Arms Has Legs

I'm not really into fighting games. Mortal Kombat is cool because I can rip people's spines out without being labeled as a murderer. Street Fighter is fun because I am undefeated in Street Fighter V with Balrog. You read that right. Undefeated, as in no loses. I'm 1-0 with him. Injustice is neat because it's Batman v Superman without being all mopey and lame.

But all of these games have super long combo lists for each character and ginormous character rosters. As I play, I realize I'll only pull off these combos once in a while through random button pressing.

Despite my aversion to fighting games, I bought Arms on launch day. When it was revealed in January, I'm pretty sure I rolled my eyes. Then I played the Arms Global Testpunch (stupid name, I know) and I enjoyed it so much. Even though I was getting wrecked online, I still found the game to be fun. I only won one game and that was because my opponent wasn't even playing. I'll take whatever wins I can get in that game.

Arms is super tough, but not because there's a high barrier to entry like most other fighting games. It's tough because the AI opponents are ridiculously brutal and have the ability to see into the future, which is frustrating. But when you find the right AI difficulty (like...2) the game is a lot of fun.

Even battling people online is fun, until grab-happy Ninjaras ruin the momentum. Having more than one game mode available in casual online makes the online a go-to destination for me.

Except the two-vs.-two fights are lame. Like, really lame. Hard pass.

Out of the Shadows

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia has been out for a few weeks and it's been quite the departure from traditional Fire Emblem games. It's still the same concept: fight armies on a grid in turn-based battles, but without some of the stuff from the  most recent entries. You can't pair up your troops and make super-powered babies this time or partner up on the battlefield and wreak havoc.

Those features weren't in the original version of this game, so it makes sense they are absent in Echoes, because it is a nicer looking copy of that game, basically. The dungeons are unique to the game and I hope they return in newer Fire Emblem games.

However, keeping this game so true to the original has some setbacks.  The lack of enemy and class variety is a little disappointing, and because the map is more open, you-ll play in the same exact environments over and over again.

Overall, the game is really fun, but I have not seen such false hit chances since XCOM.

I can't tell you how many 80% chances I've missed. One level in particular saw me miss more than half of my attacks, despite having a 78% chance to land them. You don't need to be a math pro to realize that 78% does not equal 50%. An enemy archer also landed five of his six attacks despite having a 32% chance to hit on each one.

Frustrating, but fun. A sentence that can describe every Fire Emblem game at some point.