Developer: Orgesta
Publisher: The Pocket Company
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Chiki-Chiki Boxy Pro Wrestling – Review
The latest entry in the Chiki-Chiki Boxy series has arrived on the Switch. This time our square-headed friends aren’t engaging in racing shenanigans, but instead, they are entering the wrestling ring. At first glance, it’s a colorful affair of wacky wrestling goodness but what can be found if we look at the game beyond its blocky surface?
Story
Chiki-Chiki Boxy Pro Wrestling is very much an arcade game that is all about getting you into the action as quick as possible. As such, there is no story to be found here. It would’ve been a nice addition to add a story as you still need to complete the tournaments in order to unlock everything. A neat little blurb to tie everything together, even if just in text form, could’ve made the game more enjoyable, and giving each of the 10 wrestlers a backstory in this way would’ve added replay value.
Graphics
If you ever wondered what the baby of Minecraft and WWE would look like, this game provides the answer. Everything here is pixelated and blocky, which is likely what the “boxy” in the title refers to. The stylistic choice here feels deliberately retro and colorful and harkens back to the arcade games of days gone by. This is further emphasized by the variety of environments, including the arctic, volcano and jungle stages that you’ll encounter as you play the game. These are often the star of the show rather than the arena-based action, with detail work that brings them to life. There’s a lot of low-poly graphics here, alongside jaggy edges and screen flickering at certain points, but this feels more like a stylistic choice to stay true to the era this game pays homage to, rather than actual graphic issues.
Sound
Just like the graphics, the sound design attempts to emulate the feeling of old school arcade games. We’re not quite in the 16-bit era yet, but the soundtrack sounds like it was lifted straight from Punch-Out!, with MIDI-esque renditions of drums and electric guitars. The same goes for the beeps and boops from the menu selections, the grunts, and groans from the wrestlers and the cheers from the audience. More variety would have been welcome here, especially in the music department. Having each of the environments have its own theme would’ve been a nice touch, but unfortunately, all the music tracks are interchangeable, with none standing out. All of these sounds mesh together to bring you a retro soundscape that feels very familiar to anyone that played fighting games on arcade machines or consoles from ages past. The overall sound quality is outstanding for what the game attempts to emulate here, especially when wearing headphones.
Gameplay
When it comes to wrestling games, there isn’t a whole lot of choice on the Switch. Chiki-Chiki Boxy Pro Wrestling attempts to fill the void by offering a pocket-sized wrestling experience. The goal is as straightforward as they come: you enter the arena, where your opponents are waiting. Your aim is to whittle their health bar down to zero, while you try to avoid that your opponent does the same to you. To achieve this, you have a selection of classic wrestling moves at your disposal, ranging from headlocks to piledrivers and everything in-between.
Chiki-Chiki Boxy Pro Wrestling appears to deliver everything you would reasonably expect from a pocket wrestling game. There’s the obligatory single-player tournament mode of course, and no self-respecting fighting game would be complete without a multiplayer mode as well. Multiplayer can be done both online and offline, with each of these modes supporting up to six players. It should be noted that multiplayer mode requires each player to have a console and a copy of the game of their own when playing locally. Training mode helps you familiarize yourself with the moves available to the wrestlers, and creation mode allows you to create a custom wrestler. You’d be forgiven for thinking this adds up to a whole lot of content: While it seems like there is a lot of depth to find here, you’ll end up with what feels like a shallow experience.
The single-player tournament mode is likely what you’ll spend most of your time in because it’s here that you unlock additional fighters as well as additional content for creation mode. There are seven rounds to beat in tournament mode, and each offers four matches, for a grand total of 28. The locations of the matches emphasize the tongue-in-cheek mood of the game, taking place in a variety of outlandish locations. These locations are more than just elaborate backgrounds, as they add stage hazards, such as lava, relevant to the environment you’re wrestling in. These environments add a welcome variety and some decent laughs, but ultimately, there is little replay value once you’ve unlocked everything for creation mode.
Each round follows the same formula. You’ll start with a one-on-one, moving on to a tag match, a battle royale and finale a one-on-one again. There isn’t a noticeable uptick in difficulty between the rounds, and with each following the same formula, this ultimately leads to a repetitive experience once you get to grips with the controls. Controlling your wrestlers is relatively satisfying, with a decent variety of moves available. There’s a variety of grappling and striking moves, several submissions and diving actions as well as two finishers. Despite this, most of the time you’ll find yourself spamming the same moves over and over again until your opponent runs out of health.
The game offers 10 existing wrestlers plus an additional 8 creation slots for a grand total of 18. You cannot modify the existing 10 wrestlers, although you can use both their moves and elements of their looks when creating your own wrestler. It’s fun to see what you can come up with but like the rest of the game, any fun you might have with the creation mode lacks depth and is short-lived.
Conclusion
Chiki-Chiki Boxy Pro Wrestling is a mixed bag. On one hand, it is colorful and cute, with some good humor and creative environments. On the other hand, the game lacks depth and after two or three hours you’ll have seen everything the game has to offer. This limited longevity, combined with the fact that each player needs their own copy of the game for local multiplayer, makes the game hard to recommend at full price. That’s not to say the game doesn’t have anything to offer though: it’s a fun little game for a few hours, so if you can pick it up at a decent discount and can convince a friend to do the same, it’s worth giving Chiki-Chiki Boxy Pro Wrestling a shot.
Chiki-Chiki Boxy Pro Wrestling - Review,
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