Dragon Finga‘s Hilarious Combat Makes Up For A Lack Of Substance [Review]

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Dragon Finga

The idea of being a martial-arts master has always sounded cool to me. But not the Zen-like, pensive, thoughtful type. If I’m honest, I’d really just kinda like to be the guy in the movies who can walk into a room full of generic dudes and beat them all up while they attack him one at a time. And I’m not particularly proud of that, but I challenge you to picture yourself doing it and not once think, “Yeah, that would be pretty neat.”

Dragon Finga by Another Place
Category: iOS Games
Works With: iPhone, iPad
Price:Free

But one thing is standing between me and that dream. Alright, maybe a few more than one, but one major thing: I am completely uncoordinated. I don’t have the balance or grace to execute any of the amazing fighting maneuvers I see in movies, and so I watch them with a sad sort of wistfulness and self-disappointment. And this feeling extends to video games, in which physics and animations unbound by natural law allow for inhuman feats of martial prowess about which my clumsy limbs can only dream. If limbs dream, I guess.

Anyway, Dragon Finga, the recently released fighter by developer Another Place, did not inspire those feelings of inadequacy in me because it contains the least graceful fighting system I’ve ever seen.

And that’s a good thing.

Dragon Finga
Even when you do cool stuff, it looks silly.

When left to himself, your character in Dragon Finga will stand limply by. But when you use the game’s touch controls to grab one of his five control points — arms, legs, and head — and drag it, you send him flying through the air. He stays ragdoll the entire time, which means that it looks completely ridiculous. It feels a lot like something out of developer Bennett Foddy’s titles QWOP and GIRP — check those out if you get a chance — and while Dragon Finga is way easier to play than either of those, it still captures the same hilarious vibe of “I am not in control of my body right now.”

Tapping on the left and right sides of the screen makes your fighter attack in that direction, and you use combinations of these taps and drags to dispatch unending waves of enemies. How the game works is that you start with some time on the clock, and your goal is to keep fighting as long as possible. Defeating enemies earns you more time.

It contains the least graceful fighting system I’ve ever seen. And that’s a good thing.

All the while, you’re collecting the standard-issue coins to buy upgrades and energy to fill up the meter for your Special Move. And that’s about everything that happens.

It’s a very simple concept: ragdoll fighting against endless foes to extend the timer. And if it weren’t for the amount of fun I had flinging my fighter around and maneuvering him into increasingly farcical attacks, I don’t think I’d like it as much. But it does have that stuff, which makes it so oddly entertaining that I wholly recommend it.



Dragon FingaGame Name: : Dragon Finga
The Good: The ragdoll fighting system is as entertaining to watch as it is to use.
The Bad: It’s a fairly shallow score-chaser without a lot of meat on it.
The Verdict: You can’t argue with free, and Dragon Finga delivers a fair amount of entertainment and personality for your time.
Buy from:App Store

[rating=game4]

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