A fun Kung fu beat' em up | SIFU: In-Depth Review

SIFU (Nintendo Switch) - In-Depth Review

If you’re looking for a martial arts game that will remind you of the classic kung-fu movies you loved as a kid (maybe until now), SIFU has got it for you. It is now released for the Nintendo Switch.

🟩Pros

+Beautiful art style

+Satisfying combat system

+Well designed rogue-lite mechanics

+High replayability

+Play it on the go (Nintendo Switch advantage)

🟥Cons

-Short story

-Limited by the Switch’s hardware (Would have benefitted from a 60fps performance)

Gameplay Analysis

Imagine if beat’em up and Rogue-like had a baby named Bruce Lee. This is basically SIFU in a nutshell. It has a rather simple but effective revenge story: you play as a young man trying to take down the people that wronged you, maybe growing old along the way.

The gameplay setup is pretty straightforward, just beat up the bad guys to progress in a level. Each level is divided into multiple parts and there is a bit of open worldness to it. But for the most part, it is a linear single-player experience.

SIFU is intensely kinetic; every successful punch, kick, or takedown, either to you or to the enemy can be felt and has heavy weight to it. Very reminiscent of games like Batman Arkham, or if you go further back in time, the old Matrix games for the PS2.

The combat is fluid and smooth. Landing combos and “accidentally” performing cool action sequences feels satisfying, especially after a series of successful dodges and parries.

Speaking of the parry system, it is both unforgiving and rewarding. I love the freedom they give you as to how to deal with enemy attacks. You can block them, which consumes your “structure”, basically the amount of damage before your defense is temporarily broken. You can also parry them, it requires perfect timing but has devastating effects for the enemy, If you fail, it will be devastating for you instead. Aside from those, you can also perform stationary dodges, which honestly looks cool as if you’re Neo from the Matrix, dodging attacks while firmly planted. You can also do a full “step back” dodge to evade the more heavier attacks like grapples.

The takedowns and ragdoll physics are so satisfying it almost looks like how the thugs on those popular martial arts movies go down, it gives you this feeling of being a badass. The animations and movesets are varied enough not to feel repetitive during the first many hours of gameplay. Aside from your fists, you can also use the environment and objects to your advantage. Each type of weapon has their own movesets which is a nice touch. You can pick up most objects on the ground, or maybe just kick them towards enemies.

Mechanics

The implementation of a rogue-like system is well done and in-line with the lore. Your character basically never loses as part of the story and ages a bit for every loss. The years added is determined by the difficulty level.

Age is seen physically on the character and will positively or negatively affect your stats and bonuses. If you get old enough, you finally die and the playthrough ends. It is a bit forgiving compared to other rogue-likes as it gives you a bit of an allowance to fail, essentially making it a rogue-lite.

As you go along with a run, you gather XP that can unlock new abilities for that specific run. Unlock a skill enough times and it becomes persistent throughout your other runs. This provides some sort of replayability and gives it an end-game mechanic.

Replayability

SIFU is short in itself, with five beautifully detailed levels with their own distinct art styles, color grading, and varying enemy types. Aside from the usual cannon fodder there are also “brutes” that can pose an additional challenge, culminating in a unique 1 v 1 boss fight at the end of every level. The pacing of the levels are well designed and respects your time. You almost never run out of enemies to beat up. Not too overwhelming, and not too stale. Despite the short plot, it is a rogue-lite afterall and replayability is a big factor in this genre, one that it does so well. I was able to finish the story in under 10 hours, but I was still excited in doing another run. I might say even more excited than the first time, because of the fun gameplay and mechanics.

Graphics and Artstyle

Graphics wise, I think it is mostly the equivalent of the low graphics preset of the PC version. No worries though, as the Artstyle is beautiful and more than makes up for it. One that will probably stand the test of time and not get old graphically.

Performance

Performance wise, It ran a stable 30fps on Switch’s hardware, both in handheld and docked modes. With minor dips to low 20s during some intensive scenes. With SIFU’s simplistic art style, one might expect it will run a little bit better, perhaps even at 60fps, but the way the game is built just seems to require a lot of horsepower. Still, it is even more impressive that they managed a port of this caliber.

Perfect for the Switch

I have to say, SIFU is perfect for the Switch’s use case: handheld, portable. It doesn’t have much need for the right analog stick. It only needs the face and shoulder buttons to effectively function, much like other non-shooter games. The bite-sized and rogue-lite nature of SIFU makes it an ideal game to be played on the go, in handheld systems such as the Nintendo Switch. For the price of $40, It is a worthy inclusion to your library especially if you love the martial arts, beat’ em up and rogue-like games.

Conclusion:

SIFU is a beautiful modern mix of martial arts beat’ em up action and rogue-lite gameplay. Kinetic single-player fun, loaded with a satisfying gameplay loop. A perfect addition for the Nintendo Switch’s library.