Okinawa Rush | Nintendo Switch Review

Behold! I present to you an indie game that blends the gore of Mortal Kombat, fully fledged fighting game mechanics, and the staple features of the Metroidvania genre. That game being Pixelheart's "Okinawa Rush". Through two different modes of play including Arcade and Story we find the stage by stage fight for revenge through the perspective of three different protagonists. Each starting off in a different part of the game's given world, and with different objectives in mind. One such character named Hiro finds his wife murdered by the rival Black Mantis ninja clan and his children kidnapped. All for his scrolls on martial arts. Thus he seeks revenge, and to rescue his children. On the flipside of the same story Hiro's brother, Shin, goes to investigate the happenings of the attack on the Okinawa village. Arriving via canoe only to follow the bloody trail in pursuit of the Black Mantis as they take his brother's children in tow. Lastly a female named Meilin enters the scene with her own side story that also starts at a different point of origin, but joins the others in a crossing of paths.

At startup 'Okinawa Rush' prompts you, the player, to choose either the Arcade mode or the Story Mode as your main mode of play. Arcade mode is a straightforward stage by stage playthrough whereas Story mode offers all the extra cinematic story elements, and voice acting that fleshes out the journey of each of the main characters. Also in Story mode is a Dojo menu that offers training for all the special attacks you can perform as well as a survival, and rockman mode which acts as the game's side content. A way to show off your skill in stationary battles against mobs of enemies. 

In either Arcade, or Story mode the end goal remains the same. That end goal being to play through each stage as efficiently as possible utilizing your move list of available attacks, limited use weapons, and the environmental hazards to kill off the Black Mantis and their creepy creature cohorts. You have a set amount of health that can be refilled with the collecting of food items, and a skill use gauge that takes collectable potions to function. You also have a prayer bead combo counter that will increase your score as you maintain combos before the prayer beads fully clear/reset. 

The stages you'll fight through in 'Okinawa Rush' include many secrets, and hidden prisoners that can be rescued for a better end grade tally. A tally that takes in account your time spent, deaths, prisoners rescued, and overall efficiency/score. From the get go each playthrough is done according to difficulty setting based on a martial arts belt color system that increases the enemy count, types of enemies, and rewards for defeating said enemies. You'll face waves of enemies as you travel from start to finish before meeting up, and defeating a bosses for a stage clear. The in between involving side objectives such as rescuing prisoners, and collecting loot for a hi-score. Each enemy defeated along the way drops loot according to how you finished them off. The fancier the finish the more the loot. Some bosses even drop secret gems that tie into the game's story, and lore. Gems that require said bosses to be defeated in a certain fashion. By collecting the gem, rescuing all the prisoners, and finishing in a quick manner you will get a better alphabetical grade. Keep in mind though that you have a limited stock of lives to begin with, and that a GAME OVER will reset your score if you choose to continue. Score of course is uploaded to the game's local leaderboards.

In the way of fighting mechanics the characters can attack with punch and kick combos that come out differently as they would in a fighting game when directional inputs are applied. In conjunction with those basics there's a button for jumping, and a button for hard attacks/grapples. You even gain access to a super enemy clearing attack when you fill up your potion gauge. That and skills which deplete lesser amounts of that gauge upon use. When grappling or throwing an enemy you can actually spin them around by rotating the left thumbstick, knee them, punch them, or throw them. You can even bash two enemies from either side together in a bloody pulp. Aside from the martial arts angle you can also pick up various weapons that can be thrown or used a limited amount of times. Making the clearing of mobs easier. You can even knock enemies into traps that will insta-kill them. 

The game does additionally come with some graphic tweaks including a CRT scanlines toggle, and a blood effects toggle. I personally find the game more enjoyable with both of these features toggled on, because the kill animations are sick af, and the retro look pleasing to the eyes!!! Visually the game is a retro looking side-scrolling metroidvania that allows for exploration, and path choice. The added fact that there's so many destructible, and secretly destructible environmental set pieces is impressive. Also to note is the amazing retro inspired soundtrack that sounds as if it came from the arcade days of the 80's & 90's.

The Verdict ...

This is the best action platformer I've played in a long time. I did not expect the attention to detail given to everything to be so involved. From the stages to the mechanics it was truly well designed. It's impressive on a whole other scale. I personally can't wait for this to hit the PS4, so I can share some gameplay. For now though I cannot recommend this game enough. It deserves an award for game design. Don't miss out, and be sure to buy this bad boy if you have a Nintendo Switch, and are starving for some brutal martial arts action!!!