FIST OF AWESOME

fist of boring

combat is too repetitive. i literally zoned out just hitting the s key for an entire level and beat it. just do that for an hour and a half and you'll beat the game.

humor doesn't land. it's from 2014 so the lol teh randum humor is to be expected, i guess.

music is kinda good.

i beat the game in an hour and don't plan on playing this again.

(EDIT:) i paid 7 bucks for this in 2014 i think and just saw this is now a free to play game. so try the game for yourself if you want but i still don't recommend it.

It's got a lot of charm, but charm is most of what it has going for it.

If you want a good beat-em-up, this isn't that.

There's no telegraphing on moves, and you take stun from any hit, so a group of enemies that surround you and choose to all use their lightning fast jabs can lock you to death if the RNG feels like it.

Your moves have the same problem, though. Your jab is immediate, mashable, and the only thing that makes it not a death button for every enemy is that unless you use a slow, deceptively range-limited kick as your opener, your base combo launches enemies and you have to wait for them to get back up.

So, playing safe, you jab endlessly, launch enemies, and do tons of waiting.

Your HP regens, and it regens FAST, so there's no reason to put points in HP. Instead, funnel everything into attack, and still have it not keep pace with the game.

Base enemies are damage sponges, especially late game, even at max attack.

Also, your starting movement speed is glacier slow, so get ready to chain boring jumps when you're moving from fight area to fight area.

To top it off, there really isn't much enemy variety at all. Each stage has usually one goon, and one boss. No variant enemies (brute, agile, weapon-user, etc.) No reason to mix up your strategy. Just bags of HP, in large numbers.

Also, levelling up is bugged. If you mash confirm heading into the level up screen, it throws away your stat up for that level.

That said, the non-mechanical aspects of the game are a treat. The soundtrack is lovely. The storytelling is fun. It doesn't (much) outstay its welcome.

If you're not married to the beat-em-up part being amazing, and if you want something light-hearted and without much thinking required, try Castle Crashers first, but then give this a go.

Tags: Sidescroll Brawler
Additional Tags: Delete Local Content & Remove from Library

TLDR: Slow movements. Boring limited combat animations. Constant bear references. MSpaint assets. Mousenoise sound technology. Poor encounter design. Outcompeted.

There are a lot of better quality sidescroll brawlers to choose from, and more release on a regular basis. i'll drop a couple of random suggestions that debatably are closer to offer a valid experience than this.

I mean the hipster tone and the bear references were half funny for a short while, but the very short attack range, the bulletsponges enemies that come in boring large blotches, only to lead to a "bear fight" which is like a boss fight.

The enemies almost never do their special animation and just sort of shuffle left and right waiting to be punched. They take a ton of hits and will get up multiple times. They also never really pose a threat my health regenerating very fast as soon as I stop getting punched.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/846110/The_friends_of_Ringo_Ishikawa/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/361300/Mother_Russia_Bleeds/

Didn't need to play this for very long in order to get a good idea on what the game is like.
It's a brawler, but not a very good one. There is no blocking, no dodging, no strategy other than where your clunky-controlled player is on the screen and where to attack. Otherwise it is spamming buttons. All of the enemies act in the same way and there is no variety other than the occasional enemy having a new attack (Which is always easy to avoid), and the backgrounds. Even the bosses which I have fought so far have been exactly the same to each other, just with more health. I wouldn't mind but the boss fights act the same as the enemy.

I'm sorry, am I missing something? Because what I found here was a pretty bland and basic fighting game. It isn't long either.

BUT
I still reccomend it. BECAUSE I bought it cheap and it is still cheap as of today even when not on sale. But if you can get it on mobile, you will probably be better there. I feel this would be more fun as a little distraction on a long journey to place on your phone and/or tablet.

+Somewhat compelling story
+Doesn't take itself too seriously which works with the tone of the game
-Basic combat with no strategy
-Very short
-Upgrades have simingly no effect

The game was a bit too short. I beat in about 2-3 hours so its not really worth the value time wise but the writing was pretty good. Without the soundtrack and the humor the game would be total garbage. The gameplay was horrible and there was really only one type of enemy which got really repetitive...really fast. Overall this is one of games that you buy in an indie bundle that you only finish because you want to see the ending and have a quick chuckle. I am a big indie gamer but this one just wasn't that great. If I had to give it a star rating I would probably give it a 4/10 stars. This is game is definitely not worth 5 dollars but if its on sale or in a bundle you should check it out.

- SkyBorg :)

I kept expecting more to this game but it never came. It's the exact same mechanics again and again followed by an identical boss. The only difference is that the "models" and level's look change, but the gameplay never changes. And those sound effects...argh. I expected so much more and was sorely disappointed.

Simple scrolling beat`em`up game. Fight in an urban area, then fight dinosaurs. Renegade all over again. But without those bikers you could jump kick. And without weapons. But with more attacks and stats progression.

Just by looking at the screenshots one can tell if the game style suits them.

I thought this game would honestly suck, but I got to punch a Bear stripper in the face. The game is short, and funny as heck. Gets kind of repetitive towards the middle, but if you stick it out, it is worth the money. So many laughs.

Very pixelated graphics. Sounds made in acapella. An retro music.
Game is awesome! A very classic Beat 'em up. Might not be the best, but sure is very good!

This game made me physically mad.
It looked cool. It looked like a fun arcade fighter. But in reality its nothing but a pack of lies.

Let's start with the enemies first.
The devs found it a great idea to create only two real enemy types: Bears, which are the level's boss enemies, and, also bears? I can't tell if the second enemy type are bears since the bosses are clearly defined as bears but the common enemy looks more akin to a human-bear-squirrel freak of nature. And while there are several variations of this Humabearrel each one does the EXACT. SAME. GODDAMN. THING. It feels as though I'm playing the same level over, and over, and over again. It goes like this: fight squirbearmen, fight actual bear, go to next level. The silly gimmicks of traveling through time don't change the enemies at all except for amount of health, which, while im on that little part, IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS. You start off with the "bear"(don't get me started on how much they used this goddamn pun) minimum of damage that youre able to cause and each enemy has health into the hundreds. Endlessly doing single digit damage on an enemy that you know will take forever to defeat is tedious as all hell and gets boring after all of ten seconds. And the enemies never end either. You all must know about how in a normal arcade beat 'em up how you fight maybe one or two enemies already waiting for you and then three or so more jump out and attack, correct? Well in this game I constantly found myself against hordes of freaky squirrelbear shits, wondering when, oh when, will I be able to move on? Combine that with their massive healthbars ad you see why it took me 2.2 hours to finish what should have been a mayyyyyybe 45 minute game. Fucking A, did i hate those endless, boring, tedious parts. Not to mention the bears send you flying on every hit and the manbearpigfuckers stand over your napping body to wail on you every time you get up. And by wail, I MEAN WAIL. Every hit from them stops you from moving and if you're trapped between them well gg no re to you cause you're fucked.

And now they storyline. This has spoilers, so if you plan on buying this game (protip: fucking don't its horrible) avoid this
area.
So the story is youre Tim McFuckface, some random ass lumberjack guy (had to interpret this from his clothing) who ALL OF A SUDDEN gains a talking fist named, you certainly guessed it, Fist of Awesome. This fist's entire purpose is that it guides you in your quest, and even that wasn't explained all too well. In reality all it really does is help make shitty, shitty jokes and un-BEAR-able puns. Tim here and his mighty jerk-it hand suddenly arrive in an alternate reality where bears rule. So what's the first reasonable action you ask?
They punch deers.
I don't know about you but this is flawless. 10/10. roll end credits.
But seriously, shit's bad man.
So anyway you realize bears are the true enemy and go on a long ass adventure where you learn that somehow the bears have a time transport train that brings them back in time to breed with past bears and create new super bears and repeat. I could not be making this up. That is how it goes.
So you beat the time machine to explosive death and save your world, right?
Of course not it's never that easy, because the bears have fixed the machine and made everything worse. Bow Bear-ba Fetts fight you as you make youre way to Bear-hatten and into a strip club called "Bare Bears" where you find OH HEY ITS FOA'S BROTHER WHO AS IT TURNS OUT STARTED ALL OF THIS SHIT AND KILLED HIS BROTHER WHO IS NOW YOUR HAND MAKES SENSE AMIRITE GUIYS????????????
So this fucker then transforms into a massive bear thing and you kick the crap out of him and you win. Fist of Awesome somehow stops possessing your hand and it turns out its now your wedding day. You then talk to some people and accidently walk into a guy who calls you lover and gives you a big sloppy kiss cause it turns out thats the gay ending. Literally.

All in all, 0/10 worst game ever.
Much bad.
Do not buy for any amount of money.
Don't even buy it for free.
It's that level of complete shit.
0/10 game that runs on the 0/10 engine with 0/10 graphics 0/10 storyline and a 0/10 soul.
FUCK
THIS
GAME

If you love all of those classic beat em ups such as Double Dragon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game and River City Ransom on the original Nintendo..You should enjoy this title. Although the gameplay is pretty basic, the music and retro graphics make up for it. It's obvious that the developer put in some extra care to make it a little more deep by gaining experience points for upgrades such as speed, strength, etc. You can't expect too much gameplay complexity in this genre anyways. I didn't go in expecting much but was overall satisfied with what I got.

Bottom line: It's a good beat em up "quick fix" to kill some time while listening to great music. I give it a 3/5 being a pretty solid title.

I can't really add anything that hasn't been said in greater depth by earlier reviewers so I'll sum this up briefly:

Quirky humour barely sustains interest over the repetitive and tedious mechanics, a lack of any pickups, combos or meaningful level ups makes the game feel like a chore after the first few levels and kills replayablity. Would not buy at full price though the now reduced cost maybe worth your time if you found Final Fight or Streets of Rage too long or hard.

While not being a juggernaut graphically, Fist of Awesome provides a thought provoking experience that asks the question: What if humans were on the other side of the food chain? The action is swift, yet raw, and the gameplay is just about as simple as it could ever get. Everything works well here and is more memorable than you would expect given the graphical presentation. The story may or may not stick with you, but it will certainly stick with me. I thought I saw futuristic human fish walking on two legs yowhza!

So here's my short review. Can you punch bears in this game? Yes, a lot.
And here's a longer one. The reason I got the game in the first place is that I had a discount for it. And to be honest probably wouldn't have bought it if I didn't, however it won me over with its promise of flannel shirts, manly beards and a peculiar self-aware sense of humor. And that it delivered. The game has character. It has an appealing visual design, a great soudtrack to keep you motivated during the bear punching and a story probably written by H.G.Wells himself (probably not true).
Now the 'punching' itself is not one of the game's strongest atributes. The problem lies in the lack of variety in combat, especially in the boss battles. You end up finding a single strategy that works for you and then using it for the entire game. That is partially mended by the Arena game mode, which has tons of challanges that force you to change and improve your play style.
Final vedict. I am probably in the minority here, by saying it's good. Not great, but good. True, the story mode is not all that challanging and is a bit too short, however if you ever wanted to punch a bear in the mouth, have € 6 to spend and a free afternoon, i say give this one a shot.

It's not the worst game I've played, but I've definitely played better. I appreciate the blending of Atari-ish graphics with some newer style effects. However, I think retro graphics are more the rule than the exception at this point and they don't necessarily fit the style of game. The same goes for the jokes; They're something I like, especially the puns, but the "fighting bears = manliness" line of joking is just beating a dead horse (or bear) nowadays. The mechanics are simple and functional, this isn't bad. What I don't like about the mechanics is the lack of combos and special moves. I'm willing to give that a pass given that this is a port of a mobile game.

In summary, I don't recommend the game at it's current retail price of $7.99. If you end up with a coupon like I did, you genuinely enjoy the beat-em up genre and you want a fun little diversion get it.

I received a coupon for 50% and decided to give it a try. At first glance the game is pretty well built ( By this I mean it runs with absolutely no problems and have not experienced any lag issues at all ). I also was entertained by the game play for about 5-10 minutes and then grew bored of the combat system. The game seems kind of empty to me as there are very few enemy variations ( even different color pallettes could help with this ). The shortness of the game is not an issue to me because a beat-em-up shouldnt take longer than 1:30 to complete from start to finish. All in all I really wouldn't recommend buying this game even for $4 unless some improvements were made to the game.

Possible things to improve (Each of these things should be done if possible)
- More than one playable character for story mode (Unlocks after completing easy mode first)
-Change the health regeneration system so theres actual health pick-ups (This helps to make the game feel less empty)
-Breakable items that may or may not contain weapons and health pick-ups
-Enemy Variation
-Movesets of playable characters

The moveset of Tim Burr is pretty basic which caused me to become bored of the gameplay pretty quickly. If I had more than a few ways to deal with single and multiple enemies I wouldnt mind the amount of repetition you get in this game.

Lastly, comparing this game to streets of rage is truthfully an injustice...

+ Retro graphics aren't the best graphics out there, but get the job done (a little bit more detail would've been great)
+ Silly humor
+ Regenerating health system works very well

- Upgrades didn't seem to have any effect, or not enough to be really noticeable
- Getting stuck between 2 attacking enemies can get you killed because the game doesn't let you react quickly enough
- Not enough variety in enemy design and attacks, feels like a chore halfway through the game when enemies have bigger healthbars
- Way too short
- Bossfights can't be called bossfights, they're just larger enemies with more health

[Rating: 59/100]

I confess I have no beard but I liked this game. Well, on the other hand I probably do have a beard - a virtual one because I remember when I was trying to beat Mighty Final Fight on NES and SNES (or was it Genesis? my memory is not what it used to be)...

So, this bear fighting sim is waaaay easier than Final Fight or other beat 'em up oldies - completed it in easy mode, died only once. Anyways would recommend trying it out once on a sale - you'll definitely have some fun moments and a kind of double-twist at the end :)

BTW played it with Xbox 360 controller hooked to PC - no issues at all except a sore thumb.

I shouldve known what I was getting into with the quirky name, but thought I would give it a chance for just 4$. The game hides behind a vale of so unique retro design and SO HILARIOUS AND FRESH jokes about bears trying to conceal gameplay that is downright terrible. Comparing this to Streets of Rage is an injustice. Unless you find EXTREMLY repetitive gameplay fun dont get this game.

Bare Bears, man. Those tassels. 10/10


Fist of Awesome is a fun game but got kinda boring fast for me. It just didn't have much going for it besides the punching bears bit. The game isn't that long, a single playthrough can be done in one sitting. This isn't surprising as the game was originally a mobile (and Ouya) game. It's a very simplified version of a game like Streets of Rage with regenerating health and no pick-up items. You level up as you play and unlock stat points to powerup your Health, Power, Speed and Special. The Arena mode looks to be a survival mode where you get to play as any character in the game that you've faced off against and other special characters. It doesn't add much enjoyment to the game sadly. Overall the game is horribly repetitive and offers little to no "replayability."

You also fight velociraptors and deer alongside bears. I like the final choice, didn't see it coming.

I'd recommend this game as a casual beat-em-up to play when you want a quick game. Although at full price it's not worth it really, but if you can get it at a discount it's a decent buy.

For the regular price of $7.99 or even the current sale price of $6.79 it isn't that good of a deal.
You can find the game cheaper on mobile platforms: $3.99 on iTunes and the Play Store and $1.99 on the android Amazon Store