Anger Foot PS5 Review. Devolver Digital and Free Live’s latest title Anger Foot is quite the unsettling title for this reviewer. After all, when you’re a gout sufferer your foot can indeed get very angry with inflammation. Luckily, Anger Foot can give yours truly something pleasant to think about when the words anger and foot are fused together, mainly because it’s a badass kick-heavy affair, with a twang of Hotline Miami coursing through its DNA. Containing short and satisfying levels and plenty of gung-ho and badass action to lap up, Anger Foot is a memorable action-stuffed ride with an insatiable gameplay loop to boot.
Anger Foot Review (PS5) – A Frenzied Foot Fetish
Anger Foot is situated inside an unpleasant and trashy dystopia dubbed “Shit City,” where multiple criminal gangs run roughshod under the ominous gaze of the mysterious Crime Minister. You are the titular Anger Foot, who not only uses his raging foot to kick rank and file scum flying and bashing doors into their scrawny faces, but Anger Foot has a distinctive love of sneakers. Unfortunately, his carefully curated sneaker collection is ripped from him and he needs to hunt them down and retrieve them before he can ever hope to cuddle up with his girlfriend and watch a movie together again.
The plot has a non-serious and quest-based allure to it, similar to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, in that you have to take down gangs and then the bosses of each territory in order to conquer it and move onto the next territory. You’re essentially thrashing hoodlums just so you can regain your beloved shoes-which as far as story motivations are concerned, is unorthodox but understandable. Nobody likes their property getting stolen, and in Anger Foot the foot is angry because it has no sneaker on it. In a way it’s like a golfer going to war with a colony of motorcyclists because they pinched his gloves-it’s silly, but you don’t mess with a man’s property.
A Gangster’s Dystopian Paradise
The world of Anger Foot is rife with meddlesome gangs, each of which control a single territory within Shit City. There are four gangs- the Violence Gang, who obviously like to dole out physical punishment; the Pollution Gang, who smell a lot and like to hang out in sewers and places with noxious green gasses; the Business Gang, who like hanging out in subways and busy office buildings, and the Debauchery Gang are a bunch of zealots who roam in castle-like dungeons, places of worship and nightclubs.
Each of these gangs play host to over a dozen stages, and the difficulty ramps after you’ve bested each gang in succession. It’s a tad disappointing that you can’t pick and choose what order you take each gang down in, but with the challenges you face increasing after you overcome each gang’s boss, it makes sense that progression is structured like it is.
Your objective in each stage is to reach the end as quickly as you can and by completing the three optional star objectives. By completing these optional objectives like using a particular kind of sneaker through a level or completing the level in so many seconds, you gain stars which can be used to purchase new sneakers. The sneakers themselves don’t have any power-ups, and only exist for you to gain another star in the stages where these objectives are present, though at least they encourage you to improve your killing and kicking sprees.
The way you garner empowerment in levels is by consuming energy drinks and beer. Getting buzzed up and intoxicated turns the screen hazy in a blurry but sped-up vision that can help you dispose of enemies quickly and is mad . Green alcohol bottles and cans of drink are usually strewn on the floor and can be consumed at will.
If the drinks aren’t intoxicating enough, the way Anger Foot’s soundtrack melds brilliantly with the hectic action in bombastic ways. When you’re walking about without enemies present the music is measured and calm, but boy-oh when you smash down doors littered with enemies, the beat thumps and booms with a nightmarish pulse that heightens the sense of danger surrounding you.
A Thrashing Foot Fest
One of the most impressive aspects to note about Anger Foot is how the challenge escalates. You start out busting through apartment buildings and laying waste to hoodlums, spiked bat-wielding crocodiles and dangerous incendiary bozos, but soon you’ll be met with shielded behemoths, snakes and minigun-toting heavies. Enemy compositions will become repetitive and smothering as you reach further into Anger Foot’s criminal underworld, but if you crave stiff challenges, Anger Foot will give it to you-provided you don’t dive into the options menu and tweak the sliders for a more accessible and laid back banger.
The action gets faster and more chaotic as you keep on completing stages, but thankfully your arsenal improves too with shotguns, crossbows and uzis giving you the chance to drop enemies quickly and gruesomely as you see fit. You can’t select what weapons you start a stage with, so you’re encouraged to use the tools you have at your disposal to get the job done and head for the mission exit elevator, train or zipline.
Flawlessly-Footed or Full of Folly?
Besides the main stages, there are open areas you can explore beforehand, where you can interact with friendlies who’ll offer a few words that can bring you further understanding into the state of the world around you. They can say silly nonsense and they’re either satisfied or dismayed about their predicaments. These NPCs don’t provide you with any missions, characters or complex back stories, so their presence is flat, though Devolver Digital’s penchant for irreverence shines through in weird and wonderful ways.
The lack of cutscenes and story insights does feel a bit disappointing, but the environmental storytelling says plenty without direct interactions. You’ll certainly want to search through the hub areas to see what you can find. For instance, you can find an arcade machine that plays the hidden gem Broforce, which was developed by Free Lives and contains some familiar action heroes and a fabulous action-loaded aesthetic and gameplay hook. Another find in the sewers has you getting high from a four-legged creature on top of cans of energy drink and bottles of beer.
Boss fights are few, but when you encounter them they’re as diverse and excitingly over-the-top and expressive as the game’s rambunctious tone. If you fancy fighting a chopper and bosses that morph during a three-stage battle, then you’ll witness thrilling and epic fights that will put your skills to the ultimate test. Duking up your metal against the metal of a giant helicopter, a gooey green tentacle monster and a pizza cutter-wielding pig are just some of the boss battle delights awaiting you, but ensure that you’ve finely honed your skills before jousting with these juggernauts.
Anger Foot’s presentation is zany and strange, but resides on a minimalist scale. What this means is there are text boxes for dialogue instead of spoken dialogue, which isn’t a significant concern, though it would’ve been nice to have a few extended engagements with the denizens of Anger Foot, though you’ll certainly be able to sniff the moods pervading Shit City-but unlike the name of the city, those moods don’t always smell unpleasant and putrid.
If you’re looking for a spicy action game with an unashamed bravado and an excitably challenging gameplay loop, then Anger Foot is an absolute treat you won’t hesitate to lap up in all its colourfully weird glory. The thin character interactions as well as the repetitive and overwhelming enemy compositions can grate, though when you’re in the midst of the action you won’t care. Anger Foot aptly puts its best foot forward as it capably produces a reverberating destructive impact, one you owe it to yourself not to miss out on despite its flaws.
Anger Foot is out now on PS5 and PC.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.