Anger Foot Review

While retro-ish first-person shooters aren’t necessarily a dime a dozen, the gaming world isn’t exactly lacking in examples. But like anything else that’s popular, there’s always room for something new, if it’s good. To that end, Anger Foot kicks in the door and demands to be noticed. While it might not be the deepest game ever, there’s a lot more to it than the title and aesthetic suggest.

Anger Foot Comes Knockin’

On one hand, Anger Foot seems like it could be the most superficial, gimmicky game ever. It’s about the title character, Anger Foot, whose display of super-rare sneakers was stolen just when he was about to complete his collection. His task, and yours, is to battle Shit City’s four rival gangs and retrieve the stolen kicks. Like the basic premise, Anger Foot revels in absurdity. Jokes, both gross and more subtle, are everywhere. The game’s humor mostly works because it doesn’t take itself seriously, it’s often genuinely offbeat and much smarter than you’d figure.

Well, that description doesn’t really do much to describe the action. Anger Foot is a first-person shooter but with a strong emphasis on kicking. You kick down doors and send the enemies lurking behind flying. You kick enemies into explosives and off of buildings and set off chain reactions with a single, well-placed kick. If you can think of a way a kick could cause injury, death, and mayhem it’s probably in the game.

There’s gunplay, too. Both you and the enemies can be equipped with pistols, shotguns, and SMGs. Ammo is limited and enemies can be one-shot-kill deadly. Anger Foot’s action is a frenetically paced ballet of footwork, shooting, and rapid movement through crowded tenements. I was a bit surprised by how Anger Foot really pushed me to scan the environments and react quickly. The constant ticking timer discourages you from pausing or slowing down, though you can.

Shoe Closet

Each mission in Anger Foot has a main objective — basically, clearing the level without dying — and a pair of optional sub-objectives or modifiers. There are no save or checkpoints mid-level, so failure means a restart. Anger Foot isn’t strictly a roguelike, though, as upgrades and gear are persistent between levels. While the trash mobs are often copy-paste, they come in a lot of variations and the bosses are clever and fun.

As you might imagine in a game so devoted to kicking, particular footwear comes with specific, humor-filled perks. Some shoes slow down time, others add extra lives or even more ammo. I mean, they’re pretty much garden-variety FPS perks and special abilities. They’re still cleverly implemented.

Anger Foot can be very difficult and quite unforgiving, but the challenge can be adjusted. There’s enough frenetic physics going on, coupled with crowds of enemies, that some frustrating deaths are bound to occur. There are also a few framerate hitches, deadly in such a fast-paced game. However, aside from my poor play and bad choices, only the lack of checkpoints was a frustration.

Footsteps in the Hall

Anger Foot’s claymation-ish art style is either off-putting or cool, depending on your tolerance for stylized, distorted characters and environments. The levels are filled with humorous touches and weirdness, as well as a lot of urban clutter. I think I land somewhere in the middle of the appreciation scale. Not generally my kind of art direction, but it works in this game.

It’s hard to argue with Anger Foot’s audio. It’s excellent. Where many shooters focus on authentic weapon sounds, Anger Foot makes sure that each type of shoe has a distinctive, well, footprint. The combat sounds are well done also.

On the other hand, the music — for me — was off-the-charts annoying. Like humor, musical taste is subjective. The game’s driving dance club beats are a perfect partner for the action, no argument there. At least the soundtrack isn’t the faux-metal rawk that so many action games embrace.

Kick Back and Enjoy

Anger Foot seems like it could be a one-trick-pony game, with shallow gameplay and gimmick. In fact, it’s a clever and fast-paced shooter with excellent pacing, surprising depth, and a lot of humor. It doesn’t outstay its welcome and it’s reasonably replayable. If you’re looking for a bit of foot-fueled adrenaline, Anger Foot fits the bill.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***