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Summary
Gently opening doors by hand is so pedestrian. Capetown studio Free Live’s new gameAnger Footis adoor-kicking FPSwhere death is quick and restarts flourish. A perfectly suited newcomer to theDevolver Digitalroster,Anger Footplays something like an FPSHotline Miamiwith a glossy animated aesthetic, conjuring a cleaner, caffeinated interpretation of Terri Vellman and Doseone’s ineffable street art duologySludge Life.Anger Foot’s focused FPS fundamentals makes for a fun, reactive, and enjoyably silly experience, but it also slightly weakens when it slows down to spotlight its cartoonish concept.
After a well-received demo two years ago, some reasonable concerns manifested over how a kick-oriented action game might maintain its momentum for the long haul. Luckily,Anger Footsticks to its strengths for most of its substantive runtime and, even with firearms apparently overshadowed in its title, the vibrant gunplay succeeds as well. Still, the lack of a reload leaves the almighty foot as the primary method of engagement, handling everything from returning lobbed grenades to activating levers, and theaddictive intensity of the game’s best encounterscarry it merrily through 60+ busy levels of carnage.
Enter The Foot (And The Fun To Be Had)
A Madcap Sneaker Rescue Through A City Of Violent Strangers
Anger Foot just wanted a relaxing evening at home watching movies with his girlfriend, but the various malcontents of S–t City had other plans. Their night is interrupted by The Violence Gang’s helicopter, who break through the hero’s vault and fly off with his prized collection of footwear. A devout sneakerhead, he gives chase through the perilous city foot-first, fighting off the horde of bumbling criminals who messed with the wrong collector.
Anger Foot’s tone is always cheeky and exaggerated, presenting a cracked cartoon backdrop packed with goons patterned after bad-trip Muppets in balaclavas and puffer jackets. Each of the city’s four districts are thematically linked to the gang which controls them – violence, pollution, business, and debauchery – all functioning under a single mysterious crime boss who runs the show. Anger Foot’s job is to make his way through these districts and eventually confront The Crime Minister, relinquishing his purloined kicks along the way.
Anger Footcan best be understood as a grateful homage, with shinier visuals, more content, and combat mechanics which are simple but sound.
It’s worth repeating how similar certain aspects ofAnger Footare to theSludge Lifegames, especially their lesser-mentioned predecessorHigh Hell. Right down to the default door-kicking and limited health, the bite-sized levels crammed with noninteractive junk that scatters with every explosion, the waves of unmistakably mean mooks to slaughter by surprise.Anger Footcan best be understood as a grateful homage, with shinier visuals, more content, and combat mechanics which are simple but sound.
Sneakers And Skill Make For An Interesting Trip
Anger Foot Makes Good Use Of Its Sole Piece of Equippable Gear
EachAnger Footlevel is accessed from a map menu stylized as a graffiti-strewn composition notebook, allowing the player to jump into a fight or equip a selection from a growing collection of footwear.Levels feature three potential stars to unlock in each; one is always granted for completion, but the other two are rewarded through fiendish challenges that test skills, with some attempts requiring specific unlocked footwear.
[Sneakers] add a fun tactical aspect toAnger Foot, where select shoes make the hazards or setups of certain levels easier or harder to complete, and one even provides an extra life.
Sneakers offer bonus abilities or slight changes to gameplay, like turning off gravity or enlarging enemy heads to make for easier headshots. They add a fun tactical aspect toAnger Foot, where select shoes make the hazards or setups of certain levels easier or harder to complete, and one even provides an extra life. Without those somewhat-OP “Holy Sandals,” Anger Foot dies in approximately one direct hit, but can also scamper away to safety and quickly heal from any grazed damage.
WhileAnger Foot’s longer levels can run about four minutes the first time out, most can be beaten in less than two. Of course, that timer doesn’t account for the numerous deaths and redos, and the game loves to bait players with tucked-away enemies, traps, hazards, and big locked-room brawls, so the restarts can pile up in the toughest levels.
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This is all intentional, though, and one can feel their reflexes and skills increase after just a few hours of play. There’s rarely if ever an outright unfair encounter, but the faster enemies, throbbing music, andAnger Foot’s quick speed makes it feel like a game meant to be played as fast as possible, stringing deaths together and clearing rooms in a single breath.
Anger Foot Is Fast On His Feet (No Pun Intended)
The Game Only Shows Its Warts At Slower Speeds
The game does slow down at certain junctures, which always weakens the flow state. There are passive exploration levels that allow Anger Foot to converse with the various criminals he’s otherwise killing on sight, all of whom can still be swiftly murdered with a kick when they’re done chatting. No one in these levels reacts to this violence, as they’re really just set dressing for the upcoming stages, an opportunity for thegame to offer up worldbuilding and goofy jokesand dialogue (and, incidentally, thereby feel even more likeSludge Life).
This content is far less interesting than the action and, while it helps moderate the pace of a playthrough, it’s only occasionally amusing or memorable.The culture aroundAnger Footbecomes funnier and more successful in its game mechanics and physics, like bonking enemies into a sea of melted cheese, luring them to an accidental death-by-train, or lining up a pack of them with a crossbow bolt and pinning them into an empty picture frame. The more scripted humor veers between irreverent quips and try-hard counterculture, never quite coming off as fully formed or appealing.
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It should also be stated that large portions of the game technicallycanbe played at a slower pace, peeking around hallway corners or waiting for the shoddier AI to cluster into doorframes to be killed with ease. But, as inHotline Miami, the experience always feels more rewarding with a riskier attitude. Or, in other words:playingAnger Footslowly just feels wrong, and this is possibly by design.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
4/5 - “Excellent” By Screen Rant’s Review Metric
Anger Foothas a sizable campaign, and unlocking more sneakers through achievements feels more gratifying than bragging rights on a leaderboard (which, at time of writing, was curiously not featured in the game). The shiny art style and cheery violence were a constant draw, even thoughthe four boss fights were always much less interesting than the levels which preceded them.
It’s kind of a shame that, as cluttered as those levels may be, there’s rarely anything in them to play with. Any intact beer bottles, energy drinks, and even hallucinogenic geckos can be consumed to produce a predictable effect, but these proved rarely relevant to the gameplay, outside of a few achievements. The sheer number of physics objects in every room seem daunting at first glance, but none of them are interactive, just random flotsam shoved in the way to be summarily kicked into a corner.
We spent roughly 8.5 hours inAngry Footfor our playthrough, clearing every level and obtaining more than half of the total sneakers by the end.
WhileAnger Foot’s title focuses on its kicking, this attack also includes a small and somewhat realistic delay. It’s best to time these kicks when a reptilian horde of melee goons comes running, and it’s a little frustrating to have the game feel so stuttered and slow during these brief bouts of combat.
That’s mostly where any obvious criticism ofAnger Footlies.At breakneck speeds, it’s an enjoyable romp spent massacring a bunch of hapless jerks, getting revenge on the same enemies whose blithe dances the player is forced to watch at every restart. It’s a little derivative, a little silly, and runs out of steam whenever the tempo flattens, but why let it? Just run back into that level and try again, this time wearing stilettos, as a flex.
Screen Rantreceived a digital PC code for the purpose of this review.
