Developer: Sweet Bandits Studios
Publisher: Sweet Bandits Studios
Platforn: PC
Tested on: PC
Coffence – Review
Coffence was first introduced to us on March 14th 2017 when it entered Early Acces on Steam. Since then the game has come a long way, adding a lot of new features, content, etc. Now, almost one month after the full release of the fast-paced action game, we take a look at what Sweet Bandits Studios offers Steam players. One thing is for sure; the people over at Sweet Bandits sure enjoy a good word joke when it comes to Coffence. Get yourself a cup of coffee, make sure you sit comfortable, and let’s dive into this game.
Story
Coffence works with a story in the story mode (duh). When playing the story mode, a narrator tells a little tale though. He says coffee is a source of energy and happiness, as well as a source of conflict. To protect this beverage, the world’s greatest baristas perfected a complex martial art known only to a select few called coffencing. However, a massive coffee bean from outer space known as the mother bean made its appearance for the first time in centuries. Some see this as a omen of great peril while others see great opportunities. Coffencers from around the world seek to harness its very special blend. Every character has a reason to get to the bean, so they’ll have to defeat the other characters.
Graphics
Coffence works with basic 2D graphics. Even though there isn’t much to say about the quality of the graphics, the way everything looks is nicely done. The different characters have their own strengths and weaknesses and all have their own look. So does the coffee shop, which the developers gave a nice little touch. If you look beyond the basic options, you’ll see some kind of poster on the wall saying “special thanks”. Here, people’s names are written down. It’s a small detail, but an original way to show the players who helped with this game.
Sound
The sound is probably the strongest asset of this game. When you’re in the main menu, during conversations, and basically anytime you’re not in fight, you’ll hear this cute, almost Hawaiian kind of tune. It’s adorable to listen to, and makes you move along to it as you sit on your chair.
Besides this music, there is also the in-game music you’ll hear when you’re fighting duels. These take place in different locations and each location has its own music. For example, the music used on the pirate ship in the “pirates of the carabean” reminds a lot of the soundtrack of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Conversations between duel partners has no sound, just text. However, you hear some annoying sound when the text appears. You can compare it to the sound you hear from Super Mario when he collects his coins. Luckily, this sound is accompanied by some background noises like birds whistling.
Gameplay
Coffence is a fast-paced blend of fighting games and twin stick shooters. The game offers two tutorials, one for beginners and one for more advanced players where you learn different tactics. One disadvantage of this tutorial, is that only controller controls are explained, so if you play with a keyboard, you’ll have to look at the explanation of the controls rather than play the tutorial.
The game introduces five playable characters. There is Ryan, the sophisticated scholar, Kent, the bodacious barista, cap. Puccino, the sassy swashbuckler, Brewce, the exceptional entrepreneur, and Mocha, the caffeinated canine. Mocha, a dog, wasn’t added until after the Early Access period. Each character has its own strengths and weaknesses, which can be found in the collection part of the game. The last character that you’ll get introduced to is Cupernicus, the ruthless receptacle. This is not a playable character (or at least not at first), but the defender of the mother bean. Besides these characters, there are six locations; pirates of the carabean, blue mountain, office, cocoa bean beach, green bean valley, and mother bean.
Now, the gameplay itself is rather basic. This is also where the coffee really comes into play. Your health bar consists of coffee drops, whoever loses all their coffee drops, loses. You can attack or block your opponent, who will then lose coffee from their cup. When this happens, you try not to let the coffee get wasted by letting it hit the ground. Instead, you try to catch this coffee drop (a.k.a. health point) by catching it with your coffee cup. When a player loses their final health point, the gameplay gets slowed down as a way of making it ‘the finale drop’. The final drop can either save a player, or be the defeat of a player.
There are three playable modes; story mode, versus, and online. The story mode lets you complete each character’s story. You find out why that individual wants the bean from outer space. You have to defeat the four other characters, plus a robot that came with the spaceship. Each individual comes with their own location. When you defeat all five opponents, you finished the character’s story and you unlock a new cup. You also get to unlock a new secret character.
The versus mode lets you play against friends, or an AI. You can either opt for a duel or a brawl. The former is classic cup fencing where two players take on each other. The latter is chaotic cup fencing where two to four players compete against each other. You choose one of five characters to play with, as well as which cup they use. You can play against one or more friends, or select AIs to play against. Here you also get to choose in what location you want to play. The online mode lets you choose between playing with friends or random players around the world.
Conclusion
Coffence is a nice, enjoyable game to kill some time when you’re bored. The story is coming from a fun idea and the music is amusing. The gameplay is standard and pretty much always the same, which can make this game repetitive. This makes this game enjoyable for a short while, but it won’t keep you busy for hours on end. The tutorial only serving players with a controller is a real turn off for Coffence, since it does support keyboards. We do feel like the price is a bit high (€12.99), but nevertheless it’s a fun game.
Coffence - Review,
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