Punch Punch Revolution has been touted as the Wii for Facebook with its motion controls that use a computer’s webcam to translate movements into actions on the screen. Sadly, something that could have been revolutionary instead is a deceptive gimmick that tricks players into thinking they are actually playing.
Punch Punch Revolution has been touted as the Wii for Facebook with its motion controls that use a computer’s webcam to translate movements into actions on the screen. Sadly, something that could have been revolutionary instead is a deceptive gimmick that tricks players into thinking they are actually playing.
The player is a ninjaesque warrior who goes from place to place beating bosses over and over again to win experience, special items, abilities and AC, which is like in-game money. For example, players begin in the Witch’s Castle Scene and battle a Skeletal Mage, Pumpkin Baron and Devil bat in one-on-one fights where the player is supposed to move their hands and their character will move and attack.
Players can choose from hitting with their right and left hands or a combo move that does more damage. Once the boss is knocked out, the player can earn a variety of items and money and those chances increase the more times the boss is defeated.
Let me just say straight away that not once did my webcam on both my laptop and my desktop work with this game. I didn’t realize this right away either. When I began playing, I assumed my hand gestures were being tracked and used by my character to defeat the bosses. I made it all the way to level four before I realized that my character was defeating the bad guys without me.
It turns out there is a robot feature that allows the computer to control your character, but the game never tells you about it unless you click on the tutorial book that is only available during the battle. The robot tidbit I found out when I got up to get a drink and my little ninja dude was kicking tail without me.
There is a button to switch to the camera mode, but when I pushed it a game message came up saying cannot detect hands. Everything I have done and won on Punch Punch Revolution has been done by the computer with me just sitting there.
The game play is also confusing. There is only a minor tutorial about fighting, but everything else you have to learn on your own including accessories, miracle items and the dozens of other confusing little areas that I still haven’t quite figured out.
There are some good aspects to the game once you get past the whole, I can’t play it issue. The graphics are fun and the battles are cool to watch. After you defeat the bosses, you can move on to the next phase or continue to pummel the bosses you already defeated to earn some accessories and combo attacks.
Punch Punch Revolution is a great concept that may not quite be ready for Facebook. If the game was able to actually do what it said, its score would be higher, but camera problems added with the subterfuge using the robot makes this a good movie to watch, but a terrible game to “play”.
