An extraordinary and unique physics-driven turn-based fighting experience- and yes, you read that right.
Enter Toribash. I picked this game up from the official website when it still cost twenty dollars (Oh, by the way, it's FREE!) and I jumped straight into multiplayer. Needless to say, I was destroyed. I immediately went offline, and beat up on the training dummy (Uke, Japanese for defender) for a few minutes, and I must say, while learning the physical mechanics of your fighter requires some work, once you have mastered the basic kick, jump, and grab, the experience is fantastic.
THE GAMEPLAY: Toribash is turn-based. Each turn consists of a paused view of the battle, and your goal is to manipulate your joints by contracting, extending, raising, lowering, relaxing, or holding them. It sounds complicated, and it is, but once you get the hang of it, it's a bloody delight. That reminds me, when a limb is dismembered, globules of crimson spew in excess from the severed limb. The blood can be turned off. Check the official forums for more on that.
THE PHYSICS: The physics in Toribash are second to none, Sumotori Dreams being the only close contender. (Also free, check it out) The most thrilling of moments comes when you execute your first dismemberment. Oh, did I mention that? The focus of fighting is to rip your opponent limb from limb, to prevent them from doing the same to you. A simple move consists of grabbing Uke's arm, and thrusting the heel of your foot into his shoulder, tearing his arm cleanly from his torso. Flick your wrist outwards and un-grip his arm, and the limb will spin gracefully through the air, blood spraying through the air, in the most amazing of physics engines. The physics must be viewed to be fully appreciated.
THE GRAPHICS: Shaders transform this game into the best looking piece of freeware on the Web. When the graphics settings are tweaked (namely, turning shaders, fluid blood, and reflections on, and turning Cel off) there appears an amazingly clean and sharp art style never before seen in free online games. Note that this game requires a powerful machine to run with shaders optimized, but my single-core can run it on default graphics.
THE DIFFICULT: The moves of some professionals online are absolutely absurd, and you will be shredded before you can even hit back. I recommend staying in single player until you get a good routine of moves learned. Watch the included replays, and try to emulate what they do.
THE FINAL VERDICT: I rate this game with a 10, simply because there is no 9.9, and 9.5 would not do it justice. Toribash's only flaw is the obscene difficulty of online multiplayer. Every other aspect is absolutely perfect, and my twenty dollar purchase back in the day was the single best purchase I have ever made. Go download your FREE copy now, and you'll know that this is the best free game you will ever play!
www.toribash.com
For cheats go to www.david.on.toribash.com ;)