Chumps Preview is a special kind of post where we unofficially preview games in Early Access, Beta, or are otherwise “unfinished.” This kind of preview is meant to be a first impression rather than a definitive review where we provide a rating to determine a game’s value. As such, we fully expect a game covered in a Chumps Preview to have room for improvement, some bugginess/incompleteness, and other features associated with similar games in the category.
In one month, you and I will be treated to a shitstorm of kicking, shooting, and everything in between. By that, I mean Anger Foot will grace us with its presence on July 11. When I first saw a glimpse of Anger Foot in one of Devolver Digital’s livestreams, it intrigued me with its neon ridiculousness featuring bright pink guns, green feet that occasionally wear loud as hell sneakers…
Oh man. I’m so excited for this game.
I spent maybe an hour playing Anger Foot. Maybe more, maybe less. I got through several levels of insanity to come to the conclusion that Free Lives (the developers of Anger Foot) are straight up nuts. Somehow, some way, they made something as simple as kicking fun! I kicked down doors. I kicked open bathroom stalls on enemies using the toilet (featuring appropriately blurred bits). Crocodiles with baseball bats ran at me, only to receive a foot to the face. Gun-wielding goons were no match for my green feet…
…that I eventually equipped with sneakers. I had a gun, too, but using it to get headshots and pepper enemies’ bodies with bullets just wasn’t as satisfying as a foot to the face. Anger Foot serves fancy feet with sides of guns and bullets.
If you’re on the fence about Anger Foot being too simple to be fun, worry not. It serves up bite-sized levels with multiple objectives, like speedrunning a level or getting to the end without taking a single bit of damage. Enemies come at you fast, and you’re only able to take about two hits of damage before it’s game over. Luckily, health regenerates quickly.
I was able get a glimpse as to what I could unlock after completing side objectives. Finishing a level automatically earned me a single star, but every side objective after the fact earned me more. After I had earned a few stars, I unlocked a new pair of shoes that would give me additional ammo if I successfully kicked an enemy. I’m excited to see what else I can unlock, as the footwear I was able to unlock gave me a good taste of what to expect from Anger Foot’s variance.
The chaos that Anger Foot distills feels like the insanity from the likes of Hotline Miami and OTXO. Just about every inch of Anger Foot’s levels can be interacted with in some degree, be it kicking a soccer ball into a dumpster, kicking a grenade thrown at me back to the pigeon-looking thing who threw it, kicking down a door to quickly eliminate whatever is standing behind it, all the way to kicking a vending machine to dispense cans of energy drinks. Drinking energy drinks in excess makes the game speed up while increasing its contrast. Drinking alcoholic drinks makes my character “drunk” featuring fuzziness and wobbly movement all at once.
All of this is happening to techno-fueled music that’s pounding into my noggin, keeping me pumped and ready to kick more, more, and more. Anger Foot is pure rocket fuel for those wanting a chaotic first-person shooter that makes shooting an afterthought. I don’t know how to best categorize Anger Foot because a traditional FPS would use guns and shooting as key instruments of destruction. Not here – it’s my feet.
I occasionally became frustrated with Anger Foot because of my character’s fragility. One melee bonk or two bullets and my current attempt was done. A sniper shot could end me then and there, forcing me to stop rushing into rooms headfirst and attempt to use cover, instead. I was stumped as to how I could complete some of the earlier side objectives, like the speedrunning ones. There are levels that want me to complete them in 30 seconds…how?! Clearly this is something that could possibly be done with a different pair of shoes that I have yet to unlock, but these objectives present a good challenge.
I’m quite interested to see how the rest of Anger Foot goes once I’m able to sit down and review the full game. The short amount of time I was able to spend with it got me amped up and gave me multiple good chuckles. It doesn’t take itself seriously, and it doesn’t expect you to take it seriously, either. Look – the goal of the game is to literally save your prized pairs of sneakers that were abducted by the gangs of Shit City!
Anger Foot comes out July 11 (next month!!) on PC, Mac, and Linux. It’s too early for us to give it a review, but I cannot wait to get my feet wet with the full release.
