Anger Foot's Twisted World is a Frenetic, Wild Ride

With a name like Anger Foot, that's a game that wears its heart on its sleeve. This is one wacky game all about kicking baddies through the mean streets of Shit City. You're on a quest to steal back your beloved shoe collection, and you'll stop at nothing to get those precious kickers back.

It's really hard not to be goofy about Anger Foot, because the premise is so fun, even if it's a bit simplistic. After all, you're just kicking your way through droves of goons, and maybe you'll pick up a few guns along the way. There's definitely a game underneath all this goofiness, though, and it seems to have improved since my last foray into the madness.

The Mean Streets of Anger Foot's... WHAT City?

Developer Free Lives' efforts have not gone unnoticed in polishing up this title. If you managed to play Anger Foot at PAX or during a Steam Next Fest, you'll know there was a solid foundation for a game. In this new build, however, the look of Anger Foot has improved a great deal, level designs are expanded, and it also adds new (and outrageously weird) story segments.

In terms of graphics, the lighting Free Lives added to Anger Foot did wonders to the overall aesthetic of the game. You're in this dank, dirty city full of violence and chaos, so it's fitting that the game takes a bit of a darker look. The shaders don't clash with the brighter, cartoonish style and create a very playful aesthetic.

Levels, on the other hand, appear more detailed with clutter and objects that go flying when you unleash your hellish kick on enemies. Enemies, trash, beer bottles, barrels, and doors go flying at every kick and makes for some chaotic and lighthearted action.

Level layouts I remember from my previous sessions with Anger Foot seem a bit longer and more intricate. There are more side paths or rooms added this time around, giving off the feeling of a more finished product.

As for the world itself, we see it get fleshed out in more story segments -- these occur every few levels. Our hellbent hero can walk through the streets and apartments and interact with Shit City's various denizens -- and no, I'm not making that name up. It's really called Shit City.

The crude humor of Anger Foot isn't going to appeal to everyone, but it can be quite comical at times. Crime is normal in Shit City, you see, so laws are non-existent. This flips society on its head, and instead of being shamed for littering, you have whole gangs dedicated to polluting the city.

There are other groups, too, like the Violence Gang, lead by Goo Cop. At one point during a story segment, I learned that initiation into the Violence Gang required one to be shanked. But you know, that's one of the more normal interactions amongst this city's people.

Heck, have you ever seen a masked-up thug hold a dolphin at gunpoint? Man, in Shit City, instead of ridding the city's water source of microplastics, we have hooligans making macroplastics. There are some real out-of-pocket moments that'll likely get a chuckle or two out of you, and honestly, I can't wait to learn more about the other gangs in Anger Foot.

Anger Foot -- it's Faster, Better, and Harder

If you aren't weird like me, then you'll probably care more about the gameplay than whatever the hell is going on in Shit City. Fair, and you may be happy to know you can skip story segments if you so choose. If you're here for gameplay, Anger Foot retains that same Hotline Miami-inspired, balls-to-the-wall, one-hit-kill philosophy.

You've got a foot that can kick, and a hand that can hold guns. You can kick bad guys and take their guns, shoot when you need to, and kick when all else fails. Knocking down doors as fast as you can while rushing to the finish is the name of the game.

I like the gameplay, for the most part. It's simple, but with the physics and chaos at every level (as well as some better level design), we have a fast-paced, solid experience. The difficulty this time around feels a bit more punishing than last time, which is a shame since my last sessions with Anger Foot felt juuust right.

The one-hit kill mechanic mentioned, as in you can kill enemies in one hit and they can do the same to you, mostly applies here, although in some instances I was able to survive a bullet or blow from a bad guy. Gameplay is timed and with challenges for every level, you're incentivized to get to the exit as fast as possible. This is where the gameplay felt at odds with itself.

Because you're incentivized to go fast, you want to rush through levels. Enemies, however, are often placed in blind spots or have aim rivaling that of a Navy SEAL sniper, meaning you're going to die a lot. Oftentimes, it just feels unfair. If you don't beeline for the thugs with the guns right away, you're going to restart almost immediately.

The aim felt just a little too good on these guys, so you can avoid shots by hiding behind a wall or going slower -- but why would you want to go slower when Anger Foot urges the player to rush? The difficulty just felt off, and that feeling of rushing was exacerbated by challenges that seemed impossible to complete with how many thugs with guns you'd happen across.

After making my way through, by my estimation around 40 percent of Anger Foot, it's evident there's been a lot of fine-tuning. I love the outrageous, silly world Free Lives is developing and its universe has the potential to expand across multiple games. I have no doubt the rest of Anger Foot is equally stellar, but the current difficulty might just be a little too much for me.

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Anger Foot was previewed on PC with a code provided by the publisher over roughly 2.5 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the preview process.