Arms
An all-new fighter for the Switch sees you unleash your inner Anthony Joshua by smacking your friends about with the motion-sensing Joy-con controllers
Like anime and Hornby train sets, fighting games are a niche of nerdery that is impenetrable to outsiders.
Rather than take on the likes of Street Fighter V, Tekken 7 and Injustice 2 in a straight-up face-off, the Switch’s Arms aims to do something completely different. Each of its combatants is blessed with a pair of extendable fists that you pummel away with via your own two paws. So when you throw a curved right-hander, the Joycons pick up this movement and translate it on screen in fantastical form to land a hefty blow. Since motion controls naturally lose you something in the way of finesse, especially when it comes to movement, Arms’ mechanics are deliberately simple. Each character can punch, grab and block their opponents, and that’s the case whether they’re wearing a giant wrecking ball or a confetti blaster for a weapon. Until UFC gets really extreme, this is the closest you’ll get to strapping a rocket launcher across your knuckles. And yes, the experience is just as riotous as it sounds.
While Arms doesn’t have an equalising force as all-conquering as Mario Kart’s Blue Shell, it does its best to test your reflexes with a never-ending parade of shifting scenery and power-ups. Even with half a health bar’s lead over your arch nemesis, you can’t afford to get too triumphalist.
Strip away the motion controls and Arms is a fun but forgettable affair. With a pair of Joy-cons clasped in your hands, though, it’s a different game entirely, becoming one of the most immersive fighters we’ve ever played and a great big sugar rush of cartoonish combat. There’s no topping the experience of watching your opponent flail away in person as you jab, swipe and smash your way to a satisfying victory.
Even it does lack a bit in the way of polish and content, Arms still has more than enough charm to rank as one of our favourite games for Nintendo’s new console. Rob Leedham