Anger Foot tries to kick its way into our hearts, but ends up feeling like it’s only kicking down the same door over and over.
It’s hard to talk about this game because I think a lot of really good ideas went into it, and I think a lot of really good work has been done on it – But for me, I don’t really enjoy it very much. And that’s what games like this have to be, in some respect: enjoyable.
At Anger Foot’s core is a sort of first-person speed action game, where the number one thing that we’re doing is kicking down doors. It’s a very action-heavy, very “one-hit-and-you’re-dead” feeling. We can blaze our way through the level, but a score attack gives us certain challenges that net us stars at the end. For example, go through the level in under 25 seconds, or defeat enough enemies. Once we get enough stars we can unlock shoes that give us little extra abilities, sort of like how Hotline Miami gives us different masks that give you different abilities.
It wears its influences on its sleeve, and does it by dripping with style. It uses a sort of urban pop art style that’s a popular aesthetic currently, though it’s not necessarily something that I love as much.
But even with all of that, the game feels very “samey,” if I can use that word. The star aspect isn’t all that enticing, and the speed really doesn’t feel as frenetic as it wants to be. It’s almost as if we have to consciously make a choice to scream through a level or not, and it doesn’t really lend itself to the type of gameplay focused on running and gunning or letting our momentum carry our movement. It wants to be this frenetic thing, but it just doesn’t have it.
It’s pretty generous about accessibility, letting us respawn quickly after a death without losing too much. But then we sort of pick up the rhythm aspect of the game, where perhaps it’s really angling towards. Eventually we learn that we’re gonna have to grab this wrench when we get in the next room and then throw it and then turn around right away and then kick the guy and then turn back around. With everything specifically placed we have to remember locations and items, and then once that happens it doesn’t feel like chaotic speed but more like a rhythm game. Like, just remember the beats. Remember the beats for each room and we can kind of go into it blind.
There’s definitely people that would enjoy this from a speedrunning standpoint. I really think if you are the type of person that wants to really nail a level down and get a lot of satisfaction from that, I think this might be for you. But for me personally, I don’t know; I just feel like what I like about games is I like how novel games are. I like games that are weird. I’m like a weirdo here. And though Anger Foot is precise and feels complete, it’s just not weird or innovative enough to really get my feet kicking beyond that.
This review is based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. It originally appeared on The SideQuest Live! for August 2, 2024. Images and video courtesy Devolver Digital and Free Lives.
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