fists, with points that you can then allocate to upgrade your stats. In Arcade mode, your fists are at base level all of the way through.
The game has a risk-reward system that's evident if you play Story mode. Every fight you take on, you have to spend a certain amount of currency "Hype" through a betting/ante system. If you lose, you lose your hype and have to regroup. You can ante up to 4x the baseline amount for extra risks at additional rewards.
You can also earn extra hype by going after Hyper Missions, these are present within each fight, as long as you are not just playing on Easy mode. Some are easier to pull off than others. I would suggest getting used to all of the movements, punches, and try to get familiar with the enemies before trying to earn the extra hype, which ultimately will serve to help determine your fight score. So ultimately, you will want to improve just to improve your fight scores.
There are a lot of features missing from Easy, so that should serve as an introduction to the game to get you comfortable. Normal mode is where you will see a lot more features and the enemies are a bit tougher, so this is a good mode to really get to see everything the game has to offer in terms of features. However, the difficulty spike from Normal to Hard mode cannot be ignored. It seems that Hard mode is the actual intended difficulty for the game, so make sure that you give it a try. Each of the fighters becomes a force to be reckoned with.
If you have trouble with the fights, you can go into the Mascoaches section and use your hype to buy some tips of the trade and to get some fighter-specific tips. Or you can buy some Dranx and use these mid-fight to help elevate your game. Don't worry, most of the opponents you face will not be playing fair either, so why should you? One thing to keep in mind that Dranx may be nice, but the best way to get past these fighters is by getting better yourself and overwhelming them instead by external assistance.
As of writing (Feb 14, 2021) the Tronix system is not yet in place. This will be a future option to purchase to allow players to gain essentially a much easier mode, if you keep struggling with some fights. The developer Dre has let me in on some of the planned functions, and it seems like it will be able to help those people who are truly stuck for a while to get a move on and progress further.
The currently available character in all of his playing glory is the Hard character, the Easy and Normal difficulty characters are still in the works. So not only is there a difficulty setting for each character, the characters themselves will represent their own respective difficulty settings. According to the plans, these characters will be unique and show us different aspects of the game as well.
[h1]Controls[/h1]
Controller recommended, but keyboard works fine too. Controls are very responsive and work as intended. Game feels great using a controller.
[h1]Graphics[/h1]
Lovely hand-drawn art, definitely an interesting set of humanoid forms out there duking it out against you.
[h1]Music & Sounds[/h1]
Music is pretty fun to listen to, high beat electronic soundtrack and all. It can get old if you are playing for a long time in a row. Sound effects seem intended, but there are certainly a few places where I would prefer it be a bit quieter.
[h1]Audience[/h1]
[i]Super Punch-Out!![/i] fans will definitely get good mileage out of this game. The choice of difficulty settings will offer a game that beginners can play as well. The Hard modes and the Hyper missions offer significant challenges that will require any player to get better and to be familiar with the game before successfully trouncing your opponents.
[h1]Pricing[/h1]
Currently the base price is $7.99 in Early Access. It's worth every penny. If you see it on sale, even better. You have a dedicated indie developer who pushed out an Early Access title with a fully playable character, most of the features, and all of the enemies all in place in fully functional order. There have been quite a few updates since launch and so it's getting active attention. I am looking forward to seeing more feature/content updates in the future.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
[i]Billion Beat[/i] is a really fun and very challenging game. Despite the challenges, it's fair and encourages the players to introspect after losses and reflect on where there can be improvements. You have to fail in order to learn and improve. The developer truly believes in us, the players, and our ability to persevere through the hardship to earn those sweet sweet victories. After all, what is better than a win after you have faced losses to eventually come out on top?
Definitely get this game and definitely play it.
Score: 9/10
[quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]
