Anger Foot: Hands-on Preview
Where do I start when it comes to Anger Foot? This violently over-the-top action FPS game has you kicking the shit out of everything and anything in your quest to recover your most treasured items in all the land. Brought to life by those mad scientists at Free Lives, creators of other over-the-top titles such as Gorn, Broforce and Genital Jousting, Anger Foot will be unleashed upon the populace sometime this year. In anticipation of this auspicious event, I played a preview build that would allow me to get a taste of what to expect from this latest outing.
As you might expect if you are familiar with the dev teams’ work, the world of Anger Foot is a bit weird. Set in ‘Shit City’, a place where criminality is the only way to live, inhabited by a range of anthropomorphic creatures. Some, like the crocodiles/alligators, are easily recognisable, but some are truly just bizarre, kind of reminiscent of the Yellow Bastard in Sin City (2005). I have gotta give props to the design of the police though, which evokes mental images of Pingu if he was older, fatter and a corrupt cop.
Anger Foot is the only person who doesn’t embrace the leadership of the Minister for Crime and is determined to live his way. When his Preemo Sneaker collection is stolen he starts kicking in doors and heads as he makes his way through the city to find them.
So begins your journey, unleashing your fury on a range of gang members through a varied assortment of levels. Each level has multiple objectives that will give you stars that unlock different shoes that provide power-ups but for nearly all of the levels I had access to I was only able to earn the one star given for completing the level. Given some of the conditions, it is clear that players will only be able to beat some of them with a combination of skill and the correct footwear. For most of my time with the game, I relied on a pair of sneakers that would give me another bullet for every melee kill made, allowing me to make use of my pistol whenever I needed it without worrying about running out of ammo.
Skill and memory become a very big part of this game. Death comes at you fast in Shit City, a single melee attack will end your run and send you back to the beginning of the level. The game is a bit more forgiving when it comes to gunfire, allowing you two hits to close the distance before you bleed out, but it is very easy to be overwhelmed by gunfire without exactly knowing where it was coming from. This is a game in which your fast-twitch reflexes have to be on point. It is very easy to waste your bullets and find yourself dead very quickly and your enemies busting out cringeworthy dance moves in celebration. This led to a much more cautious approach from me, which is a valid playstyle, but not one that earns those bonus stars and can still result in numerous deaths if you don’t find the precise timing and placement needed in various areas.
If you are a fan of challenging combat, toilet humour and kicking the crap out of things then Anger Foot may be the game for you. A demo is available to download on Steam and stay tuned to Player2 for more content in the future.
