LEVEL 1 - SLAP CITY MENU

WELCOME TO SLAP CITY - POPULATION YOU!!!

Slap City is the type of game that pairs perfectly with a couple of pizzas and a living room full of friends. It's all about having as much fun as possible, every single art and gameplay choice feels like it's been fine tuned to milk as much enjoyment as it can from you, like a little dopamine cow. That sounded weirdly horny. It's a platform fighter, a genre that THRIVES on local multiplayer - unfortunately that couldn't happen this time because Will 'lives in America' and 'can't fly over just to play videogames'. So online will have to do. There are a host of colourful characters to pick from, all from previous Ludosity games. Ittle Dew, Orka, Business Casual Man, Jenny Fox, all have their own playstyle and niche within the game. After players have selected their character and entered the game, they have buttons to press. Each character has a set of attacks, heavy attacks, special attacks and others. These are pretty self explanatory, apart from specials. These usually do something a little bit funky, the only consistent feature is the up special attack being a recovery move - critical for getting back onto the stage after being knocked off. Probably should have mentioned there are 3 directional attacks for each category (uppy sidey downy). Wowie! And some characters' aerial attacks are different from the grounded versions! That's so many attacks! Too many! Help!

My favourite character has got to be Orka, and stART PLAYING BALROG'S THEME BECAUSE SHE'S A BOXER BABY DING DING DING LET'S GO RING THE BELL. i'll be a Little Maccer til the day i die and Orka is no different, something about the boxers gets me dude. The fighting style not the underwear. She's got a perfect mix of fast and highly damaging moves that beg you to string them into devastating combos, dancing around your opponent and showing them what damage 2 whole fists can do. This extends to other characters as well but Orka's sound design is great, you really feel like you're making an impact with your attacks. Her side special is also a ridiculously fun sideways leap at light speed, hitting your opponents isn't even the aim you're just looking to break the sound barrier. Other highlights include Business Casual Man, whose style of making and spending money to fuel certain attacks is stupidly addictive, and Jenny Fox SIMONMANIA.

The stages are a treat. They're all bright and colourful locales, like a pinball-machine-city or on top of a speeding bus. Part of the appeal of these stages is the hazards that they introduce, like being bounced off of the pinball-machine-city bumpers or run over by the speeding bus. The nature of platform fighters means that you'll be receiving more knockback the more damage you take, so a poorly timed collision with a hazard can send you absolutely flying. Which is hilarious.

As a dedicated Videogame Soundtrack Aficionado i must also say that the Slap City soundtrack is really good??? Like genuinely it's really really good and i'm actually upset it hasn't been pressed on vinyl??? The artystyle is very endearing, the mix of the simple 3D models for actual gameplay and illustrated character portraits strike a nice balance of different mediums, with consistently fun colour choices throughout. Can you describe colour choices as fun? Well i just have. Also fun is that each character has a selection of colour palettes available, and even an alternate skin! All of these are available right off the bat which is a nice change of pace.

All in all, Slap City is a great game for anyone who likes messing around with a group of weirdos. It's a fantastic combination of streamlined gameplay and mechanics while retaining an incredible amount of individual expression and creativity, which is just what indie games are all about really.