Anarchy Reigns Review

Time to reign supreme in anarchy and fight the Kraken

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to 10ft tall? Or wondered what it would be like to have the ability to throw a car at somebody with the greatest of ease? Have you ever wanted to fight the Kraken? Yes I said Kraken.

If you answered yes to any of those questions, I wouldn’t recommend you buy any of ‘The Sims’ games. But you certainly should grab yourself a copy of Anarchy Reigns.This open world, beat ‘em up release from SEGA and developed by Platinum Games has finally made it to UK shores.  For those of you who don’t know, Anarchy Reigns is a follow on from MadWorld. It is set in a broken world, ravaged by years of warring countries and chemical experimentations, the human race has evolved and mutated into shells of what we would perceive as normal.

Playing the campaign mode is simple enough. You have the opportunity to choose your own path as a player. This happen straight after the first cut scene, where a legendary bounty hunter or ‘Chaser” Jack Cayman has a small altercation with the head of the international cops.You can choose Jack’s story – the ‘Black side’ or Leo, a young agent of the Bureaus Strike One unit (basically the feds) story – the ‘White side’.Both of the paths are interwoven. So you will be seeing your other choice at selected moments within the story.

The game-play smooth and easy to pick up while the controls are simple. The attacks for all the characters vary. But the layout of the move sets is the same – one button for normal attacks and one for heavy attacks and one for the special move. There are also weapon attacks, which add some much needed variety to the battles you’ll find yourself in.The variety is needed because after a while, beating up NPC’s that all look the same, you start to think – “How many times can I pile drive something that has no soul into the concrete, before I start to question my own existence?” The answer is roughly after you get your first ‘150-hit combo’.

Though the enemies gradually become more challenging to beat, you’ll find yourself trying to find more inventive ways to kill them.And if at this point your thinking that all the enemies are the same. Fear not, in every level it throws a new type of adversary with a different look and special ability. Some have unbelievable strength, whereas some may use fire, poison or ice in an attempt to kill you.

No game would be complete without the classic ‘Boss Battle’ at the end of the stage. But, in order to get the ‘bosses’ attention you have to complete a series challenges like; killing a set number of enemies in a set time, protecting a NPC from attack or transporting objects to a specified location. Much like the difficulty levels of the enemies, the level of difficulty increases as you are given each challenge.If you complete the challenges, you get to the ‘boss battle’, simple.Every boss that you beat in Anarchy Reigns becomes an unlockable character made available for selection in the many multiplayer modes.

As for the multiplayer capabilities they are expansive and exciting. Anarchy Reigns offers up to 16 player battle modes, capture the flag or the more traditional 1-on-1 brawls.Online matches are fast-paced and allow participants to work as a team to help bring an ass whoopin’ to there opponents. With there being the possibility of a mass melee developing at any point and the points system being set to ‘first to 20 wins’, match have tendencies to to-and-throw nicely, keeping the competition heated all times.

The only issue with the online aspect of this game is that it is not buzzing; it is far from it in fact. Having to wait 20 minutes in a lobby for enough players, for a match that will on average only last for 10 minutes is just infuriating.By no means is this a fault on the part of the game itself, or the company that made it. It just seems hard to imagine that the online community will get any better as time progresses. This is ultimately disappointing because the online aspect has the potential to be amazing.

If that doesn’t bother you, or even if it does, computer game favourite Beyonetta is available as a downloadable character in the multiplayer battles. Platinum Games also develops Beyonetta, so it’s no surprise that she makes an appearance. She’s as every bit deadly as she is beautiful.Don’t let the online issue detract from the fact that the overall game is solid, the storyline is intriguing and keeps interest levels peaked throughout. And did I mention that you could fight the Kraken? He is one of the level bosses. Have fun with that sea monster.

As a complete package, this game delivers in endless amounts. Its challenging, interesting, funny at times and just looks incredible when you are playing. It is bright and the change of environment just keeps game-play fresh.In addition the soundtrack is a mixture of rock and hip-hop, all from artists that are relative unknowns in the music world. This works well, as you won’t find yourself being distracted by the soundtrack because you knew the artist before the game was released.

It is fantastic that Anarchy Reigns was granted a release in the UK; it is just too good not to have been. And due to there being a delay in release compared to Japan, it is cheaper than your average title.On a final note, all of the games achievement names have the word ‘Anarchy’ included in them. Goes to show, that some developers actually put some creative thought into achievements.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.