Divekick: Review and Primer Part 2

I know I've talked a lot about Divekick lately, and I know that until you manage to play it for yourself, you'll be skeptical like I once was. So, keeping that in mind, I'm going to try to keep this review short. The remaining seven characters will be covered after the review, which will be just a bunch of bullet points and a score, cause that's how the pros do it, right?

Divekick: The Review

• The story/arcade mode is very short
• Most of the stories are laughable at best
• The AI is not very good at playing Divekick
• Why are you not playing this with friends or online?
• Uncle Sensei's tips are hilarious
• There's a The World Ends With You reference in one of them
• Speaking of online, for the most part it's very smooth.
• If you're on Steam, and the other person has performance issues, it can cause lag.
• Cross-country play becomes manageable at higher GGPO delay
• If you don't up the delay, you're going on a trip to rollback city
• Most people think it looks like a flash game
• It wasn't made in a day
• Thirteen unique characters, and 4 gem choices per character
• That's a ludicrously high number of possible match ups to learn
• The soundtrack is pretty good.
• Lots of Will Smith and FGC jokes
• High replay value, unless you live in a cave.
• A cave with no internet.
• And no friends.
• Easy to pick up, strategically deep
• Around $10 on Steam and PSN
• I think I'm out of bullet points.

With all that in mind, I give Divekick an....

$8.95/10

In all honesty, it probably deserves a 9, but I hate number scores. The whole thing was sort of a parody of bigger reviews, and if it doesn't come off like that, I'm sorry. I really do like this game, but I'm trying to stick to the theme. If you don't get the score, there's a bit of history on that covered here.

Primer, Part 2

And now that that's out of the way, this is all that's keeping me from playing more Divekick while waiting for Killer is Dead to release, so let's wrap it up.

Kenny

Kenny is the perfect character for the gambler, or the person who thinks they have mastered all the characters. Similar to Mokujin from Tekken, Kenny copies the other Divekickers, and can be a different character each round(with no obvious sign of who). However, to keep it fresh, there are some differences:

• Kenny does not copy their hitbox or stance, he has his own
• Kenny does not copy their special moves, he has his own
• Kenny does copy their kick, kickback, dive, and character specific kickfactor attributes
• Kenny, as Uncle Sensei, only has access to the vertical kick.

Kenny's two specials are very similar in nature, both being a spirit bullet that freezes the enemy temporarily on contact. The key difference is that the ground version is stationary, and can be used to stop an opponent's approach, where the air version actively homes in on the opponent, and is more offensively oriented.

Kung Pao

Kung Pao has a very horizontal kick, with great reach upon startup, allowing her to punish things most other characters could not. She does not dive very high, and her kick can be very slow. Kung Pao is, for the most part, better played with a defensive style.

Kung Pao's ground special is Crack Kick, during which she kicks a crack into reality itself. It will be destroyed if kicked. On its own, it doesn't do a lot, but it does move her backwards a bit.

Kung Pao's air special is Dimension Break, during which she flies into a portal, and around a second later, comes out through the crack in reality(if one is placed), or from generally the same position, just a little higher and more forward.

Kung Pao might seem like a bad character at first, but once you learn proper use of portals, she can be incredibly scary to fight against.

Markman

Markman has a similar kick angle to Kung Pao, but a higher dive, allowing it to cover more angles. At the peak of his dive, he has a just-frame window, where he will get an electric kick that is much faster, and harder to punish. Markman also has 2 sets of specials.

Search is Markman's default ground special, which makes him duck and pull out an item. The items are

• a spring, which makes you jump if you land on it
• a "bottle of chemistry", which creates a meter-draining gas cloud
• glue, which sticks you in place for a second if you land in it
• a black hole, which makes you fall through the top of the stage
• oil, which will make you slide if you land on it
• and kickbox pieces(3 in all, always found in order)

Feint is Markman's default air special, which makes him jump backwards out of a kick. This can be used to cancel a bad kick(like a missed electric attempt), or to bait an opponent, or just to adjust height for a headshot.

When the kickbox is assembled(body, yellow button, blue button), Markman enters precision control mode, which lasts for a limited amount of time, and replaces both of his specials with upkicks. You can cancel an upkick into a kick, and a kick into an upkick at the cost of some precision control time. If you lose while in precision control mode, you lose the kickbox and need to start searching all over again, similar to losing while in kickfactor.

Uncle Sensei

Uncle Sensei is Divekick's version of a stance character. With two different kicks, one that travels near horizontally(maybe 25-degrees or so), and one that's nearly veritical(80-degrees or so), he is a threat from nearly anywhere on screen. He also has a very high dive, and is difficult to challenge in air-to-air situations.

Stance Dance is Uncle Sensei's air special, which will transition you between the two stances for a small bit of meter. If you're already in a kick, you will immediately do the other kick when you Stance Dance.

Super Jump is Uncle Sensei's ground special, which launches him very high, very fast. Outside of very specific characters with the YOLO gem, or the Dive gem and kickfactor activated, nobody can challenge this dive from above.

The Baz

The Baz is (probably) the most unique character in the game, in that his kicks don't have a hitbox. Instead, they trail lightning behind them, and that is what will knock out your opponent. His kick is steerable by holding the kick button, starting aimed straight at the ground, and pivoting until it reaches the horizontal, firing off only when the kick button is released. The Baz's kickfactor is the shortest in the game(around 3 seconds), but it electrifies his whole body(making it kill you), and makes him an invincible death machine during this time. I'm not sure when you would ever use The Baz's specials, when his kickfactor is that good, but I'll talk about them anyway. Also of note is that The Baz cannot(under normal circumstances) get a head shot.

The Shocker is The Baz's ground special, calling down lightning from the sky, electrifying his body temporarily, and granting a brief window of invulnerability. It's slow to start up and slow to recover, though, so you really have to pick your spots carefully.

Mighty Swing is The Baz's air special, during which he anchors his whip to the background, and swings. The longer you hold the buttons, the farther out he'll throw it. This is the only way for him to KO an opponent by the traditional means, and his only way of scoring a head shot. It can be canceled, using the Dive button, and then you can kick, fall to the ground, or Mighty Swing again.

Stream

Stream is a double jump character, requiring you to jump twice before kicking. One, or both, of those jumps can be a kickback, giving you four different possible angles of approach. Stream's kick is very slow, but is steerable. If you hold the dive button, Stream will steer upwards, to around 10-degrees higher than horizontal, and the kick button will cause him to steer downwards, to right around vertical.

Flame Bait is Stream's air special, which causes him to spit a fireball towards the ground. If your opponent lands in, or is standing in the pool of fire it creates, it causes them to jump. If you land in the fire, it sets your legs aflame, giving you a larger hitbox with which to hit your foe. Flame Bait causes your meter to drain, and the pool of flame will disappear when your meter runs out.

Spooby PLS is Stream's ground special, which causes him to appear as if he is buffering, and leave his sprite behind, essentially making him invisible. While this can be difficult to control, you can use it to steal rounds from opponents not expecting these shenanigans. Spooby PLS causes your meter to drain, and Stream will become visible again when your meter runs out.

S-Kill

S-Kill is another double jump character, again requiring you to jump twice before kicking. One, or both, of those jumps can be a kickback, giving you four different possible angles of approach. S-Kill, however, teleports, which has some startup, but otherwise is invincible. Teleports do still have travel time, however, so kicking early out of your second jump, or using your second jump early will not gain you as much distance or height as waiting them out. S-Kill's kick is very slow, travels very vertically(around 85-degrees), and is very hard to be offensive with. However, he has two amazing specials for more defensive-minded players to work with that can make him a force to be reckoned with.

Parry is S-Kill's ground special, which gives him a few frames of upper-body invincibility(waist up). If the opponent kicks into it, S-Kill will immediately teleport above them(lined up for a head shot in most cases), giving you a prime opportunity to strike. Parry costs very little meter, and is one of the best specials in the game, bar none.

Trick is S-Kill's air special, which teleports him above and in front of the opposing character(at the time of activation; if you don't take their momentum into account, you can end up in a world of hurt). This gives him a way to deal with opponents running away, or holding the line well, as it's very hard for him to advance normally.