ARMS Isn't a Knockout Punch

The following opinion is mine and mine alone.  If you disagree, that's fine! I love when people enjoy games.  The following thoughts are why I can't get into the game as much as I would have liked.  For clarity's sake, I play single player and never with others in a local multiplayer fashion.  That is the point of view this opinion is coming from. 

Isn't it sad that I feel as if I have to type out disclaimers on an opinion piece because the Nintendo fan culture can be so toxic and hateful to dissenting opinions at times? 

When you first boot up ARMS and get into the online "party" mode, the game shows that it is polished.  The game presents itself well.  There is one fundamental problem though.  Once you have the game and aren't limited to 1-hour play sessions (like in the "test-punch"), the game is a shell of what it could have been. 

This game has a lack of content.  Plain and simple.  There are a ton of people that bring up the Splatoon model as a way to defend this game, but it's like comparing apples to oranges.  Yes, it is true that Splatoon was light on content on day 1,  ARMS takes that to a whole new level.  

One thing that I always found cool about Splatoon was the "inkopolis plaza" hub area.  There would be other inklings walking around.  Avatars of people that you just played against in-game.  Fan art of well-liked creators in the Splatoon community would pop up in little speech bubbles above their heads and those same drawing would show up as graffiti in the matches.  The game was begging you to get involved in the community and gameplay. "Splatfests" would pit one team against another to fight for superiority.  The game was charming, even in its main menu.  

ARMS takes that Splatoon idea and throws it away, opting instead for a menu.  Just text on the screen that you choose from.  Want new arms, select the "Get Arms" button.  Want to play Grand Prix? Click it.  Nothing about that makes you want to get engaged in the lore.  Nothing about that wants you to know more about these characters and the world that they inhabit.  

On the issue of community growing, this falls into the ever-growing list of Nintendo Switch games that have no chat functionality.  No way to communicate with others in a lobby.  No way to work as a team in 2v2.  I get that there is probably no strategic advantage to it, but whenever you want to engage with your audience, giving them a place to hang out and talk to other players isn't a terrible thing.

Splatoon was regularly updated with new weapons, new maps, updates to old maps and the like.  New content coming at us without paying a single cent.  That is awesome, but I think it is a disservice to the Splatoon team to compare it to ARMS.  To be very clear, Splatoon did have a single player mode.  While light on actual content, there were challenges that were handcrafted by devs for a player to do on a single player level.

Why bring up the DLC strategy for Splatoon you might ask?  It is because everyone defending ARMS immediately defaults to the excuse of "free content coming later".  I think that the foundational flaw in this argument is that, Nintendo already has my money.  The game, at launch, is not completed if essential content comes at a later date.  All the content that Splatoon received after launch was supplementary.  It gave old players a reason to come back in.  They could get to try out the new weapons and maps and get involved in the community splat fest.   Unless the developers plan on patching in a true story mode, community building features, collectibles, achievements, custom characters, leaderboards, or a better training mode, ARMS is unfinished and that isn't going to change.    

ALL of that being said, I don't think that this is part of some greater scam or something.  I don't think that Nintendo did this to literally put no work in and cash in with all the new Switch owners chomping at the bit for new games and content.  I think that they worked really hard on this game, but most of it are things that you cannot and maybe will not ever see.  Examples: When making a new character with new abilities and arms, you have to make sure that this character plays well with all the previously established ones and doesn't break the game by being more powerful in every way.  In this respect, I see the game as a Jenga tower.  You can't just start pushing blocks around without thinking how it affects the overall tower, or else the entire game comes crashing down.  With this many arms and characters, each with unique abilities and play-styles, there were thousands of man hours put into making it all fit together.  

Some games can get away with this.  I think that Overwatch is a good example.  That game costs money upfront and is a huge online community.  The game only has a text menu, but things are animated and look of a higher quality.  Overwatch has a well thought outranked system that is struggling to get through but rewarding to be involved in.  Overwatch even has MICROTRANSACTIONS and people don't seem to care too much because the community is so rich and there is always something being done to draw new players in.  

All things considered, I think that ARMS wasn't made for a player like me.  This was made for a player that loves fighting games and can't get enough of games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat but wants a fresh spin on the genre.  Those games don't really hold my attention for extended periods of time so ARMS dosent either.  ARMS wasn't doing it for me but that is not the consensus.  If you love ARMS, thats cool and im glad you find enjoyment in it.  We all have our niche games and hobbies.  Fighting games just aren't one of mine.