Anger Foot
Review
These Boots were made for stomping
by William Thompson
reviewed on PC
Kicking Down the Door to Fun
I know a couple of people with a sneaker collection. You know the type, those who have dozens of pairs of sneakers, but only wear the same ones each day, only bringing out the fancy pairs for special occasions - or never at all. The main character in Anger Foot, is similar, with him completing his collection of four pairs in the prologue, only for them all to be stolen by a gang of lowlifes from the subtly named Shit City. Like John Wick when he loses his dog, this is enough to set him off, and it is then up to you to take on each of the four gangs and recover your prized collection.
Anger Foot is a wild ride of a first-person shooter that takes the concept of "kicking butt" to a whole new level (literally). Developed by Free Lives and published by the wacky folks at Devolver Digital, this game is equal parts hilarious and action-packed. The core gameplay revolves around you - a badass who clearly didn’t skip leg day - shooting and kicking your way through a neon-lit criminal underworld. You'll face off against a motley crew of enemies, from the basic cannon-fodder goons to more strategically challenging foes.
The Power of the feet
Players will find themselves wielding everything from six-shooters to laser cannons, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. The real kicker (pun intended) comes with the upgradeable sneakers. These bad boys grant you special abilities like bullet-time dodges on a perfect kick or a super-powered stomp that devastates entire groups. Indeed, some characters will require kicking (or possibly an explosive barrel) to take out, which ensures that the game is not your standard FPS. The game even has several levels that can be completed without even killing an enemy, if you have the requisite abilities.
Anger Foot lends itself to using your feet in close combat as much as possible though. This is never more evident in the ammunition system. Players will pick up a weapon, but once all the ammunition has been spent, players will need to throw their emptied weapon away and look for another weapon lying around. Any defeated armed enemy will have a weapon that can be picked up, so there is generally something of use nearby on most occasions, but if not, your feet are still weapons of mass destruction.
The game is broken up into four sections, based on each of the gangs based in Shit City, with fifteen or so levels leading up to an encounter with a boss. As players progress, new enemy characters are introduced, each requiring a new strategy to combat. With the (almost) one-shot kill dynamic of Anger Foot, players will often require several run throughs of a level just to take note of where each particular enemy is located. Boss battles themselves will often take several attempts before you’ll work out their patterns, and defeating each will provide a sense of achievement.
Short and sharp
Levels generally aren't too long, indeed most of them have a secondary star based on completing them in a short amount of time, leading to a Speedrun scenario. It is these secondary challenges that will keep players heading back into the levels for additional playthroughs. There is a maximum of three stars to be collected from each level - one for completing the level, and two extra stars for completing the secondary challenges.
Upon gaining five stars, players can trade them in for a pair of shoes (although they aren’t the initial four that you had in your collection prior to the theft). Each of these shoes have a special ability which will aid in progressing through the levels. One of my favourites for instance - The Scavengers - recovers ammunition whenever you kick someone. Indeed, some of the levels will have a specific goal related to a specific pair of shoes (or sometimes, not wearing shoes at all), so collecting as many as possible will enable players to in turn complete further mission goals.
Anger Foot's visuals are a love letter to adult animation gone wild. The game revels in its absurdity, with over-the-top character designs and a colour palette that could rival a rave. Players shouldn’t expect a deep narrative here; the story is as light as a feather, existing purely to propel you from one gloriously destructive set-piece to the next. And whilst the gameplay and visuals remain fun throughout, the one thing that began to annoy me was the background music. Whilst it does its best to keep the tempo of the game, it can become quite grating at times, particularly if you have to play through a level several times.
Action Packed
If you're looking for a serious, story-driven shooter, look elsewhere. But if you want a hilarious, action-packed experience that lets you channel your inner rage through the power of your foot, then Anger Foot is the perfect game to kick back and relax with (by which I mean unleash a torrent of destruction, but you get the idea). The range of enemies, the collection of shoes with their various special abilities and the speedrun component of Anger Foot will keep players heading back for more stomping fun.
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7.6
fun score
Pros
Fun enemies, bright visuals
Cons
Music can be headache inducing at times
