Have you ever kicked a door in a fit of rage? Did you wish that it exploded into someone and knocked sense into them? If not a door, do you wish that you could kick someone’s teeth in for their wrongdoings? Any injustice could make someone’s blood boil and cause them to snap into a fit of rage. But what happens when it’s done to you? What would you do if someone stole something from you that you’ve been working on for years? Would you get angry? Would you use your words, call the cops, or take matters into your own hands? In a world where crime is rampant and the cops really aren’t around, you must use your feet to be your words of Justice. Prepare to kick some criminal ass in Devolver’s Anger Foot.
Game: Angerfoot
Developer: Free Lives
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Platforms: Microsoft Windows (Steam)(Reviewed), Steam Deck available
Release Date: July 11th, 2024
Players: 1
Price: Base: $24.99
Story
In a world where crime is the norm, only one vigilante can take down the four criminal bosses of the underworld; but what drives this vigilante to take down these four kingpins? At the start of the game, our hero is on his way to buy the last pair of Preemo sneakers that he needs to complete his collection. Upon arriving at the meeting place, Anger Foot discovers that the seller has been robbed by the Violence Gang. We must now take on the Violence Gang and get the holy grail of shoes back.
After taking down some grunts Anger Foot is able to secure the last pair of shoes needed for his collection. Upon arriving home, Foot’s girlfriend reminds him that it is movie night but celebrates that he has finally finished his collection of shoes. Just as Foot is celebrating, the Violence Gang comes back for their revenge and steals his prized Preemo Sneaker collection. Full of fury, Anger Foot vows to get his revenge and get back his collection of shoes. Upon defeating the Violence gang’s leader, Anger Foot learns that the Preemo collection of sneakers was split between the gang leaders; so now he must take down all the organizations to get them back.
As far as a story goes, Anger Foot is fairly compelling where it makes the player want to keep playing through its action sequences, comical dialog, and easy-to-digest narrative. The game’s story doesn’t throw a lot of its narrative at you once and you learn the key plot points as you go. The game features a ton of comical optional dialog that the player can experience by talking to the citizens within each gang. Kill them or leave them be, that option falls on you. By interacting with them, the player gets a deeper understanding of the world in which Anger foot takes place.
Gameplay
In Anger foot, there are two ways to play the game, slow and tactically or fast and heavy hitting. Throughout the game there will be times that you will be able to choose both, however, as the campaign progresses, it becomes more difficult to kick-and-gun (run-and-gun). With the increase in difficulty comes new abilities, weapons, and upgrades. By completing a level, the player can earn one to three stars based on their performance. Before each chapter, the chapter’s star requirements are shown; these conditions can range from not having sneakers on, clearing a level in a certain amount of time, not jumping, and even taking no damage.
By completing the different challenges, the player earns stars; those stars will help the player unlock new shoes that can aid them in taking down the different criminal syndicates. These shows can grant abilities such as big head, ammo when you kick an enemy to death, second life, mid-air jump, and even vampiric kicks. Some missions’ stars require that you have certain abilities unlocked that aren’t available until later in the game.
Accessibility
Doing the bare minimum within each level will get you most of the act’s shoes, however, if you want to unlock the different shoes earlier on, you can activate one of the four assist mode options. The four Assist Mode options are Easier Enemies, Easier Bosses, Everything Easier, and Never Die. The Never Die does not decrease the game’s difficulty it just makes you invincible.
Players can also adjust the amount of camera shake, flashing lights, blood, and colors shown on screen. Although there is not a colorblind mode, the player does have a variety of options to adjust in order to make the game more accessible. This accessibility also includes different languages for the player to enjoy the game.
Core Gameplay
As the player runs throughout the level, they get to choose between either kicking, shooting, or using abilities. As the story progresses, Anger foot finds more and more unique items to use in order to fight the criminal organizations. In the early stages, the weapons are fairly weak like a pistol, or a submachine gun, but as the game goes on you can find weapons like a shotgun, crossbow, Uzi, and a Scorpion-style plunger.
The game can feel a bit unfair at first with melee kills being a one-shot and bullets taking up to three shots early on, but as you get accustomed to the game, it becomes easier to determine what might and will kill you. If you are hurt, you can always fall back heal up, grab more ammo, and try again. Dying does reset you back to the beginning of the stage, however, the levels are fairly short, so it’s not too much of a headache if you have to redo it a few times. Just learn from your mistakes and try again.
Throughout our playthrough, there was only one thing that almost caused us to snap; despite being a run-and-gun game, the game featured a variety of jumping puzzle moments where you had to make sure you could platform and be prepared for enemies at the same time. On the stages where that was a requirement, we were forced to play through it multiple painstaking times; this was due to the jump mechanic not always working properly especially if we had to shoot or kick afterward. In one instance, we chose to turn on the never-die mode just so that we could focus on the platforming aspect rather than combat.
Verdict
At first glance, Anger foot seems like a loud, obnoxious, and violent game that seeks to entice the depraved. After playing it, you realize that it is a high-intensity action first-person shooter that puts players to the test. The game’s music thumping in your ears will get your blood pumping and make you want to drop-kick the nearest annoyance around you just for the sweet sweet taste of an explosion. The game’s use of alcohol as a time slower, caffeine as an accelerant, and lizards for trippy visuals can all modify the player’s experience in ways that the special shoes cannot.
Despite being frustrated at times, Anger foot keeps the levels routinely generated so that the player knows what to expect around each corner if they encountered it before. Yes, it can be annoying to die multiple times, but focusing on what you can do to improve or more precisely scratches the itch that a lot of gamers crave. The combat is fairly simple to understand once you understand the mechanics; with the use of the modifiers and settings, anyone can play Anger Foot and have a fun and energetic time.
If you haven’t wishlist Anger Foot yet, then you probably should if you don’t buy it right away. With multiple levels to each act, you can get at least 4 to 8 hrs of gameplay depending on how you play. If you want to put on the stuff to make it easier, then yes it will be faster. The characters within are comical and in a way relatable. The game’s comedy was a nice blend of the corny moments from High on Life with the action-pact pacing of Doom Eternal or Bulletstorm.
Make sure to kick a gang member or two in the face and release some of your stress from your day.
Anger foot was reviewed on PC using a copy provided by Devolver Digital. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Anger Foot is available on Microsoft Windows through Steam.
