In what used to be just a Mad World, Chaos and disorder have
taken control of the future. Mutants, robots, and Cyborgs battle over ruined
cities, pollution is a constant, and every few minutes a horrific disaster
shakes the populace to its very core. This is just another day where Anarchy
Reigns. Your role in this nightmare; is to be as ruthless as possible. Honor,
respect, and restraint, are just three of the many words that can’t be
associated with this brawler by Platinum Games.
As Bayonetta is to Devil May Cry and Vanquish is to Gears of
War, Anarchy Reigns compares favorably to Spawn: In the Demon’s Hand.
Beat-em-ups are a rare genre these days, especially in 3D, and arena-based
competitive brawlers are practically unheard of. Still, despite its rarity the
concept is very simplistic. A group of unique and powerful characters are
tasked to kill each other by any means necessary. These means can include
fists, guns, thrown objects, and the winner is usually the most opportunistic.
The reason why almost nobody makes these games is probably because balancing is
next to impossible, and theoretically balance is the basis of a competitive
game. Hence the title Anarchy Reigns, the idea is that everything or nothing
can go the player’s way.
In the campaign mode, you take control of Leo and Jack. They
engage in mutant massacre and pick fights with anyone tied to the mysterious
Maximilian. Mostly the plot in this game is easily digestible, as it provides
motivation for the characters, cool cut-scenes, and moments where the camera
zooms in on the attractive female characters. It certainly helps that the voice-acting is
well-done, with Robert Pine delivering an exceptional performance as Max
himself. When all is said and done however, expect to forget everything that
happens over the course of the story.
During the campaign there will be various missions. Those
that are story-based usually involve one-on-one fights, while the free ones
either involve killing a bunch of freaks, or completing some unique goal. These
missions tie together to create some sort of overlong tutorial. Aside from
learning the basics, you will also become familiarized with the cast, and gain
a basic understanding of their abilities. Furthermore, a training mode is
available to practice moves and battle scenarios. The finer details; such as
combos and the mechanics surrounding various aspects such as stun are left for
the player to figure out. On the bright side, given that Anarchy Reigns has
been out for around six months in Japan, everything a player needs to know
about the game can be easily found.
Rather than bore you with explanations of all the moves and
how they work, I’ll skip ahead to the important part: how to win. Anarchy
Reigns isn’t the deepest game, but the results of the average online match can
make it seem like there is a large skill deferential between players. The
people, who win at this game, are those you despise the most when playing
online. They’re the kill-stealers, the item-abusers, the ones who always hang
with the group, and they employ all of the cheap tactics. In most other games
they might get exposed for what they are, but here they can revel in their
worst attributes because that is what decides matches.
First off you need a character; for the most part Anarchy
Reigns is “balanced” in that everyone is broken. There are 100% damage combos,
dive-kicks, and all sorts of other nasty moves to make almost everyone a force.
Douglas, Bayonetta, or the three Rin sisters are the safest bets. Each
character has their own killer weapon (KW) that expends energy to perform
brutal attacks; these five have among the best. Douglas for example, his
strategy is landing a mid-air light KW. It does close to 50% damage. Let other
players do the heavy lifting, and then swoop in with the KW for the kill. It’s
always best to target whoever is low on life. Extended battles just wear you
down, and next thing you know you’re the target. This applies to anyone you
decide to play as.
There are a large variety of competitive modes to partake
in. With team-deathmatch, the objective is to simply never separate, since
whoever does so will get crushed. Battle Royale is a prime example of the
vulture-mentality, as most kills will be stolen from other players. Cage
matches are one-on-one; hopefully you know your infinites. Capture the Flag and
death-ball both offer their own spin, though the MVPs tend to be those who
don’t fight at all. Survival modes are also available which allow players to
beat on the computer instead of each other, with the added benefit of some exclusive
battles that can’t be found in the campaign mode. Also as you complete matches
you’ll rank up, which can lead to the acquisition of new characters and
abilities. These abilities are only available in player matches, which are
something to be thankful for, because they’re about as bad as the gems from
Street Fighter x Tekken. Auto-guard, immunity to grabs, or one of any other
ridiculous abilities can be equipped.
Over the course of a match, events can occur such as
carpet-bombing, a massive plane-crash, and even a kraken invasion. Along with
the occasional interference from various thugs, this can make for many random
situations. Randomness is not my idea of fun. It’s especially annoying when I’m
in the middle of trying to kill or not get killed and a cut-scene happens. The
pacing gets broken up far too often and that’s unbelievable for an online game.
This is also apparent in death-ball, where everyone stops what they’re doing
when somebody scores. The most fun I ever had with that mode; was when the ball
glitched and disappeared from the map, forcing everyone to kill each other
until time ran out.
The worst aspect of Anarchy Reigns is that it will cause
anger, rage like you’ve never felt capable of. Even if you approach this game
in the proper manner, no measure of success is guaranteed. I have had matches
where I was completely shut down. There was one in particular where I only died
three times but only got one kill. Every time I got close to finishing someone
off, a cut-scene happened, I was shot from behind by a mini-gun, I was struck
dizzy by a flying sign-post, or I had to get out of the area or risk getting
nuked by a bomb. I’ve been dominated in online games before, but at least I had
an idea as to how it all went wrong and even then I still managed some kills.
When Anarchy Reigns is at its worst, I’m stuck wandering in circles waiting for
opportunities.
Furthermore, while this game makes impressive use of its
scale, it suffers from a multitude of technical issues. Frame-rate is a chief
problem throughout, because it drops into the teens regularly. Sure there
aren’t any frame-perfect maneuvers to perform, but being unable to tell what is
going on when the action gets hot enough is just awful. Also the net-code is
just plain bad, which leads to teleporting around and getting sucked into grabs
from far away.
Still, when everything comes together Anarchy Reigns is
pretty good. The controls are very solid, the hits are crunchy and satisfying,
and the soundtrack is absolutely excellent. It all depends on how you’re
willing to approach it. If you’re willing to accept that bad things will
happen, and that they’re not always your fault, you’ll be able to enjoy
everything that this game does well. If the randomness doesn’t sound appealing,
there’s always the campaign, survival modes, and even bot-matches to
participate in. For its price, Anarchy Reigns has quite a lot to offer, even if
it lives up to its name just a little too well.
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