Skinny and Franko: Fists of Violence Review

Skinny and Franko: Fists of Violence is a sequel to Franko: The Crazy Revenge (only released on Amiga devices) and takes places 28 years after it’s predecessor. Our anti-hero titular character, Franko, returns to Poland to get his old friend, Skinny, out of trouble as they wreck havoc on the streets of Szczecin.

Skinny and Franko: Fists of Violence is a side-scrolling beat’em up where players will need to roam around the various areas from the map and beat up every enemy in their path as they reach to the level’s boss. Typical beat’em up formula. As they say, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Our protagonists will be able to use their fists, feet and any weapons that enemies bring or lay around the ground to lay the smackdown on the band of misfits hindering their progress. Most weapons unfortunately have only three hits, so it’s quite vital to use it on a group of enemies to not waste time. There are also specific background objects that can be interacted with to dispose of your enemies.

The game does have a surprisingly deep combat system. While you can simply mash the punch or kick button for simplistic combos, you can mix and match punches and kicks to create new combos. You can also pound on enemies on the ground to finish them off. You can also run and dash into enemies or do jump kicks by running as there’s no jump button. Or simply grab them when they are stunned and punch their lights out. You also have a special attack meter. Using it halfway will allow you to pull off a special move like a Dragon Punch as seen in the Street Fighter series, but if you use it when it’s full, you’ll unleash a deadly and devastating combo against the closest enemy.

Skinny and Franko: Fists of Violence does have a unique visual style that’s not common in videogames. It’s a bit reminiscent of the underGRADS cartoon show from the early 2000s. Each area has it’s own unique, albeit similar, design given the game’s decrepit theme. Each area is surprisingly detailed and there’s a decent amount of enemy variety. The game’s score is a dark minimal soundtrack which somewhat contradicts the game’s brutal action. The voiceover work is absolutely atrocious. Sounds like a made up childish language; sometimes they speak in English and it’s barely understandable (thank you subtitles); at first I thought it was Polish language, so I went on Youtube to listen to what Polish sounds like and the Youtube video sounded nothing like this.

The combat feels random and a bit “rock-paper-scissor”-y. When attacking, sometimes the enemy will randomly interrupt your attacks and if you keep mashing attack buttons, you’ll randomly keep interrupting their attacks; doesn’t feel logic and fluid. The game’s levels are way too long and without any mid-level checkpoint, it’s easy to barely survive a 45 minute long level only to fall at the boss and having to restart. Given the slow paced movement and combat, it feels more like a chore than anything else. Also weapons feels like they barely do any damage.

As a fan of the genre, I was actually looking forward to play Skinny and Franko: Fists of Violence but unfortunately, it falls short of all expectations. The game feels slow and rock-paper-scissor-y randomized shenanigans, and the levels are way too long to the point it gets boring before you reach the end of the level. No mid-level checkpoint also proves frustrating because you can easily lose 45 minutes of your time by getting game over’ed by the level boss. Had it spent a bit more time in the proverbial oven with a more solid responsive combat and short (although more) levels, this could’ve been a solid entry in the long running beat’em up genre.