Stick Fight: The Game (Review)

Stick fight: The Game is a chaotic 2D platform brawler with wacky physics, for 2-4 players. Developed by Landfall West and published by Landfall games. This game is right up my alley, so it's very possible that my opinion of it is biased to hell, but I honestly couldn't care less so take it with a grain of salt if you will.

There are times when you feel like playing intense strategic competitive multiplayer games, and then there's those other times when you just want to play something bombastic and hilariously ridiculous. Stick Fight belongs to the latter of the two, with Landfalls trademark minimalistic style and crazy whacky physics, (it uses the same physics engine as TABS) and fast chaotic matches that quickly devolve into pure lunacy of the highest degree.

The goal of the game is to absolutely obliterate your friends using guns, melee weapons, stage hazards, or just your bare knuckles, and have a fantastic time doing so. Once the other 1-3 players have died the game transitions to the next randomly picked stage (unless you choose which order they appear in the options screen) and the brawl continues. your stats are kept track of each time you play and are showed off every couple of matches, though they are pretty much just for bragging rights. There's technically no way to end the game once it's started unless you quit, the matches will just keep going on and on. It's more of a party game than a traditional platform brawler, so there's no real winners or losers. I can honestly say without a doubt that this is probably the most fun I've ever had playing a multiplayer game.

There is a massive amount of quality content packed in for such a cheap game ($4.99) Honestly it's insane. there's a huge array of weapons from normal guns like AK47s, snipers, handguns, shotguns, and so on. And then there's the absurd weapons such as the black hole gun, snake shotguns and pistols that shoot out hungry rabid snakes (it's a weird feeling when your own snakes decide to turn on you and eat you alive), flying giant snake launchers, glue guns and many more. There's also a wide plethora of stages, ranging from a total of about 90 different stages, many with their own hazards like spikes, lasers, swinging spike covered demolition balls, and breakable platforms, as well as shifting/moving stages where you'll have to keep up to stay alive. There's also the option of steam workshop levels if you get bored of the base game stages (though I highly doubt you will).

If you're the kind of person that prefers a large selection of customization options, then you'll enjoy messing around with the plentiful amount of options at hand. You have the ability to choose which guns and stages will appear and which ones won't, you can arrange the stages in whatever order you please, change the spawn rate of weapons, toggle health generation and health amount, and a few others. Also on a side note, there's a level editor if you like making your own stages and being creative.

If you only play games like this for the online multiplayer, you might want to consider waiting until some of the bugs and glitches are sorted out. Currently there are server issues, problems with major lag, clipping, and various others. Some of these bugs are very amusing and not to much of a bother, like spazzing out or clipping through stages, as for the others it's a shame as the game is a near perfect experience of mindless dumb fun when it actually functions the way it's supposed to.

Stick Fight is wildly entertaining and probably the absolute best multiplayer party game (online and off) I've ever played, while the concept might not seem bizarre, it ends up being a crazy fuse of absurdity and pure hilarity that works together beautifully as the perfect time waster. Stick Fight is available for the low price of $4.99 on Pc/Steam.