Relieve your stress with Buddy
Everyone gets stressed out and pissed off sometimes, and the only thing to do when you’re having trouble controlling your emotions is to relieve your stress by doing something you like. For many people, playing games is an easy way to relieve this stress, and there are games out there that are specifically designed to help users with their tension. Kick the Buddy: Forever is one such action game. With Kick the Buddy: Forever, players can unleash all of their stress on a virtual punching bag.
Graphics and Premise
Kick the Buddy: Forever has a simple premise. When you start the game, you “unbox” Buddy, a walking and talking doll. Inside his box, the player can use an assortment of weapons to hurt and abuse Buddy. Players can choose from mundane weapons like a chainsaw or a frying pan, but they can also choose fantastical weapons like a giant robot. The game’s premise is a bit violent, and you can make it even more violent by adding blood. However, it’s a bit more like cartoons and slapstick than hardcore violence. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting for concerned parents who might want to avoid this for their kids.
The game’s graphics are pretty good. The characters, weapons, and environments are rendered in 3D, but its aesthetics are cartoony so the game doesn’t fall into the uncanny valley. As Buddy gets more and more damaged, his appearance also changes which is a nice touch from the designers. The sound effects are well-done, and it makes hitting Buddy so much more satisfying. Buddy’s voice can be grating at times, however. He has a limited number of lines that get repeated throughout the game, so they can get annoying as time goes by.
Performance Issues
Kick the Buddy: Forever can be a good game if it wasn’t plagued by such horrible performance issues. Because it aims to relieve stress, it’s important that the performance be as seamless as possible to make it more satisfying for the players. Unfortunately, the game is very prone to lagging. Instead of feeling satisfied thanks to the game, players might find themselves getting even more frustrated because of the response delay and slow loading.
It should also be noted that although players are offered a wide selection of weapons to choose from, getting them may need in-app purchases. That said, kicking Buddy around is enjoyable even if your weapons are limited.
Stress-reliever or Stress-giver?
Though Kick the Buddy: Forever was clearly meant to relieve stress, its various performance issues, expensive in-app purchases, and frequent ads might make it a lot more frustrating than it was originally intended. The performance issues may vary depending on devices, so it’s still worth a try.
