I stumbled upon Aces Wild: Manic Brawling Action while looking for fun, arcadey Beat ’Em Ups on Steam. Didn’t think much of it at first until I looked at the gameplay. It not only reminded me of many games I really enjoy such as Bayonetta, God Hand, and Devil May Cry, but it also felt… Unique. Like something I haven’t really seen before. You could also punch enemies so hard they bounce around the arena like pinballs, which definitely helped peak my interest. Jump to now, where I have over 110 hours in the game by the time of writing this review, and now I can safely say that not only were my expectations met, but exceeded. This is one of my favorite Arcade games in recent memory, and here I’m going to explain why, or at least try to.

Let’s start with the best part of this game: the gameplay (Shocker, I know)! Its deceptively easy to pick up controls may fool you into thinking this game will be full of mindless button-mashing, but I can assure you when things get tough (Which it will), it’s anything but. The aerial movement, the build-up and use of the Wild Meter to either deal massive damage or heal yourself, the insane dodging of a huge barrage of enemy attacks, the unpredictable factor of the Piñata Ninjas (Yes, those are a thing) keeping every fight fresh, kicking and punching destructible objects, platforms and even enemies towards each other, it all combines into this insanely fun and special combat system. There is a lot of quick thinking, and if you make a wrong or, god forbid, mindless move you can very easily get pummeled. It’s a difficult game, but in a fun way!

Now, of course, you can’t make a great combat system without a fun enemy roster to make it truly shine, otherwise you’d just be punching meat dummies. Thankfully, Aces Wild also delivers in that area! There’s some nice variety in how the enemies behave: some of them prefer to stay on the ground, others can keep up with you midair. Some are very up close and personal, while others like to keep a distance or be a little more sneaky in their approach. There’s ninjas, underground-burrowing dogs, missile-firing drones, flying buff women with giant swords, a giant guy with a metal claw thing for a hand. And they all REALLY want to kill you! Even the fodder ninja enemies can catch you off guard if you’re not careful. While the escalating difficulty of the game can frustrate you a bit, I never found an enemy to be insanely annoying to deal with. The one I like the least are the Foxtail, and those don’t even come close to “I would rather eat the rotten asshole of a road killed skunk and down it with beer than fight this guy” levels of annoying that, say, most enemies in BUTCHER easily reach.

And thankfully, this quality in the enemy roster also carries over to the boss fights! All 7 of them have their own unique gimmicks that set them apart, Like Rena Serena’s umbrellas and quick slash attacks, Leslie and Herman Ruter being a duo boss fight, Joan Heart being focused on aerial movement and combat, and so on. One thing I really appreciate about these bosses is that they all stand out from regular enemy combat; they have their own rules, none of them resort to making a fight just “Here are some regular enemies for you to fight and also there’s the boss I guess”. The closest we do get to that are with the Barkley Bones and Fancy Beast fights, and even those use enemies in a way that compliments the fight instead of detracting from it. My personal favorite Boss in Aces Wild is probably Gene Drifter. That guy does NOT fuck around, he can demolish you very quickly if you get distracted for even a moment.

The levels are nice, too. The first 3 stages don’t feel all that different from each other (Although they do still feel unique due to the new enemies they introduce in said stages), but after that things get a lot more interesting. I particularly enjoy Stage 4 due to its gimmick of you being on top of speeding trucks. Not only is it really cool, it also gives you the unique hazard of scraping your face on the asphalt if you’re not careful, which is something you can also use to your advantage of course. And while the game isn’t exactly a hyper detailed graphical masterpiece, I find the visuals very charming and cute. There is a lot of great visual and audio feedback to your moves. When you use all of your Wild Meter to send an enemy flying, the game makes sure to really sell the impact with its sound design and visual effects! One particular detail I really like is how whoever you're playing as shares the same defeat animation as the bosses', I think it's a really great touch.

The OST is quite good, too! It's got a lot of nice electronic tunes to jam to, and it fits quite well with the game. The final boss music and main theme in particular are actually really good. My only complaint is that I wish all the bosses other than the final one had unique tracks. The boss track is good, I just wish they were different from each other.

The story is silly. You obviously don’t boot up this game to experience a thrilling Shakesperian tale, so the game doesn’t really waste much of your time with it. What is there is fun though, particularly the main character’s reason for doing what he’s doing. My man just wants that cash money, I gotta respect it.

The last main thing I want to talk about is the Extra Content. There are 2 other playable characters other than Ace Wilder, which are Gene Drifter (Who is also a boss fight as previously mentioned), and Eagle Morris. While I haven’t played around with them nearly as much as I did with Ace, they do have some neat differences. Gene is more based on heavy attacks and Morris on dodging. They all also have palette swaps, which I always appreciate. There are also some extra difficulty modes for those extra pro players that can go up to “Maximus!!!”, and a boss rush mode that is pretty much what you expect. This game has some really nice replayability, and this content just gives it even more value in that front. One thing I really want to mention though is how you do not have to unlock any of it. The characters, difficulty modes, palette swaps, and even levels are all unlocked the moment you boot up the game. Some people may find that stupid, but I personally think it perfectly fits this game. This isn’t a game you want to grind for coins to unlock a red skin for your character, this is an ARCADE game. It encourages you to play less to unlock stuff or get coins or whatever, and more for the score and the fun of it, which is what an arcade game is all about.

Overall, Aces Wild: Manic Brawling Action is a great game! I gave it 4/5 stars here but I can very easily change my mind in the future and give it a higher rating. It’s just such a fun, exhilarating time that I keep coming back just to get that fast-paced dopamine rush. It’s the shit, man. I HIGHLY recommend it!