I was going to start off by confessing that fighter managers are my kind of game, but after some thought I have to admit that I can’t actually think of another game in the genre other than a minigame in Yakuza 4 (Although the fighter manager was better than the rest of the title). All the same, when I heard about Lazy Bear’s Punch Club I knew it was exactly the kind of game I could sink my teeth into. If you aren’t already a fan of management and punching, Punch Club may not exactly have what it takes to change your mind, but if you can get behind the concept there’s a pretty great time to be had.
The story of Punch Club is a classic: Your father was murdered, so you grew up to punch professionally. Well, not quite, at the start of the game your career as a pugilist hasn’t quite taken off. But when a crotchety old man takes you under his wing, it sets you on the path to become the greatest fighting guy of all time. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, Punch Club is a tongue-in-cheek type of game; your character isn’t exactly the likeliest of heroes and the world he inhabits has as much to do with professional hoodlums, 80s parodies and magical medallions as it does actual fighting. Starting from a humble up-and-coming fighter you’ll manage your hero’s daily routine through a regime of exercise, manage his finances by sending him to work and balancing your spending on frozen pizzas and gym equipment, and of course, by fighting.
And fight you shall. The main event in Punch Club revolves around fighting your hero against series of stronger opponents, competing for greater prestige and more money in escalating brawls to determine who is the best of the best. This isn’t a Street Fighter-style fighter, nor a Streets of Rage-style brawler however, you actually have no control during the actual battle. Instead, your task is to strategically plan for battle by equipping your hero with an array of moves that best contend with your opponents’ strengths and repertoire. Your fighter will use his arsenal to the best of his ability, but success will come in training your fighter to make the best of skills and pick the best moves for the battle at hand. Right off the bat this is likely going to be a turn off for some, Punch Club is actually a light tactical game, not a fighting game. But for the right player it’s actually got something great going on.
Punch Club‘s mechanics are not overly complex. Your character has three base attributes: Strength, agility and stamina. In order to become the world’s greatest fighter you’re going to need to train these stats with different workouts. I enjoyed that Punch Club doesn’t reward the jack-of-all trades approach and even punishes it; if your focus is speed then having too much strength actually tires you in a brawl, but having too little strength means your attacks are mere taps against your foes. In order to be the best you’ll need to specialize. You can further tap into your niche via skill trees that will increase your combat abilities. But life isn’t all training – Your hero also needs sleep and food, and in order to buy that food he’ll need to do odd jobs such as construction, pizza delivery and mob enforcement. Balancing work, training and various odd tasks such as fighting ninja alligators is your key to success.
By and large the game remains pretty engaging the whole way through despite its simple premise. When things start to get stagnant, Punch Club does a great job of mixing up the formula with new tournaments, side quests and systems (Without trying to give away too much, there’s a point where you have to promote your fighting career by starring in motion pictures, throwing parties and capitalizing on merchandise which was pretty fun). By the end of the game the core mechanics prove just a little too thin to carry the game through its entirety (I clocked in at just a little over 14 hours when I probably would have been satisfied a little closer to 12), but for the most part the game is solid, enhanced with witty writing and lots of character that makes for a fun journey.
Overall Punch Club had a lot of simple, slightly mindless but very entertaining gameplay. The core could use a little more depth and it ends on a pretty cheap cliffhanger, but I walked away feeling pretty satisfied with my experience. Again, if boxer training isn’t really your thing I don’t think Punch Club has anything that’s going to convert you, but it’s a pretty smart, entertaining ride that might surprise you with what it has to offer. So when Punch Club 2 comes along (And like it or not, it’s coming), I’ll be ready for some more punching action.
