Lugaru Review (PC)

When most people think about Martial Arts games involving animals, they usually think of turtles, pandas, and even skunks. The one animal people would never expect to be like Bruce Lee is a rabbit. Not only is it a rabbit doing martial arts, it’s a rabbit going up against wolves. In real life wolves>rabbits. In Lugaru, from Wolfire Games, it’s just the same. Until the main character, Turner, changes things.

I won’t go into details about the story, which is pretty much what you would expect from a martial arts game: shallow. What I can explain is the combat system. This is the type of game that tries to cater to multiple play styles. Luckily, it succeeds in that aspect relatively well, while still punishing those who repeat the same moves. Every time the same move is repeated, you earn less and less points. For some it’s no big deal, but to others, specifically people who love to get high-scores and bragging rights, it will encourage you to try different strategies constantly. Lugaru also has an excellent counter system, where EVERY attack can be reversed and counter reversed, which keeps you on your toes later on in the game.

The game itself can be difficult for people new to Lugaru, especially people who have not gotten used to the game’s single attack button, and those who spam that attack button with no real strategy and timing. Even though the game has only one attack button, it’s context sensitive, meaning that it will react differently based on what keys you press and your current situation. For example, if you sneak, unnoticed, behind an enemy and click the attack button, which is the left mouse button, you get an instant kill. In contrast, you can be spotted, but if you attack an enemy on the ground, by using a weapon, you can still score a one hit kill. Not that it’s easy to do.