Anger Foot isn’t a game for everyone. It’s weird, crude and chaotic, not in the slightest bit shy of being silly. But nor should it be. Doubling down on the weird is what makes Anger Foot wonderful. The game is at its best when it leans into the outlandishness, delivering one of the year’s most unique, adrenaline-inducing experiences.
Free Lives, the South African indie developers behind the game are, of course, no strangers to the absurd. They’re a perfect partner for publisher Devolver Digital, having previously collaborated on games like Genital Jousting and Broforce. The insanity they channel into their games is evident in the title. If not Anger Foot, what else would you call a game in which kicking goons with a gnarly green foot is the primary mode of combat?
In case you’ve somehow forgotten the trailers from Devolver Directs of yore, I’ll try to describe it as best as I can. Anger Foot is a fast-paced, first person shooter following a balaclava-wearing protagonist in violent pursuit of his prized sneaker collection. With the unique ability of a lethal leg kick, you must navigate each of the game’s 63 levels in the fastest time possible to unlock new sneakers that imbue your feet with different enhancements.
It’s a formula that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Hurrying through, the game can likely be played through in a matter of hours. Levels are knocked over in mere minutes, but the stars awarded for completing the bonus challenges will draw you back in for a redo. Whether it be posting a faster time or dispatching members of the Debauchery Gang differently, these harder tasks suck you in for more playtime.
Some of the levels are surprisingly grueling. Death comes quickly; give an enemy the opportunity and you’ll swiftly have to restart the level. Much like other games of its type, there’s an element of puzzle solving required to navigate each level and survive the various enemies awaiting you with an assorted arsenal of ranged and melee weaponry. If you’re not careful, a pistol-wielding gangster might stumble out of a toilet cubicle with their pants down and start blasting. Learning which enemies to knock off first, which exploding barrel could be kicked to knock out a crowd, and which guns are best to steal is essential for swiftly sweeping through a level.
The bosses serve as refreshing changes in pace with multiple phases creating narrow windows of opportunity to land a kick, but aren’t particularly formidable. Instead, tougher armoured and shield-carrying enemies gradually up the intensity as you progress, with the real challenge arising when countless enemies fill a room to the point performance would occasionally stutter.
The powerups granted by the new shoes warrant the extra time spent perfecting a level. Some introduce quirks to the gameplay that contribute to the often hilarious situations the game thrusts you in. Others offer new ways to approach a level that dramatically change how you navigate the course. Certain sneakers will have you circling back to prior levels suddenly feeling better equipped. It all adds to replayability, but I was grateful you don’t need to perfect every level to unlock all that are on offer.
No doubt the design will sound familiar to fans of Hotline Miami and Neon White. I’m certain that fans of those games will find a ton of enjoyment within the game’s addictive loop, even if a handful of shortcomings holds it back from standing alongside them.
Anger Foot’s titular kicking mechanic has a slight delay to it that makes the game feel less sharp than the likes of Hotline Miami or Ghostrunner, two games I love for their snappiness. I quickly adjusted, but it makes the feet a little less powerful then they deserve. Often I gravitated towards the guns scattered about the levels in lieu of my kicking apparatus.
Levels also tend to blur together, not switching up level design or enemy variety at the pace required. Right from the opening level of each added area, I was expecting to be confronted by something new. Anger Foot flirts with increased verticality and platforming, but doesn’t come close to rivalling the likes of Neon White. The various gangs don’t feel appropriately distinct either, with the same enemies reappearing across the four different gangs you encounter. When I would suddenly encounter a new enemy type halfway through a new set of levels, it felt mistimed, like a missed opportunity to treat the introduction of each new gang and accompanying missions with a whole new look and feel.
Anger Foot’s presentation otherwise very much suits the tone of the game, with a rough-around-the-edges, cartoony style reminiscent of Squanch Games’ work. The character models all have an appropriately backwards look to them that complements the dystopian, drug-addled world. The rather industrial techno soundtrack wasn’t quite to my taste, but was always fitting as bullets ricocheted off explosive fuel tanks.
