The blows come fast and furious in Silver Dollar Games' title: One Finger Death Punch. One Finger Death Punch is a side scrolling beat'em up that puts the player on a one dimensional playing field with enemies approaching from the left and right. You have two options: attack left or attack right. Your only goal is to strike the enemies once they're in range but before they strike you. If the game play sounds really simplistic that's because it is. Don't let that fool you though because this game is hard and it is intricate. Every move needs to be correct, if you miss you're left open to counter attack so button mashing is out. Combine this with enemies that block and dodge and a health bar that runs out awful fast and you have a game that's really easy to learn and all but impossible to master.
With controls that would be simple for a browser game it's rather surprising just how much polish it has. All of the characters, player and enemies, are stick figures (think crossing sign) and while I associate such minimalism with laziness I have to say that here it works to emphasize the dynamic Kung Fu moves, which are many and varied. Combine this with the fantastic, highly detailed backgrounds, the volume of weapons and props that could just as easily have been left out, extra game modes, and a sound track that spans everything from classic kung fu movies to clash of ninja and you get one kick ass game. (Literally and figuratively)
So, should you buy it? Of all of the games that I've noded One Finger Death Punch is the one that I would most readily recommend. With fifty two hours of play I feel pretty confident in claiming this game is addictive. I can only imagine how many quarters this thing could eat if it were released as an arcade cabinet. Actually that really encapsulates it. One Finger Death Punch is a fantastic arcade game that showed up a few decades too late.
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RUST IS FOR THE WEAK