Anger Foot is a basic idea executed to the nth degree. As a rabid sneakerhead with what appears to be the world’s most risky feet, you must recover your prized collection of stolen footwear by kicking anything that catches your eye. The bombastic setting that accompanies this insane premise – fast-paced, split-second action, satisfying gunplay, and blissful destructibility – transforms Anger Foot from a one-hit pony into one of the most electrifying, challenging, and hard-to-put-down adrenaline rushes of the year.
Set on the seedy streets of Crime City, where crime is not only encouraged but a way of life. You fight your way through four gangs and their leaders across dozens of levels to recover stolen sneakers. Initially, your best and only weapon is your bare feet, as kicking sends a litany of gun-toting thugs flying in satisfying (and occasionally hilariously broken) ragdoll physics. The frantic but deliberate pace of this first-person action game is delightfully reminiscent of Hotline Miami and Doom. At best, you can complete a miniature, densely packed level in under a minute, and success means quickly and strategically taking out cunningly placed enemies before they can finish you off.
With only one or two hits killing players, quick reaction times and, for better or worse, trial and error win the day. Levels can border on maze-like, with enemies hiding in blind spots or lurking behind doors, and you won’t discover their presence until their bullet hits your skull. Some deaths feel low-cost, due to the sometimes questionable enemy placement that makes taking damage seem inevitable in certain places. Other times, you’re a victim of physics; a grenade that misses the first time might bounce off something and land unexpectedly at your feet the second time. Death means starting the level over, and while it hurts after a good run, instant respawns speed up the process of running through levels multiple times and absorbing their layouts.
Kicking enemies is great, but Anger Foot also encourages strategic employ of the environment and enemies, such as kicking doors into distant targets or sending exploding enemies towards their allies. Using firearms like pistols and shotguns, as well as more exotic gadgets like crossbows that pierce multiple enemies and flamethrowers, adds a complementary ranged aspect to the melee-focused action. The gunplay is incredible, and you can even throw your empty weapon to stun targets, providing the perfect setup for a kick. I also like how different enemy types encourage me to change tactics on the fly, such as shield-wielding enemies that block shots or fleet, knife-wielding mice that focus on incessant swarming. The multi-stage boss fights are fun (and absurd), but they don’t compare to the thrill of blasting through standard levels.
When Anger Foot is firing on all cylinders, which it often is, it’s a joyfully disordered exercise in skill and ingenuity. I love getting into a state of flow, rushing into rooms, quickly dispatching enemies, grabbing their weapons, throwing spent firearms to stun other targets, and kicking everything in sight. A mindless approach can work, but more often than not it pays to have a perfect order of operations to eliminate threats and identify every environmental advantage. The high level of destructibility means that encounters often devolve into a parade of exploding rubble, splintered wood, and broken glass, making rooms look like a tornado has rolled through them. This element can be beneficial; why take out bad guys sitting on scaffolding when shooting an exploding barrel will cause the entire structure to collapse? While the frame rate occasionally dips when the action gets too much with explosions and hostile crowds, it otherwise runs glossy as butter.
Anger Foot regularly introduces up-to-date ideas and mechanics to keep the gameplay and challenges fresh. Highlights include jumping and dodging subway trains and kicking across rooftops while avoiding a sniper’s laser sight. I always found myself eagerly awaiting what a level had to offer, and was often surprised and excited to tackle the obstacles that the creator of Free Lives had devised.
Completing stages and optional goals, such as finishing them within a certain time limit or taking no damage, rewards up to three stars spent on unlocking ability-granting sneakers. You can only wear one pair of these special shoes at a time, and they add fun extras to the action. Some provide helpful bonuses, such as a shoe that grants an extra life or one that causes doors to explode when kicked. Other shoes act as silly cheat codes, like a pair that reduce gravity, meaning everything, including you, floats. One useful shoe gives enemies comically gigantic heads, making them easier targets for headshots. The shoes can be massive game-changers, providing a mighty hook for replaying stages and completing additional tasks to unlock them all.
Failure can be a bitter pill in Anger Foot, but I was surprised by how eager I was to jump back in time and time again. The gunfights remained an electrifying challenge, even after playing them multiple times. Thwarting enemies a millisecond before the trigger, whether through brute force or clever employ of the environment, never stopped being fun. You should definitely walk a mile in these shoes.
