Moulin Rouge! for people who want to beat up other people.
(Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co)
Dancin Divas has a simple premise: A "beat 'em up" game that replaces hairy dudes dripping with machismo beating up street punks with voluptuous, full-figured gals, beating up everything from clowns to mermaid-men (mermen?).
I'm a sucker for beat 'em ups and in my busy life full of responsibility and a back catalogue that would make anyone else give up, I can always make time to walk around and give bad guys a good ol' fashioned knuckle sandwich.
Dancin' Divas does the genre proud. The fundamentals of the genre are there, dueled with a unique premise and story that makes Dancin' Divas feel fresh and not just a simple derivative.
The story is simple (no spoiler), a robbery happens and four diva's go find out who did it but your adventure will take you in a ton of unique locations with branching paths that ensure no single run-through is just "point A to B".
The action and controls are standard and simple. You have a base attack, jump attack, super attack and throws. Staples of the genre that doesn't attempt to fix what isn't broke. There's weapons you can pick up throughout such as guns for long-distanced combat and melee weapons. My playthrough was done with an 360 controller and everything was seamless for the most part, but more about that shortly.
You have a choice of four divas all with their own particular stats. Bahati is your "Mike Haggar" with her maxed-out strength and slow speed. Viva would be you "Cody" and serves as the default fighter. There's Sofia who's strength is in her speed and Hina who has a long reach. There's enough variety here to enjoy for different playthroughs.
Variety is a key phrase with Dancin' Divas. It's pretty astonishing for an indie brawler to have this many options and potential replay value. As mentioned is the story mode with branching paths, you have several minigames, versus mode, 4-player multiplayer, achievements, in-game shop with tons of stuff to purchase. There's also a ton of visual options ranging from "Game Boy" look to CRT filters. Against it's 15-dollar price point, there's a lot here that ensures plenty of bang for your buck.
The last thing I'll mention is the art style. It's lovingly unique, and loud. There's a LOT to look at and I can't imagine how long all of this took to draw up an animate by one person. The game's creator "MrPr1993" loves the female form and meticulously crafts near every frame of the game to display that love. If this game had came out in the 90s, It would've gained a Mortal Kombat-like reputation among young boys with a newfound interest in girls. While Dancin' Divas is never downright vulgar, it toes the line enough to where I couldn't play this around my family without some funny looks.
I enjoyed my playthrough of Dancin' Divas but did have some critiques throughout. My first ever play-through was marred with bugs that did everything from jack up my controls to wiping my save file to unlocking a developer mode that I couldn't disable. It seems to be fixed and the creator seems to be updating the game frequently. While I love Dancin' Divas artstyle and premise, it's not a game made for Christian, married family guys nearing their 40s. Not saying I'm a prude but I don't want to explain to my kid why daddy is playing the game with the "big bewbs".
This is more of a preference, but I with the sound design was a little "beefier". I want my punches to have a certain impact that makes me want to grit my teeth, but it's not here. Not saying the sound design is bad, it's just a dumb standard of my own from years of playing these things.
Dancin' Divas is the start of a franchise and I can see this becoming an modern hit. While I personally would dial back the boob-age just a bit to appeal to a wider audience, a lot of people are going to be hardcore fans because of it's "assets". "MrPr1993" has done a great job giving us a fresh game in a genre where it's very easy to fall into the trap of being like everything else. Dancin' Divas is definitely something to seek out for beat 'em up fans and for fans of good-lookin' women in general.
Begginer pole session done and dusted! Keen to start the next term with these gorgeous girls. #dancindivas #pole #dance #friends #love #confidence #bathurst #follow #cuties #exercise #fun
The Aerial and Lyra skills class is so much fun! From 5pm- 6pm on Tuesday nights every week, this class is full of cardio and muscle strengthening exercises! #upside down #silk #fun #dancindivas #bathurst #beautiful #pole #lyra #cardio #exercise
