Review: Divekick

Posted by Chris K on August 22nd, 2013 | 8 Comments | Tags: Divekick

I am by no means an expert when it comes to fighting games. Usually a new fighting game will come out, I will mess around with the single player for a few hours and then head online where I will take beating after beating. Most the time it is do to the complex controls and timing needed to pull off all those crazy combos you see. Divekick is different. The first time I played Divekick was Day 2 of E3 this year… On Day 3 I won a tournament. That should be enough to show you that pretty much anyone can pick up the game quickly.

That isn’t to say Divekick isn’t deep because it is. There may be just two buttons used, however each of the characters have a very unique feel to not only the way they dive (read jump) and kick, but also their mobility and meter building. Take a character like The Baz, he can only attack by creating a streak of electricity behind him. Some characters can kick twice, others can teleport and double jump. There really is a character for almost all types of play styles. The game may have started out with just two characters with almost identical moves, but it has come a long way from that.

You will learn a few things will playing to. Knowing how to space your character out against different foes will really determine whether you win or lose. Also since the game is one hit to kill you will quickly learn timing. I know pretty much the instant I kick whether or not I will be dead in the next few seconds or victorious. Because the matches happen so quickly it becomes really addicting.

The game features a single player story mode, but that isn’t where the meat of the game is. While I wish there was a dedicated single player Vs. Mode, so you could hone your skills, the story mode is a good introduction to how each character works. There is a storyline for each and every character and most of them are quite humorous. Just look out for the final Boss, he is a real menace.

Multiplayer is where you will be spending the bulk of your time with both online and local. Divekick is great in the fact that it can be picked up by almost everyone and understood within seconds. It is also a great party game. I had a few friends over before the game was out to “kick back” and enjoy some beverages. Needless to say, we all had a blast. If you play the Vita version you can even do local play on one device. Now you can body friends and foes alike on the go. But if you don’t have the luxury of having a few friends over to enjoy a game there is online and it is silky smooth.

I do want to make a note, that as of this time there are some issues with connectivity. It takes me at times upwards of 3 or 4 minutes to find ranked matches, when I do find a match it always seems to be against the same people. The situation is even worse on the Vita. When I am in a match though the game performs great. I played a few rounds of my almost 300 rounds played against a player in Australia with minimal lag. This is due to the fact that the game uses GGPO for the online, which is pretty much a standard for fighting games now.

There are both ranked and unranked matches for you to play, and lobbies to create if you want to play more than one match against a player. There are also leaderboards on top of leaderboards. So if you want to see who the best player for each character is you can, hint I will be at the top of the Dr. Shoals board.

Don’t let the game’s graphics and simple controls fool you, Divekick is as deep as any fighting game I have played. There isn’t another fighting game I would rather play more than Divekick. It is simply one of the best.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here. The PlayStation 3 version of the game was tested for this review.