Toribash is a creative, original indie computer game that I, surprisingly, haven’t heard anything about from any major game website, or anyone really. It barely gets a mention on most websites geared solely towards independent games to begin with, and that’s unfortunate. This review won’t be long, because honestly, there isn’t much to say, but let’s do dis thang, y’all.

Now, forgive me if I get my stories confused, but Toribash is a turn-based fighting game created by Hampus Söderström, a Swedish software programmer, and to my knowledge it is the only game he has created. It was a finalist at the Independent Games Festival in 2007, and got an award from PC Format the same year. Yeah, not exactly Razzies, this game did pretty well for itself but has seemingly fallen silent since.

The premise is unique and intriguing: A turn-based fighter in which you control each individual body part of your ragdoll fighter. Because of the immense amount of control that you have over said fighter, it is boasted by the developer that one can, in theory, create their own fighting moves, or even use knowledge of existing martial arts to defeat their opponents. You can tell already that this will have interesting effects on how you think and visualize while playing, but at the same time, inevitable problems will arise simply because the idea is more ambitious than the software powering it. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Audio is simple. When you attack your opponent, you’ll hear satisfying sounds of yelping, cracking bones, crunching limbs, and meat packing. It’s not exactly necessary, but it’s all about the little things, and it really does add to the experience. The music is a different story. One subtle electronic beat loops in the background endlessly, no matter what you’re doing within the game. To keep my sanity, the mute button is a necessary evil after only a few minutes of playing.

The graphics for an indie game are both spartan and very attractive. I believe an appropriate term would be “clean”. The HUD is not much of a HUD at all. Simply three counters indicating how much damage you’ve dealt, how much damage your opponent has inflicted on you, and the number of frames (turns) left in the fight. It’s simple, easy, and out of the way, as it should be. Some nice shadow and shader effects are also worth noting, and despite the complete lack of backgrounds or environments at all, the graphics are very well done for an indie game. I would have liked to see some simple levels to play around in though, such as perhaps, a bamboo forest, a temple, anything derived from the cheesy martial arts movies that the game obviously draws some of its inspiration from. It gets extremely dry, constantly fighting in the white nothingness of the Matrix training program. Overall, the spartan presentation is functional, but bogs down the experience somewhat.

Gameplay is the most important thing here, and I have quite a bit to say about it. Now, i mentioned the main premise of the game previously, and that premise brings with it plenty of pros and cons. The most obvious thing to ANY first-time player will immediately be the learning curve. This game would be Da Vinci’s wet dream, as knowledge of field of motion, and visualization of physics scenarios are CRUCIAL to playing this game. Hell, while you’re at it, take into account the three Laws of Motion. Other than basic understanding of some physics theory, this game simply requires practice, and lots of it, which I haven’t been willing to give it, to berank f. It’s only after playing this game that you will realize how complicated an action simply STANDING UP is.

It’s phenomenal how often you will just fall down in this game. Therein lies a big flaw of the game. Due to Newton’s Third Law, every action you execute in contact with your opponent will have an opposite effect on you: namely pushing you pack with every punch or kick.

Allow me to go on a tangent here. Now, I practiced Karate for seven years, so believe me, I’m a specialist at this shiz. ;D

Say I asked you to punch someone in the face. Okay? OW!! %#!~#@~$!

Alright, now, as you punched me in the face, notice you didn’t punch me with both your legs completely straight and your feet touching. Ever thought about why? It’s because your brain subconsciously has an understanding of the Third Law of Motion, that all forces are met with an equal and opposite force, there fore if you punch someone in the face, you must place one foot in front of you for range, and one foot behind you for stability. This way, applying a force to something, like someone’s face, you absorb the equal amount of force you exerted. Your punch to someone’s face is effective because you were ready to absorb the impact while, ideally, your opponent was not. Your brain figures out all these things in a split second and sends out electrical signals to many muscles in your body simultaneously, and like a machine, all these moving parts act as one.

Therein lies one of Toribash’s worst flaws, the fact that the pre-programmed ranges of motion for the body parts you control cannot act together in the same way that the human body would in real life. You are in control, but these body parts move on a pre-defined axis and are rigid. Because of this, absorbing the shock of your own hits is impossible, so if you punch your opponent, you will fall backwards and fall down, unable to get up, like a turtle or somethin’.

It’s like…if you hit something with a metal baseball bat, you’ll feel the force down to the very core of your being, whereas if you smacked someone with a sausage, much of that force would be distributed more evenly along the sausage and…erm…

…Anyways, what I’m getting at here is that the game is too damn hard for beginners. I never feel satisfaction when playing this game, because ultimately, by the time I’ve had enough of it, all I get out of it is a nagging reminder of how dumb I really am. Toribash is the simulator of fighting games, if there can even be such a thing, and it’s completely beyond me. I don’t even dare attempt the multiplayer. I’m not THAT sadistic. I’ll be the first to admit I will get my ass handed to me by even the faintest of heart.

Anyways, cool game, good ideas, needs some work, and it’s definitely not a game for everyone. 7 out of 10 from me.

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