Indie | Hammerfight

Hammerfight is brilliant. I’m not a terribly competitive gamer, but it’s one of a select few videogames that have had me fist pumping the air upon victory. Competition is at its heart, supported by a core mechanic that doesn’t change, but adapts very well to different combative environments. Like some of the best indie games, it has a hook that doesn’t actually change to a great extent for its duration, but the way it’s deployed over those few hours maintain interest.

For most of Hammerfight, the player’s sole input is swinging the mouse. Swiping and swishing to and fro – nothing more is added save for some basic item selection and combining. All of these secondary actions are achieved with single button taps, but it’s still entirely mouse-driven. It’s a stroke of simplistic genius. Those gestures control a manned flying contraption and, by proxy, its weaponry and armour, which can vary in weight, size and shape. These governing traits give movement a very tactile feel, altering depending on the machine’s loadout. There’s a certain satisfaction to be had from smashing an enemy’s armour in one fell swoop, just as there’s a feeling of flailing helplessness in missing him entirely and landing with a thwack upon his spiked hammer.

Indeed, I’d go as far as to say that the mechanic, in its purtest form, is flawless. Equally matched one-on-one combat with no music, distinguishing art direction or other mechanics would be engaging enough to keep me entertained for hours. Obviously, though, there’s more to it than that. Hammerfight has one of the most interesting stylistic pallettes of recent years, combining aspects of several bygone civilisations including the Roman Empire and Ancient Egypt, juxtaposing these against Moorish architecture and steampunk drapings. What results is a bizarre cultural patchwork that actually works, helped along by detailed two dimensional art that is occasionally layered for effect, but works superbly in its own right.

BEGGING TO BE EXPLORED
Obviously the plot is nonsense, but the world itself remains fascinating throughout; it’s the kind of place that’s begging to be explored in realtime 3D on a high resolution monitor. Alas, that’s unlikely to happen, but Hammerfight is well served by this captivating and utterly unique mixture. While the art direction and music especially are of a distinctly Middle Eastern flavour, encounters – especially in tournament situations – have definite gladatorial overtones. In some ways it’s reminiscent of Capcom’s overlooked Shadow of Rome; play to the crowd and they will cheer and reward you. Not as directly as the latter, it must be noted, but with money and reputation. Cash can be spent to purchase new equipment from a training hub between levels or by using a costly “skip” feature, one that I never used save for an accidental mashing of the num-pad Enter button when slamming my fist in anger.

Was that frustration? No. The irritation was personal. In this regard, Hammerfight takes its cues from the best. Loss, though frequent, is almost always your own stupid, slow, careless fault. You didn’t dodge fast enough, you went for too risky a blow, you let yourself get cornered by the encroaching horde of delightfullydisgusting looking beasts. Notice the almost, though. On occasion, the slightly cumbersome HUD will get in the way, or an enemy pilot’s dialogue will obscure the arc of his attack. These moments are suspiciously common; by no means constant, but exacerbated by a particular stage’s design or quick movement to the edge of the screen. Oh, that’s another slight problem. Sometimes, in the open air, the player’s movements will be restricted to a box with invisible walls. Not a huge deal, but when both friends and enemies can venture outwith these arbitrary boundaries and leave you hanging it becomes an unnecessary irritation.

That said, most of the time, very little detracts from the core combat loop. Battles have an unparallelled flow to them, sometimes becoming exhausting, drawn out slogs wherein each and every hit point is crucial and on other occasions throwing a spanner in the works when you least expect it. It’s possible to attempt a boss fight a dozen times, but emerge the victor after only ten seconds in the thirteenth round. In any other game, this would seem like inconsistency. Hammerfight, though, has the capacity to produce emergent moments like these through its stripped down, precisely imprecise central conceit. An accidental upswing can be the deciding factor in a scrap. Even discounting the world’s potent character, the seemingly infinite permutations of craft attachments and the variety of conditions that both alter and spring from the dynamic of combat, Hammerfight is one of the most balls-out fun and competitive games of recent times. There are a few issues here and there, but on the whole it’s absolutely – ahem – smashing. By Fraser McMillan

Grab Hammerfight from Steam for under a fiver.