Anger Foot - Kick, Die, Repeat

I love a game that can sum up it's core conceit with the title alone. If you had never heard of Elden Ring, that doesn't actually say anything about the game. Is it a ring? Are there elves? Elderly folks? It's only when you have the additional context of FROM SOFTWARE that you can start to make the connection to what that game might be. That is not the case with Five Lives' Anger Foot. That promotes a two very distinct visceral images in my mind - a foot that is meant to be kicking doors down and curb stomping fools, or perhaps a red scaled tinea nightmare. Thankfully, their first-person kicker is the former.

Anger Foot puts you in the shoes (yep, I did it) of a sneaker head who just wants to enjoy movie night with his partner, when some enterprising criminals crash through his apartment and steal his preemo sneaker collection. With full support of their partner, Anger Foot just wants to get his sneakers back, which sets forth this ridiculous adventure across Shit City.

Yes, you read that right. Shit City is a foul city that is overrun by four criminal factions whom all report to the Crime Minister. There is one rule that governs the entirety of this depraved collection of boroughs - crime is the law. So in order to get back the prized preemo sneaker collection, you will need to take down the Violence Gang, Pollution Gang, Business Gang, and the Debauchery Gang, which will be no easy task.

As you can tell, the story is VERY serious. It actually feels a lot like one of those Rick and Morty episodes where they are flicking through the TV channels of the Alien broadcasts, except in Anger Foot they aren't winking at you every 2.5 seconds. Despite how utterly ridiculous this all is, the developers have put in some genuinely hilarious and at times, quite touching dialogue during the few respites provided from the foot smashing action.

Speaking of that, Anger Foot plays like a mishmash of Hotline Miami and Neon White, with a heavy emphasis on learning through repetition. Each level is a short blast through a carefully cultivated murder puzzle, which will have you kicking doors down and tackling a variety of foes who can kill you with one or two well placed attacks. Your objective is to simply make it to the end of each level, which is no easy feat when you are facing off against baddies with pistols, baffoons with shotguns, fools with exploding heads, just to name a few. The variety of enemies is rather impressive, which keeps each encounter unique, but what is more helpful is that each foe has a distinctive look so when you are running through these stages at breakneck speed, you can easily identify and trigger a plan on how to deal with them. I was amazed at how quickly I built up the muscle memory to deal with certain encounters, that reminded me so much of those late nights playing Hotline Miami back in the day.

That is not the comparison to Devolver's darling breakthrough. The music in Anger Foot is absolutely hypnotic, pulling you into the action as you sink into a rhythm that melts the hours away. The pulsing beat of the track actually threw me off at first, as I instinctually started firing my guns on the beat instead of unloading on a room of enemies. If Five Lives is listening, you should probably add a rhythm mode, I think it would work incredibly well.

Each level of Anger Foot is a brief affair, often running in under three minutes. At the end of each level you are awarded a star which is used to unlock new sneakers, but in addition to completion each level has two challenges for bonus stars, often with one of them being a speed run time. There is absolutely a comparison to be drawn between Anger Foot and Neon White, but while Neon White promotes exploration and creativity to shaving down the seconds, Anger Foot is a more linear affair that just wants you to run through quickly. That is not a bad thing, and I think those who love a good speed running challenge will find much to love here, but the lack of leaderboards here really hurts that "gotta beat my pals" motive that a lot of Devolver joints have had recently, and I would not be surprised if we see that added soon after release.

At the end of each area of Shit City you are face with a boss battle, which follow your typical "three forms" trope, but in some pretty fun ways. Learning the patterns and how to handle these foes is always fun, and is a nice way to cap off each area before delving deeper into the city.

But let's talk about the combat, because that is where Anger Foot really shines. Yes, you do get access to guns, which we will get to in a moment, but the game is all about kicking folks in the jaw. You can kick doors into enemies, and grenades back at enemies, and it all feels incredibly satisfying. Those unlockable sneakers I mentioned earlier also add a number of interesting possibilities. For instance one set will turn your standard kick into uppercuts, bouncing your foes high into the air. Others will let you slide around the world feet first, sweeping baddies and allowing you to traverse much faster. And those of you who need a little extra help should get you feet on those Holy Sandals, which gives you a second chance at life if you perish mid-level. Having what is essentially a "charm" or "mask" system so tightly connected to the ridiculous premise at hand really is just so much fun.

The guns are also pretty fun, but the real star of the show is the kicking. When you knock a baddy out you will get their weapon, with a small number of bullets. You can fire them away and then throw the empty gun to stun a foe, allowing you to kick them into the next life, steal their gun, and let the good times roll. Throwing a pistol into the face of a shotgun wielding maniac to steal their boomstick, unload on another guy while running through the world at breakneck speed is A LOT of fun, creating this chaotic ballet of melee and ballistic combat that is hard to beat.

Conclusion

Anger Foot is a silly game, filled with frenetic and addictive combat powered by a hypnotic soundtrack and more importantly, fun. Kicking doors into the faces of energy-drink riddled to steal their weapons, and sprint through the level trying to beat the challenge time is an obsession that is so easy to just vibe with. If you want a game that you can just sink into without a massive time commitment, and just enjoy a video game in the purest sense, this is one of the most fun and dynamic games of the year.

Anger Foot

Recommended

Developer: Five Lives
Platforms: PC