This heavy hitter’s a bit lightweight

While Arms’ mechanics allow for a surprising amount of depth and nuance, the same can’t be said for its roster of spring-loaded fighters.

As with Splatoon’s Inklings, the vibrant likes of Spring Man, Master Mummy and Helix are meant to take their own places up among that pantheon of greats. That’s a big ask for any game… and Arms isn’t quite up to the challenge. Just think of the stuff that elevated Overwatch from ‘fun online shooter’ to ‘cultural behemoth’: the whip-smart voice acting, the hilarious emotes and the neat little touches that littered its many maps.

Arms doesn’t share the same attention to detail, and this is most obvious in its arenas. Ribbon Girl’s Ribbon Ring is a generic dancefloor, the cars that litter Twintelle’s Cinema Deux don’t explode no matter how hard you pummel them, and Min Min’s scrapyard just feels like a dustbowl. So while you’ll have fun bouncing around on the trampoline in the middle of the Mausoleum, you don’t get the same thrill with every face-off.

Nintendo is promising new fighters, arms and stages as free DLC, but the game could have done with more of them at launch to keep you itching for just one more go.