Okay let me start out by saying I have NEVER played Powerstone, not even emulated, so don't have any frame of reference or comparisons I can make to other games. It's ALSO the first arena brawler game I've ever played, so I'm also entirely new to this sort of genre of gameplay. Regardless, I backed this on Kickstarter because I believed it deserved a chance to shine. Regardless of whether this game ends up being a gem or not, I will almost certainly never regret doing so.
Despite playing half an hour of this at this stage, I felt I should collect my objective thoughts on Combat Core as best I can.
MUSIC:
Ohhhh my god the music. I wish I could comment objectively on this but I can't. it's really not my style. It's not awful, but it is grating in the extreme. For me it's largely painful to listen to. I will admit I like some dubstep type music, but not all of it. DEEEFINATELY not all of it. It fits with the visual aesthetic of the game but I don't really feel that's an entirely good thing. Mercifully, you can mute the volume of the music entirely. Sweet blissful aural release. But hey, I'm not dropping "marks" from this game purely on that. That's my own opinion and just because the music isn't my jam doesn't mean I get to hate on it for its choices. You do you, Combat Core's soundtrack. You're someone's hot pick, and that's cool by me.
SOUND EFFECTS:
They seem a bit stock, rather than unique for this game somehow. They just feel a little too "familiar". It's not a deal breaker but the sound design doesn't really stand out all that much for me. It's also drowned out by a somewhat dodgy default balance of announcer, voice clips, that aforementioned music, and the whitenoise of the "Crowd", so it's not exactly all that memorable either as a result. Everything blends into a cacophany of collectively dull noise which is a real shame.
On a very large plus note there's absolutely rock-solid voice acting work there - hardly surprising given some of the VAs they hired! All the characters immediately come across has having personality from their voice clips alone, and the voice work really stood out for me, even amongst the unrelenting chaos of the rest of the game's sound design. Top marks for Voice work alone. Losing marks for the rest of the sound design, but it's all stuff that can be improved and most likely will be. In the meantime, you can always adjust the volume settings for each thing yourself! So top marks for letting us independantly change volume of various aspects of the sound design :D
CHARACTER DESIGNS:
Actually for the default characters, not bad at all! The models could STILL do with a little work on certain ones like Pugi and Skatie but other than that they look pretty great! Those custom characters however look abysmal no matter what you do. It shows they've not been given nearly as much attention and love. Maybe that'll come in time! Other than that, fantastic, striking and instantly recognisable silhouettes of the main cast so you can recognise each character at a glimpse shows they put a lot of thought and work into each one, rather than just throwing together "cool appearances". As a result you never find yourself going "crap what way am I facing!? WHAT'S GOING ON!?" in a melee, which is a huge plus. Great job!
VISUALS:
I never played Powerstone, but I do remember seeing some gameplay of it and the arenas in that game were bright and colourful and vivid and full of life and detail. Combat Core has gone with a far more simplistic, virtual-effect, allowing cleaner lines and much more overal visibility. On one hand I'm disappointed that the backgrounds are just neon-lit visual-noise a lot of the time, but simultaneously I'm VERY impressed by how all these flashing effects and frankly obnoxious glaring beams and lights and virtual reality style backgrounds do not AT ALL cause the game to be difficult to play just by sheer clutter. For all their noise and flashiness and unpleasantness, they somehow manage to create concise and instantly understandable battle arenas. You don't have to be told that the outside of the ring is dangerous to stand on, with the floor panels glowing more and more the moment you stand on them until they erupt in a beam of light. You don't have to be told that the vibrating fence can hurt you if you get knocked into it because it's obviously electrified. You don't have to be told that there's a bounce pad there, or that these things can be broken. The recharge areas despite being different for each arena, are instantly recognisable too just by intuition. That alone tells me they have people of real talent working on the stage designs. As a result despite their unpleasant appearance at first, the stages really play fantastically well and are fun.
GAMEPLAY:
Oh wow where do I start. Despite the game having limited functionality at the moment (hey it's early access), and despite seeming rather short and with not a lot of depth, I can easily see this growing in scope and depth, and becoming something truly fantastic. Gameplay is fun, simple, rather chaotic but just so much fun! It's frenetic and energetic, and you never feel like just mashing buttons will make you win more easily. Despite not liking games like Smash Bros (I find it TOO chaotic and too hard to really fight with technique with how fast it plays), this I can really get to grips with. Fights even on Rookie are challenging without being overbearingly brutal, controls are tight and fluid and you never feel like you're fighting them as well, and I never get a feeling of being "lost" in a fight where I can't fight back because I don't know what the hell is happening. You get a dodge, a parry, a block, light attack combos, throws, weapons, heavy and special attacks... There's something for everyone's gameplay style too, which I can do nothing but praise.
OTHER FEATURES:
That custom character editor is ... nigh on impossible to use it seems. It just does not at all seem to work one bit, and there's no instructions on what to do. It doesn't seem to work in any way shape or form and I can't alter anything on it. Which is a real shame because I'd like to have a play around with it. Like I said before though those custom character parts SERIOUSLY need work. They're ugly as sin and look like something out of a super budget-bargain-bin ps1 release, and not in the quirky fun charming way either sadly. Again though, all stuff that can get worked on before actual release so I remain hopeful. Even if they get removed (a shame if that happens but not a huge loss I suppose at this point) or if they stay the way they are, it's not a deal breaker for me at least.
FINAL IMPRESSIONS:
Absolutely needs work, but the core concept (forgive the pun please) is solid as anything and there's real promise here. Maybe throw some cash at it, have a blast, watch what happens with it. I think there's room for a really fantastic little gem here, just give the guys a chance! (and your money, importantly that too, so they can work on the game more)
Tentative but Optimistic Recommendation!
