DO YOU LIKE CRAB? ME TOO!
Fight Crab may have the most up front name ever. Crabs fight and the goal is to not be one of the losing crabs.
Alright, review over. 8/10.
Okay, maybe that’s not enough detail.
The goal of Fight Crab is to flip the opponent crabs over onto their back for three counts, and in some levels that can be achieved by pushing the opponents out of the arena (and onto the floor). Most of the controls are based around the crab’s arms with the ability to pinch and punch on the shoulder buttons and triggers, while arms are directly controlled with the analog sticks. Movement is actually done by tapping directions on the directional pad. It’s a bit confusing at first but eventually the chaotic flailing turns into organized flailing and battles become easier.
PLATFORMS: PC, SWITCH (COMING SOON)
MSRP: $19.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $19.99
Using the currency won from battles, new crabs with different traits (like reach and how wide the crab is in its stance which all change how the game feels), stat upgrades, and weapons can be bought. The weapons are where this game goes from neat to bonkers and I love it. Crabs with swords, guns, flails, and rocket punches. This game is dumb fun. Even when a crab with a chainsaw kept destroying me, I was having a good laugh at the absurdity of it all.
As the chainsaw crab kept ruining my ascension to ultimate crab fight champion the game realized I was having some difficulty and offered assistance. Early on this is by adding an AI crab companion, but once I unlocked the ability to have a companion all the time the game offered air strikes (which is shown by a crab riding on top of a jet fighter). Online co-op exists too but I didn’t have someone to play with as of writing this, so I had to go solo and chose not to accept assistance because it marks where assistance was used on the level select.
The arenas go from logical places for crabs to fight like the ocean, restaurant tables, and fish markets to medieval castles, old Japanese towns, and inside a large metropolitan area where the crabs are big enough to pick up cars. I won’t spoil later stuff that happens, but just when Ithoughtthis game had reached peak stupid, I would be proven wrong and I’d be laughing again. It’s no surprise as Calappa Games have previously done New Aquarium and Ace of Seafood, which are bizarre games that feature fairly realistic looking aquatic life doing outlandish and absurd things.
Now for the not so great stuff. The only time I would be truly frustrated is when the lock on would pick the wrong enemy. I found it difficult to choose the right lock on target and because movement is done automatically after pressing a directional button, I would be circle strafing around the wrong enemy and would end up walking right into an attack. The camera is by far the biggest enemy in the game for that reason, but it wasn’t terrible enough to sully the experience. The game is also extremely short clocking in at about three hours to complete everything. I fully understand that the main focus afterwards would be versus mode however I have no one local to play with and I couldn’t find anyone online at the time I’m writing this. I hope this finds its niche with a fighting community because I would expect that high-level play would be entertaining to spectators as well.
I really like Fight Crab. It’s something different and I hope the absurd nature of the concept attracts players. I think the somewhat wonky physics mixed with the desire to consistently up the ante throughout the campaign made me excited to see what was in store come the next level in the campaign. I hope maybe some DLC will come to add some more levels and items to make this game even crazier, because as of right now it’s a fairly light package as a single player experience, but I can imagine that this would be a great game to pull out with friends over. Fight Crab is something very different and I hope it pays off for Calappa Games.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
