Release Date: 20/08/2013
Played On: Win
Available On: PS3 / PS4 / PSV / Win / XBO
Time Played: 1h 30m
Progress: Completed Arcade Mode & Some Fights
Developer: Iron Galaxy / One True Game Studio
Publisher: Iron Galaxy
If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing or playing Divekick, then go get it straight away. This is the kind of game that everyone needs to have in their life. It's the perfect mix of competition and fun, which in turn equals entertainment for all. Divekick is basically faultless.
Maybe it has a lot to do with the fact that I try to use design principles of abstraction on a daily basis, always striving to communicate more from less. In a lot of ways, Divekick is the ultimate abstraction of a fighting game, which is a big relief for a gamer like me. I love playing fighting games, but I could never put in the time and effort to play at a competitive level.
At the same time, because I play more games than a lot of my friends, getting them to join me in a versus match is always a disappointment. I'm the guy who is too good to play against complete casuals, but nowhere near good enough to take on skilled players.
So even though I love fighting games, I rarely have the opportunity to really get into a series of evenly matched fights. It's something that I’m sure many other gamers have felt during fighting games. It doesn't seem to matter how good or bad you are, unless you're at the extreme ends of the scale, you don't fit in anywhere that's fun.
Enter the simplified and minimalistic interpretation of a fighting game that is Divekick. On the surface, this is nothing like the fighting games you've seen before, as it only uses two buttons. There are only two inputs that control everything in the game, even the menu screens. The developers even made a custom controller for expos that was nothing more than two huge buttons to press.
This control scheme is central to the entire design of Divekick, and a key element to the brilliance of its design. During a fight there's no need to remember long strings of button combinations and timings to get ahead of your opponent, all you do is "dive" or "kick". The nuance comes from contextual differences and the varying character roster.
Thus, for the casual player there's nothing more to remember than two inputs. Most of the time, one will make your character jump, while the other makes them attack. Every character can only take one hit, so all you need to do is hit your opponent one time, and you're a winner.
If we leave it there, then this is a ridiculously simple fighting game that would appear almost moronic. In fact, if you try to button mash in Divekick, you might even do worse than button mashing in any other fighting game. It's easy to see when a fight's in motion, as each character follows a loop of jumping in the air, then plummeting down with an attack or special move. Simply banging the buttons in quick succession will only ever result in your character hopping in the air, then dropping straight down again. It's pretty much impossible to land hits without giving some thought to your timing.
When you look a little further into the mechanics of Divekick's gameplay, you begin to realise that there's nothing simple about it. In fact, there are a number of different moves that are all dependent on the context of your inputs, even though you're always limited by two buttons.
For example, as you fight you build up a special meter that can be used by pressing both inputs at the same time. The special move or boost is different for every player, so when to use yours and how to use it can be a bit of a learning curve.
What's more, each character has increasingly different and complex moves that rely on specific inputs and timing to really utilise. One character might jump in the air, then the same button will freeze them in place as they rotate, before diving to the ground in the direction you chose. Another will jump and then dive, but continuing to press the dive input will change the trajectory of their descent.
There's a character that teleports around the stage, and one that whips out a lasso and swings from the ceiling. Each move set is completely unique and takes a bit of experience to figure out and learn, as they're not always apparent.
In fact that might be the worst thing about Divekick, which is also a great selling point. None of the characters and their move sets fit in with the traditional language that we're used to in fighting games. The closest Divekick gets is that it has two generic characters who look the same and take up the Ryu/Ken mantle with basic moves that most people will be able to master. That's where the similarities end though, as there are no big guys who are obviously grapplers, and there's no fancy charge fighters.
Instead there's a cast of weird and wonderful looking characters that try to show off what they can do. The simplest way to sum up the roster is that they're a group of weird characters that make no sense at all until you fight them. After losing a few round in order to figure out what they can do, you start to learn each of their move sets and abilities through sheer experience.
There really is nothing predictable going on in Divekick, which is why I consider it to be a great sales pitch for the game instead of a turn off. I will happily bet that before Divekick, you have never played a fighting game like Divekick.
Although, there are definitely similar attempts that have been made at dumbing down fighting games for casual players. The real bummer with those games is that a lot of the time they do nothing more than turning a long combo into a single button press. It basically ends up making button mashers look like they're doing awesome things, while removing any nuance and skill from the game altogether.
Divekick manages to achieve the task of simplification, without dumbing down the genre to make it more accessible. In fact, despite its accessible two button input system, there's more going on in the meta game than meets the eye.
Thanks to all of the contextual modifiers, the diverse character roster, and unique move sets, Divekick is far from a casual fighting game. Even though the input complexity of button combinations has been dropped in favour of contextual inputs, the need for skilled timing is still essential in higher level fights.
In fact, I would argue that even the bigger, more complex fighting games are all about timing when you get to the real professional levels. The game becomes more about knowing what to do and when to do it, rather than mastering combos and special moves. If you've ever watched professional fighting game tournament, you probably know what I mean when I say that some of the best matches to watch feature some of the least "flashy" moves available. In this way, there is little to differentiate Divekick from any other fighting game out there, which takes it to that hardcore level.
It might sound contradictory to say that this is as casual as it is hardcore, but it's thanks to the equalising nature of Divekick's abstracted design. A hardcore player might be able to pull of fancier moves in a consistent fashion, but a casual player is still unpredictable. The round are so short that before you've even started, you could have a foot in your face and be knocked out. I'd love to see a core player take on a casual, because I think it would be a close match due to the sheer speed and unpredictability of Divekick's gameplay.
This is why I think Divekick is perhaps one of the most polished and perfected fighting games on the scene today. It manages to distil the essence of a fighting game down to its pure form. If you want to win, you have to engage with the timing element, and getting into your opponent's head.
It's an abstract interpretation of a genre that can be increasingly intimidating as it grows more complex and players gain experience and skill. To put it another way, I never play other fighting games online, because I don't find it entertaining to see my character get stun locked until dead over and over again. Meanwhile, I like playing Divekick online, as I always feel like I have a chance to out manoeuvre my opponent and get in a quick hit when they leave themselves open.
At first it might not appear to be much, but this game is a master class on good design. It's the kind of thing that comes along every now and then to remind everyone else what they should be doing.
Maybe I'm just a big fan of abstraction and reduction, but even so there's a certain level of elegance required to pull off minimalistic design. Essentially, when you strip away all the fat, there's nowhere left to hide. Thankfully, Divekick's soul is pure and undeniably strong.
Seriously, get this game and pull it out at parties… you can't go wrong.