Some follow power, some follow honor, and some seek revenge. In Sifu, the name of the game is Revenge. This action fighting game has an interesting twist from the start. The first character you play is the very villain who sets off a series of terrifying events.
Don’t worry, you won’t be a bad guy for long. It’s enough to set the story and show who you really are. In other words, he is Sifu’s child that the bad guys just killed. The game lets you decide at this point whether you want to be a little girl or a little boy, but there’s not much difference in gameplay.
The story is simple and effective. Pride, betrayal, arrogance, cruelty, and ruthlessness are all ingredients for a good revenge stew. It’s also a familiar theme from the grand days of kung fu theater. The student thinks he has surpassed his master and wants to become the new number one in town. After a few years have passed, the game introduces you to your grown-up self, studying and practicing your skills, ready to go all deadpool, your father’s murder and what you meet along the way. Go through their villainous accomplices. reach out to the traitor. The game is rated M (17+) for its violent graphics, and it’s worth noting that it’s a fair rating.
I won’t go into the details of the various controls used in this game. Because it takes too long. We recommend spending some time reviewing your button mappings. Each Joy-Con stick and button has something to do, and some attacks and combos require pressing two buttons at the same time.
There is another interesting feature of the game related to available controls and movements. This is the opening credits showcasing the various characters you’ll encounter. As each villain is introduced, a shadowy version of the character is shown and you can spar with them while the game explains how to use a particular attack. requires a different type of attack or combo move for the intro scene/tutorial where you can move on when you get the move right.
Tutorials tell you that you should care about the speed of the game, not your own. There’s very little latency between using a command and seeing it on screen, but it’s not the same as moving your body in a real situation.
[I learned this lesson in sometimes painful ways in college. I studied Kung Fu for a couple years with my Sihing (a.k.a. Chuck). He shared many lessons he learned from his Sifu, most of them delivered quickly, some of them while I was lying on my back from the lesson which had been delivered about a half second before (yeah, Chuck was a black sash at the time).]
The game shows impressive and realistic movements of heroes, including the use of weapons.
Get the usual array of parries, strikes, kicks, etc. You also get some throws, limited acrobatics, bone breaker moves, and finishing combos. Combat is fluid and fast, so don’t let your guard down. The game offers something like a stamina meter so you can pace yourself during battles. There are intermittent weapon drops even early on. I found that I could pick up a nice length of pipe and use it to great effect. Bows are not included but when used they make a very satisfying ‘ponk’. .
As expected, once you’ve accumulated enough experience points, you can access the skill tree and add new moves to your repertoire. The game is not subtle at all in this game. To access the skill tree, walk up to a small tree in the courtyard of your house. A little ‘nailed down’ but the look and feel of the courtyard and trees is very authentic. Skill trees don’t force linear progression. You can learn any skill with points. This is very useful and can potentially give you better results depending on which bad guy you face next.
The game guides you on a world map, but it’s not clear what it is at the start of the game. It has large windows overlooking the city. This window is a world map that allows you to travel to different areas so you can defeat the baddies.
Sifu is not completely flawless. There were some points where I found that I could move the character so that the body hits the camera. This prevents you from seeing your own body. This isn’t too bad, but it does make the scene a little darker and makes it a little harder to discern details. Otherwise the visuals are pretty good. The game doesn’t offer photorealistic graphics, but it’s not extremely angular. Environmental elements provide a complete and realistic world without seeming forced.
The sound effects are very good and the voice acting is good enough.
Sifu does what games in this genre should do. In other words, it makes you feel like an action hero directing the unfolding of the movie. As of this writing, Sifu is available on Nintendo’s site for $39.99. It’s a reasonable price range given the great visuals, crisp action feel, and replayability.
