Chop (Pre-Release Review)

Chop is a fast-paced arena fighter for 1-4 players. Developed and published by Claws Up Games. In Chop you have four fighters to choose from each with a sword and special ability. Drekan can call back his sword after it's been thrown, Alric can teleport to wherever his sword sticks, Ashe can uses telekinesis to control her sword, and Khuno has an extra sword (which could come in handy if you miss with your first throw) which can be used as a laser tripwire of sorts when both thrown. each character while rather similar, are distinct enough to warrant separate playstyles.

Everyone dies in a single hit (think Towerfall Ascension without the limited ammo), meaning if you're not fast you will have a very frustrating time (especially when fighting the CPU's). You only have two attacks, the aforementioned sword throw and an air-dash or air-slash if you want to be specific about it. The air-slash is usually more effective as keeping your distance is a good strategy for winning, it doesn't help too much though as it is pretty common to get pinned to a wall directly after spawning. When running and jumping around the arenas your characters will automatically cling onto walls and ceilings, I personally didn't like this since it screwed up the flow of my movement and made everything feel like it was a little too clingy and not enough slide-y for a speed and precision based game.

There are a few modes to choose from, each with the option to play a free-for-all, all against one, or team death match. The first mode is called Rush Out, and the objective is to escape the arena by jumping into portals created by killing other players, these portals will also disappear if you die before reaching them. The second mode is just your average kill everyone to win kind of mode, and the third is currently locked until the game officially releases. There are a handful of different stages but when I say different I mean the background is a slightly different color and the platforms have been moved around and or changed a bit with a few stage hazards like spikes and lasers thrown in.

There's nothing really unique about the stages, or the characters for that matter. The fighters look very generic, they're designed like worse versions of the ravager bandit like minion guys from the Borderland series, but also slightly emo? like the developers wanted their game to be metal... or something. Chop tries to be stylish with it's "Comic Book style graphics" but it ends up looking more like a strange mix of Badland's setting and borderland's cellshade (which never looks good in a 2D game).

With more than two players everything starts to get messy and confusing on screen, and most of the time rounds end too quickly. I know the developers wanted their game to be fast paced, even stating "CHOP is meant to give a feeling close to what you can experience in fast FPS such as Quake or DOOM, mixed with platformer setting and influences from Towerfall, Nidhogg and Super Smash Bros." But it doesn't always work well. Chop feels like a mediocre alternative to Towerfall that controls decently, and has a few good ideas. But is lacking in content and is boring and unoriginal in the visual and level design departments. Chop is available August 31st for $11.99 on Pc/Steam.