Enemies will stop at nothing to take you down. Mow them down on your Path of Fury.
There’s nothing like becoming a high-level practitioner of martial arts. One of the most important parts of Path of Fury – Episode I: Tetsuo’s Tower is knowing when and how to throw a punch. One must take care to block just as quickly as they would strike. Show your opponents that you will not be stopped.
Martial Arts-style action movies have always been a favorite genre among film lovers. Numerous big names invoke a sense of wonder about the martial arts world. Path of Fury – Episode I: Testuo’s Tower puts you directly into the story of a kung-fu action flick.
Do your best not to tire easily. The further the climb, the greater the number of enemies. Will you make it to the end and successfully topple the final boss? Or will the minions in Path of Fury – Episode I: Tetsuo’s Tower be the ones to help you meet your end? Or is your kung-fu strong? From developer Leonard Menchiari and ABONICO GAME WORKS comes a fighting game that delivers on the action it promises and where every strike counts.
Controls for the title are simple and straightforward. Moving on a rail system, you simply engage enemies in hand-to-hand combat and then continue forward. While there is no traditional sort of movement, hand placement is of the utmost importance.
Rarely will there ever be a time during a fight when the player gets to rest. To close the virtual hands, pressing Trigger 2 on either controller will close the hands into a fist. Striking with a closed fist is recommended, but not absolutely necessary. Each set of strikes can have either mostly open hands, mostly closed fists, or an equal amount of both.
A circular indicator appears whenever a vulnerable spot is left open by an enemy. These range in color from white, blue, yellow, and red, with white requiring even a ‘light strike’ and red benefiting most from a very heavy strike. All these spots can be hit by either a closed fist or an open hand. It all seems to be in how hard a player swings that registers just how strong a thrown punch or slap is.
Health is indicated by a set of hearts at the bottom of the virtual screen. Each strike that connects chips away at this meter, and depending on the type of strike, can either take a small amount of health away or a whole lot.
A watch on the left hand also shows a sort of health meter. Because of how small the text is on this thing, it feels almost completely useless. Aside from the break between zones, you wouldn’t have the chance to even look at the watch.
Enemies, fortunately, come in a limited number of sizes. They range from small, medium, to heavy build. With the lightest looking of the enemies, their move sets seem to be very limited. You can expect very specific punches and, on occasion, a kick from a single angle.
Medium-build enemies in Path of Fury – Episode I: Tetsuo’s Tower are much more worrisome in encounters. Because of their obvious difference in size, receiving too many strikes from these enemies can lead to immediate defeat.
Heavy Enemies are, of course, the largest of the three enemy types. While they are larger than the other two types, they aren’t technically the ‘bosses’ of the respective levels in which they appear. Heavies are excellent at not letting up, and they seldom take breaks during their combos. In order to gain the upper hand against these foes, you must interrupt their barrage of strikes.
The best part about the first two types of enemies is how easy it can be to gain the upper hand. After each enemy is defeated, the visor goes black for a split second to load in the next set of enemies. Despite this happening, a player’s hands can still engage with the game. This means that in Path of Fury, it’s possible to throw out a flurry of open-palmed strikes and defeat every enemy on the way to the boss of that stage.
Never underestimate the power of a well-placed palm strike at the right moment. Opposing characters will always have their most vulnerable spots highlighted, but this isn’t necessarily the only place to hit them. If an enemy’s combo in Path of Fury is too much, you can take a chance and simply hit any part of the body.
This guarantees the combo gets shortened, which can allow a person to gain the upper hand. Police officers eventually engage players in Path of Fury, depending on the level. These enemies come in two types: uniformed officers and SWAT officers. Uniformed officers always attack with their guns first.
You must “pull” at the gun in order to get close enough for a strike. Successful combos can make short work of these enemy units. Swat officers, on the other hand, are a little more hearty. Because of their gear, you have to ensure a successful combination of light and heavy strikes.
Getting to the end of a stage is always a wonderful feeling. That feeling, however, may very well be short-lived if you are not properly careful. Path of Fury is not for the easily flustered, as the game will put a player back at the beginning if they lose against anyone during a given level. The title does have its checkpoints, but these only exist between levels and not in them, as you might hope.
Endless Mode is an option for those just wanting to get into fighting. In part 1 of Path of Fury, there are multiple stages where you can experience this mode. It sounds like it might be cool in practice, but it did feel somewhat lackluster. As the name suggests, this mode will not stop unless the player themselves chooses to do so.
Sure, it might sound cool, but every enemy a player faces in this mode is easily defeated. Aside from testing a person’s ability to power through an entire horde, the Endless Mode of Path of Fury is not very fun. An aspect of Path of Fury like this might benefit from something like a leader board. This is unfortunate because the main game itself grades a player on each completed stage. The best rank a person can get is A, and the worst, obviously, is grade F.
Path of Fury – Episode I: Tetsuo’s Tower does not wow when it comes to the graphics department. There is an obvious lack of detail when it comes to the enemy avatars. For the face part of the enemy models, the characters have just dark spots in place of their eyes and mouths. Unfortunately, faces are not more detailed. Many might find it pretty cool to see a character’s expression completely change after getting struck by the player.
Attire for each of the enemy characters is basic as well. There seems to be a limited number of outfits for each type of enemy in Path of Fury. Putting some variety into enemy appearances benefits many games. It truly feels like focusing on that a little here can go a long way.
Environments themselves actually feel more detailed than the characters a player faces off against. Garbage is strewn about in back alley sections of Path of Fury, complete with the occasional stray paper caught by the wind.
A few of the larger signs have noticeable Chinese characters written on them. While they’re a little blurry, those with knowledge of the symbols should have no problem reading the signs contained within the game.
When it comes to the sound in Path of Fury, a great deal of the focus is on how strikes sound. Depending on the intensity of the strike (white, blue, yellow, red), it brings out a different sound from the enemies. A successful heavy strike is important to listen to, as you cannot always track movements with their eyes.
Music is not what you might call spectacular, but sound quality is definitely high here. Each and every sound in the game is clear as day, and with the exception of the occasional Meta Quest 3 hiccup, there usually is no problem.
The techno music during fights in a club is probably the best part for any music fan. A bit of up-tempo music to complement the kung-fu can go a long way towards immersion. With the added sound of a techno beat, it should not be hard to focus on the action taking place in front of the visor.
Path of Fury – Episode I: Tetsuo’s Tower can be an overwhelming task to take on. With only breaks between sets of enemies, the game is sure to test a person’s endurance. Other similar VR action games don’t engender the same sense of urgency when played.
If patience is not your strong suit, it is best to steer clear of this title. Considering the ease with which a person can lose their “groove” during the fighting, it might take a saint’s patience to soldier on.
That’s not to say the game is not fun. It has a fair amount of merit in the game mechanics department. Enemy characters are extremely responsive to strikes, with even non-threatening strikes able to interrupt combos. However, there are other aspects of the title that are disappointing.
Endless Mode in Path of Fury is simply a glorified test of endurance. Aside from turning music and a timer on or off, there is virtually nothing to note about Endless Mode. No objectives exist for this mode, and it is a wonder why. With no goal in mind and no set objectives, the mode easily becomes the most boring part of the game.
Something like Endless Mode would be more popular among players if there were a leaderboard to look over. Showing things like successful strikes, time played, and number of enemies defeated are all things that would sound amazing with a leader board feature. It’s weird to have an Endless Mode with various available stages, but no objectives to go with it.
Permadeath is also a thing in Path of Fury, as stated earlier. The ‘checkpoints’ that exist within the game only show when loading into a different zone. Zones are signified by a “cork board” shown only when a level is completed. There are a couple of Polaroid icons that tell players what levels are available.
While it has its share of issues I might take with it personally, it certainly delivers on the fighting aspect. There’s a lot to love there, with precise striking, responsive enemies, and a sense of urgency when it comes to winning each encounter. Permadeath can be frustrating, but there is definitely a sense of accomplishment when a person completes one of the levels. Very few action titles can deliver on their fight mechanics like this title does.
Overall, Path of Fury – Episode I: Tetsuo’s Tower is amazing when you focus solely on the story and fighting parts of the game. Sure, the enemy models could be a little more detailed, but there is a chance that too much detail might cause clipping. That being said, this is most definitely a game for those who want non-stop action in a Meta Quest 3 title.
