SHALLOW GAMEPLAY KEEPS APPEAL ONLY SKIN DEEP
★ SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy Platforms: PS4, Switch
I have to open this review by stating my opinion on the new wave of beginner/ casual-friendly vs fighting games that have begun to appear. They’re part of a push to open the genre to new players without the off-putting skill-barrier these types of games have had up to now: requiring months or even years of practice to be able to execute special moves, super moves and combos consistently in the midst of combat.
These new games reduce the crazy, multidirectional finger gymnastics needed to produce the special moves to much more manageable single-direction inputs with single or double button presses. Even though I’m an old-school player who’s learned all the complex skills, I don’t mind this new direction too much — as long as the game in question has been designed that way from the start.
But I do mind when a developer takes an established franchise, with characters whose moves I know well, and changes them, especially to make them simpler — which brings me to SNK Heroines. It’s the latest example of a beginner/casual fighting game, gathering a roster of female characters from SNK Playmore’s various fighting games into one place for a lighthearted tag-team punch-up.
First problem, they’ve taken a lot of characters I like and simplified their moves to an absurd degree.
This may be the simplest fighting game I’ve ever played. Hell, the characters can’t even crouch.
It’s a tag-team game too, so players must choose two characters and can switch between them during the bout. One odd mechanic is that bouts can only be finished with a super move, which adds maybe the tiniest bit of skill to the game.
One feature I don’t mind is the focus on skimpy outfits, but it doesn’t make up for the totally unsatisfying lack of gameplay depth. Simplistic, sparkly, saccharine spank material about sums this one up.
THEY’VE SIMPLIFIED MOVES TO AN ABSURD DEGREE