When you think of the platform fighter subgenre, there is one particular title that dominates the market. Super Smash Bros has ruled the roost for many years, but due to the nature of Nintendo games, players without a Switch are bound to miss out.

Except now, we have Flash Party, a platform fighter by XD Inc that is gunning for Smash Bros’ crown. It comes with availability on multiple platforms, and it’s free. Should Mario be worried? Well, that’s something I have mixed feelings about.

Gameplay

Gameplay is the meat of the experience, and the moment-to-moment play is good fun. If you’ve ever played a Super Smash Bros title you'll probably have a decent understanding of the basic gameplay of Flash Party. You are dropped into an arena with one or more opponents, and possibly allies too. Your objective is to knock the opposition off the platforms. Beating them down softens them up beforehand, meaning you'll launch them harder and potentially knock them out of the park, so to speak. 

Like Super Smash Bros, there are numerous different characters to choose from, though, unlike its more premium counterpart, you start out with only one character to use. You'll need to unlock other characters through fights, or potentially pay for some in premium currency. 

The characters and different game modes are all unlocked through a progression system, which isn't especially fast. You will have to play a few matches to get any options as far as game modes, and you'll be playing to unlock new characters. 

Soon it starts to feel less like a reward and more like an obligation if you want to get some variety into your game. Eventually, you get a good amount of choices, but it's easy to see how the slow start could put off potential players in the early stages. 

Visuals And Audio

Flash Party comes with some strong visuals. It's got a bright and colourful art direction that makes the whole thing fun to look at. The character designs are also pretty interesting and varied. So varied that some characters look like a totally different art style, but that's not a complaint as such. I personally had a soft spot for the big yeti-type monster character Mikko. Flash Party originated on mobile platforms, so was always going to be tied to a certain level of graphical fidelity, though I don't think that's held it back much in the looks department. 

To put it simply, the audio all works well. The tracks fit the levels and the sound effects have a satisfying punch to them that makes the impacts feel all the more meaningful and enjoyable. 

Replayability

Online play makes replayability value trivial in many ways. You can always go back and play more. I did struggle a little with finding opponents who could hold their own in matches though. This isn't really a reflection of my skill, and more that it seemed like a lot of the players weren't very used to playing. It feels like matchmaking could be tightened up a bit to really boost replayability. 

What It Could Have Done Better

If Flash Party suffers from anything it is probably its own business model. The gameplay itself is enjoyable and you can definitely scratch a Smash itch by playing some rounds, but it was hard to avoid the feeling that the game wants a free-to-play player to get impatient. Premium content lets players who part with money get access to more powers a lot faster, which feels like it would be pretty devastating to any attempt to play it seriously. The worst by far is that even playing matches depletes an energy meter that you need to wait to recharge.

This is where the awkward subject of monetization comes in. Flash Party is free-to-play and naturally needs to make its money through other means. This isn't uncommon, but I did feel like the attempts to entice you with premium currency might be responsible for some less-than-enjoyable choices made in the game's design. It's not an inevitable consequence of free games, either. Other titles like the recent KartRider: Drift have managed to limit monetization to cosmetic improvements and leave plenty of in-game options available from the outset.

Verdict

I enjoyed my time with Flash Party. The game looks great, its characters are well-designed, and it has very enjoyable core gameplay. The chaos of multiple fights is great, customizing fighters with stickers is interesting, and there are some genuinely great gimmicks. You can tell some developers put some love into the title. What lets the game down a little is its almost purposefully unsatisfying gameplay loop that seems to want to edge you toward microtransactions.

Ultimately, you can have a lot of fun with this game if you keep that in mind, but it did affect my experience and overall perception of the title. There are ways to run free-to-play that don’t feel like a hard sell, and right now Flash Party isn’t really hitting that mark. Which is a shame, as it’s a lovely game.

Flash Party is available now for Android, iOS, and PC via Steam.