Anger Foot is an utterly crazy first-person action game focused on lightning fast gameplay and encouraging speed-running, with weird goon characters and an unhealthy obsession with shoes. Set in a city plagued with crime and gangs that are the worst of the worst, the protagonist was off to a great day when he managed to get the last pair of shoes for his collection, until it was stolen from him. And that’s how all the ass-kicking started, no friend or foe left standing in his search for the taken goods.
Kick’em Up
No matter how many doors you find in this game, you won’t open a single one by twisting the knob, not even in your own apartment. A well-placed kick will literally open many doors in your life, projecting them with the force of a tank shell, crushing any enemy that may be directly standing on the opposite side. This is one of the odd but ultimately so rewarding mechanics of Anger Foot, a game where weapons weren’t forgotten, but your kick has enough raw power to send anyone flying across the room. Make the most of it, as ammo is scarce and kicking is extremely satisfactory.
The fairly short stages from this preview build encourage you to move as fast as you can to the exit. While this is recommended if you want to get those low times to brag about, there are other conditions that may affect your approach, such as killing enemies with explosions or complete the level without wearing shoes, with stars as rewards for any of the achievements. Stars can be used to unlock more shoes with different buffs and effects, such as kicking enemies to regain ammo, or foes having big heads (making them easier targets), among many other things. When you have a good selection of shoes, picking the ones for the next level may not be an easy choice. Besides, this just appeals to the collector in you, staring at the different details of each shoe.
Anger Foot is all about speed but only in theory; but in practice you should consider your approach based on the starting conditions. Is it worth running through it all without blinking but with a lot of kicking, or maybe you should inspect a room for explosive assets and clear it up with a couple of well-aimed shots? This turns out to be a wonderful playground for experimentation where physics play a major role, somewhat unexpectedly so for a first-person shooter – or should I say kicker – that has a timer pushing you to move fast and furiously through each area. While the game is speedy enough already, drinking some cans will give you an additional boost and make things even faster. Useful to get an extra rush through some harder sections.
When you spot some conveniently placed red barrels, you know that they can be used as a way to lighten up the room, pun intended, and what a fantastic and powerful blast they provide, screen shaking with the force of the explosion, paper sheets and furniture flying around along with the bodies of unfortunate thugs. Shoot a fire extinguisher or two and they will start flying around the room, causing mayhem to those who stand in the way. But you can also kick some larger objects and they will take out enemies who get caught by them, just a few examples of physics at work in a game where kicking everything and everyone isn’t mandatory, but turns into such a guilty pleasure that it’s hard to avoid razing every single room that we step into.
Kicking It To The Beat
There’s no penalty of any sort to your actions as well; you can kick everyone, friend or foe, without any guilt or punishment. Across the city you will find the occasional hub where dwellers are either committing some crime or learning how to do so, and while you are welcome to interact with many of them to get some witty remark of sorts, nothing prevents you from kicking them into oblivion, just for the physics fun of it.
Gunplay in Anger Foot is surprisingly solid, in a very arcade and loose way. Using the various weapons is fun and a good alternative to the constant kicking. You’ll need it when the enemy types start to get more diverse, from the melee crocodiles to the ones that throw grenades. Some suicide bombers are very dangerous, but a kick can send them flying and turn their explosive potential to your favor.
A mention must be done to the bass-thumping soundtrack, with a constant beat as you move around the criminal-ridden city, and a full-on assault on your senses when a fight triggers, a noisy background that fuels your kicking desire even further. This marries perfectly with the ongoing chaos and only slows down when all the enemies around you have been dealt with. There are some minor niggles with the game, mainly the way how enemies clip through walls and other assets in visually annoying ways, hopefully something that will be minimized before the official launch.
Anger Foot is a game that is true to Devolver Digital’s almost unique reputation. It’s deliberately dumb and all the best for it, grabs a fairly simple gameplay loop and makes the most with just enough bells and whistles – it looks great – and is promising to be a lot of fun as you check your brain at the door and just wreak havoc. It’s already obvious that it is going to be a good one; if you like your action experiences fast, furious, and extremely silly, it’s hard to go wrong with this kick-ass game.
MP1st was given access to a preview build of Anger Foot for our hands-on session. Anger Foot is scheduled to launch on PC in 2024.