The sequel to the classic Punch Club lives up to its predecessor, with more comedy, more action and much, much more work.
THE GAME
Punch Club 2: Fast Forward is a management and fighting game developed by Lazy Bear Games and distributed by tinyBuild. 20 years after the events of the first game, in an increasingly cyberpunk world, our new protagonist finds out what it's like to live in this new era after spending all this time living in his mother's garage. Soon he discovers that everything is resolved through beatings and becomes interested in entering the world of fighting. In addition, he is guided by his desire to know more about his father, since he never met him and everyone in town refers to him almost as a legend. With all this in mind, the protagonist must balance his life between participating in championships, working and helping those who ask for his help. With this frenetic routine, he trains and takes care of himself so he can follow in the footsteps of the legendary fighter who has been missing for 20 years, while trying to adapt to all this new technology.
MY IMPRESSIONS
I was really excited when I heard that a sequel to Punch Club was coming. And I confess that, when starting the new game and having a brief recap of the previous one, I remembered almost nothing about it. Luckily, throughout the game, several references to the first title are made and help to refresh the memory. In addition, for those who have never played Punch Club, these memories that the characters give you contextualize well and it is not necessary to play the first game. Still about the story, it is full of comedy and references to classics from the 80s, which are fitted at the right time, without taking the shine off the originality of the main story. The game is in Portuguese-Brazil and masterfully translates many expressions, slang and jokes to make sense for the Brazilian audience.
The game's art is still wonderful. The characters are expressive and, with that, become very charismatic and unique. Returning to the references, visually speaking, we have many homages to games and movies. It's fun to walk into a setting and see that, in the background, there's a character from some other game being referenced. The soundtrack is great and builds the environment well, whether in fights or simply in different environments.
As for the gameplay, compared to its predecessor, we have several changes. Their stats don't decay over time like they did in the first game. You'll have access to quite a variety of skill trees and see which one suits your playstyle. By winning championship fights, you earn points so you can acquire new abilities. However, if you lose, you will lose points. I don't know if I really liked this punishment mechanic, because it slows you down in your evolution, but it makes sense.
Nobody survives on light and, just like in life, you will have to work to eat and have energy for your activities. That's where the game loses me a little. As much as the game is focused on management, there are times when it feels like you're just working to eat and eating to work. You will have to find the right rhythm and practically have a routine within the game, which for me makes the game very repetitive, within a track that cannot be broken. The fights are almost in the background, many times I had to simply abandon the fights to be able to work and have some money to support my character so that, then, I could go back to the fights. When I managed to find a balance, the game geared up and the story started to move. Maybe I'm just bad at managing, but that doesn't take away from the fact that sometimes you even forget that it's a game about fighting.
The fight system has changed, being much more tactical and comprehensive, giving you a range of possibilities to change styles in the middle of a fight depending on your opponent. Personally, I didn't like it that much. It's not that it's bad, I just didn't like it. Energy is essential and your stats being at a high level don't matter so much, you should create your strategy based on your opponent. In many fights, it was frustrating to lose because it wasn't clear why you lost. Still, it's not something that spoils the game.
I had a lot of fun playing Punch Club 2: Fast Forward. It may take a while to get into gear, but once it does, you can't stop. This is a characteristic of Lazy Bear Games games: you will suffer at first, but you will be rewarded. For those who liked the first title, you can bet that you will like its sequel.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Theoretically, you can get all the game's achievements in a single run. I say this because there are no branching achievements regarding the choices made in the game. They all culminate at the same point in the story. However, there are achievements that you may end up missing if you don't fully explore the game. We have achievements linked to statuses, where you must level up at least one of them to 30, for example. Achievements related to fights, in this case winning 50 fights, can also be lost. These two cases I mentioned are very difficult for you to miss, but as they are not part of the story, you may eventually not complete them. In short, experience everything the game has to offer. Open your missions tab and accomplish everything you can before moving on to the next chapter, which usually starts by winning the current championship. This way, you will soon get 100% without any problems.
CONCLUSION
There is a clear evolution from the first game to the second, without disrespecting everything that was presented initially. Punch Club 2: Fast Forward maintains the aesthetics and good humor that worked and updates its game mode, so that it is not just a continuation of the same. As much as some things I didn't like so much in the sequel, they didn't ruin my experience. It was a matter of adapting to this new style to progress in the story.
I wish the pace wasn't so frenetic that I don't have time to breathe and do other things in the game. You often find yourself in a "work, eat, fight" loop and end up not having time to do other things without breaking this routine.
As I said earlier, at first it will seem that the game is slow and it will take time to advance, but once you get the hang of it, things gear up. I highly recommend Punch Club 2: Fast Forward, as it's a game made with great care and a lot of fun. I was happy that the Punch Club saga gained another chapter and I hope that a trilogy is in the plans.
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