Rumble Fighter Review: Get Ready To Rumble

Rumble Fighter Review: Get Ready To Rumble
By Kei Beneza (dividelife), OnRPG Journalist

As the MMO meta grows further, more and more types of game play have been exploited to cater to the wide variety of gamers. Fighting games are no exception when it comes to the revolution of the MMO genre, you'd think they're bound to take every last game type out there. Anyway, Rumble Fighter Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Fighting Game (MMOFG--- errr maybe I just made that up) that uses the isometric bird's eye view system much like any beat em' up fighting games like Bleach (PS2), Powerstone, and Thrill Kill. The only difference is (aside from the whole MMO factor), Rumble Fighter Online lets EIGHT (yes eight) players battle it out in one stage/arena.

Nothing says PVP more than an actual online fighting game where the only way to progress is through Player versus Player combat, and the whole idea of being in an all out gut-wrenching battle between eight players is probably more than enough to satisfy your thirst for blood (it's a just a term... no blood here folks).

The rules are quite simple: destroy your opponents. Not a very complex goal to achieve but it's still a whole lot of fun.

Starting Up

Upon starting the game you'll be prompted to pick your gender, after which you will be prompted to choose between 4 main archetypes: Strikers (the heavy hitting brutes of the fighting game world), Soul Fighters (the fast paced fighters of the game, Fei Long anyone?), Alchemists (the weak characters with an absurdly exaggerated defense ratio), and Elementalists (the paper skinned spell casters/magic users). After creating your character, it's time to kick some axe.

Defining Your Character

What's good about this game is the tier balancing. Since each class lacks a certain something, you basically have to know how to deal with others. This is also a good way to exercise team play as you help block each other's weaknesses to decimate your pursuers. If you think that your character's archetype class will be the one to determine your character's future, then you're dead wrong. You can equip each class with skill scrolls that will further define their play methods. These scrolls give access to different skills that will aid you in your journey. A good example would be the Muay Thai scroll which (OF COURSE) teaches your character the named fighting style. There are tons of scrolls in the game, each with their own special effect for each archetype so you better plan it out.

Use scrolls for skills

-----But wait! There's more!

Aside from the endless justice that can be attained through scrolls, the game also promotes the ExoCore system, which allows players to customize or further develop their special move. Other special effects can be boosted and optimized by adding ExoCores, making character development broad and enjoyable.

Experience points are acquired through combat so feel free to shed some BLOOD!

Matchmaking

Much like Gunbound and Tennis games (LOL) Rumble Fighter Online uses a room interface that lets players host and join games. I believe that this system is probably the most ideal way to pursue matchmaking for this type of game as it gives players the opportunity to either fight on their own turf with their own rules while others completely violate their pride by beating them in their prime XD.

Game Modes

If you're tired of the free for all wanton massacres, the game also has a bunch of other gaming modes to choose from. This makes competitive game play more diverse, providing a series of challenges in which you must best your opponents. Let's face it, an arena type fighting game with only one type of game play will probably get dull after 1-2 hours unless you just can't stop trying to get back at the high level Elementalist that keeps kicking your butt. One good example of these awesome game modes would be the King of the Hill mode where players are forced to fight each other on the way up while gathering flags which determine the victor. There's also the potion drinking game where you have to drink as many potions as you can in order to win the game. There are also tons of stages in this game, making it more refreshing to start the next round without having to bear the same visuals all over again. When it comes to game modes, Rumble Fighter has it goin on.

Graphics

The game's graphics uses the cell-shaded interface commonly assigned to 3D anime games. You'll probably be familiar with this look after playing games like Smash Online. I honestly can't imagine an anime game that doesn't use cell-shaded graphics, so you could say that it wasn't through handicap that this game had to use such an outdated engine. The frame rate isn't really that smooth, but it's not such a big deal as it does cater to frequent 40fps game play. As for the game's resolution, Rumble Fighter runs on low-end resolution (last time I checked it was 800 x 600). We're not sure if it has widescreen capability but it's quite unlikely for a low res game to have one. The backgrounds are colorful with eye candy visuals that keep it from becoming a large bitmap picture where characters are fighting. The game uses bright colors which hurt the eye at times especially since it lacks shaders, but it's nothing a short gamma change can't fix. Skills are rendered nicely as well, with dynamic lighting effects that completely define the impact of each.

Bright colors might hurt your eyes

The Verdict

All right, for a MMO the game lacks a lot of things, but in the form of a fighting game, this game kicks ass. It's really fun to experience another form of competitive game play that doesn't deal with how powerful your armor is or how good you are at hitting balls. The game is highly addictive and can last you for countless hours of competitive goodness.

The good:
- Good cellshaded graphics
- Character customization goodness
- Item mall for character styling
- Broad system
- Good almost lagless gameplay.

The bad:
- Suffers from the same fighting game sickness called Tier list
- Stereotypical builds are still encouraged as some classes have a higher victory rate
- Graphics are pretty old still.