Sticky Hands

Genre: Arcade / Boxing

Players: 1

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Review:

Sticky Hands, released on Nintendo Switch in 2024, is a game that’s half a physics-driven Arcade-style game, and half a very simple Boxing game. In this game, players take the role of a stick figure and use their titular sticky hands to grab onto platforms and other stick figures to make their way to a boxing ring, where the controls change and now you’re facing off against a stick figure opponent in a one-on-one boxing match.

The presentation here is pretty minimal, using extremely simple 3D environments, featureless 3D stick figure characters, and minimal sound, with the only music being a brief victory fanfare when you knock out your opponent.

When it comes to the gameplay, this is basically two games in one… both of them bad. To get to the ring, you need to aim a cursor to grab onto surfaces, but the game doesn’t make clear what’s grabbable and what’s in range, and the physics are odd and inconsistent. Then, when you get to the boxing ring, you only have a left hook and right hook that stretch out toward your opponent, along with the ability to move freely within the ring with your character automatically facing your opponent. This makes the boxing largely about positioning and timing, and once you get these down you’ll be breezing through opponents.

In the end, while Sticky Hands is certainly unique, it’s too shallow, inconsistent, and tedious to be fun. I really think this game would have been better off if the developer had picked one of the two gameplay styles and focused on polishing it and adding depth. But they didn’t, so instead we get something that just isn’t worth playing.

tl;dr – Sticky Hands is a game that’s half a physics-based Arcade-style game, and half a simple Boxing game… and neither half is good. Shallow, repetitive, and tedious, this is a game you should keep your hands off of.

Grade: D

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