Zero Punctuation: Anarchy Reigns

[rees263]

It's awesome and it's $30, buy it! I know it's more overseas, but state-side it's an absolute steal at what they're selling it at.

Not just state-side. The link to Amazon.co.uk under the video has it listed as £17.99 for both Xbox and PS3,and that's for the so-called "Limited Edition" which is pretty weird. Maybe it's so cheap because they saved loads on advertising which explains why I've never heard of it.

 

[MB202]

I'm in a bit of a SEGA surge at the moment, I might track down MadWorld and this game just for the Hell of it.

Also, the thing about Steve Blum is that he's actually got quite a range. Yeah he's got that "one voice" that everyone recognizes, but then he also voices the childish Guilmon from Digimon Tamers, and the Donald Duck-esque Yakky Doodle in Harvey Birdman: Attorney of Law.

 

[Sheo_Dagana]

I'm glad that Yahtzee brings up tone, because when you're trying to tell a story in a game, tone is very important and is also something that can get easily ignored in a video game. I feel like Anarchy Reigns falls into the same trap that Bulletstorm does - super serious during it's cutscenes, but all smug and smarm during gameplay. Now that's not to say that a game can't ride the line, it's just that I personally feel like both games do a bad job of that.

Remember the opening for Prototype 2? I thought it was setting the tone for a really emotional story. Instead, we got whatever the hell Prototype 2 was.

 

[TrevHead]

Eh the meat of this game is the crazy online Multiplayer not it' so so SP content, which is actually better than taken at fist glace, It's like doing a review on Skyrim and only mentioning the character creation tools.


Review is cool for a laugh though not what I'd call a critical review to sway anyones buying decisions

 

[Roman Monaghan]

Anyone else have a small heart attack when it suddenly went white background there for like ten seconds?

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

Colourful, bland Madworld sounds like a copy of Streets of Rage.

 

[SadakoMoose]

Thistly Jungle Bumwipe is going to be your new t shirt isn't it?
...Cause I want one...

 

[Darth_Payn]

Hilarious review, Yahtzee! It really got me going when you said "Llllllladieeeeees!" Strange SEGA couldn't just be honest about it being a sequel to Madworld.
And I couldn't tell if you were dissing Steve Blum, but he's the best there is at what he does, and what he does is sound gravelly and grumpy as his "tough-guy" voice. And I get that inconsistent tone is just stupid and whiplash-inducing if not done well.

captcha: labour of love
I think Madworld was, "of a sort", but not this one.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Hmm... I heard "race" and "hedgehog" very close to eachother...
I also heard "Sega" somewhere in the video.

Now why am I thinking I missed the word "blue" somewhere?

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Loved the last outro line, choked on my food because of it, damn you Yahtzee!

Well I guess this is rather a decent game for those who enjoy beat 'em ups since it has some crazy characters with different combos. Hell, I would buy it if I had an Xbox just to play as Bayonetta.

 

[FallenMessiah88]

Yahtzee is definitely right about this game being under the radar. I don't remember where I heard of it, but it certainly wasn't through advertising. However I wasn't aware of it's connection to Madworld.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Were there no Australian multiplayer servers to play on?

 

[Dire Sloth]

"We're the full package, laaadies"

 

[face_head_mouth]

What'd you expect from a 3D version of an obsolete genre? Remember final fight and street of rage? remember how fun it was? Play it now and see how boring it is.

Streets of Rage 2 was great fun...when I played it last month. In fact, it's more fun now than it was
when I first bought it 20 years ago, since I know the subtleties of the game so much better now.

That's what AR is, a game build around game mechanics which was once fun because people were still enjoying the novelty of controlling pixels on screen. I thought beat'em ups already evolved into fun games like batman AA and sleeping dogs, why the fuck does developers still make boring games like anarchy reigns?

Batman: Arkham Asylum was an amazing game...the first time I played through it. I tried playing through it a second time and I only got about a third of the way through before I quit.

There's something to be said about a game designed around doing one thing really well, the way Streets of Rage 2 and other good beat'em-ups are (along with other arcade genres like fighting games, shtmups and puzzle games). I could only really enjoy Arkham Asylum once (and I DID have a great time), but I've played Streets of Rage 2 more times than I can remember. Hell, I've played the NES Batman game more than I've played AA. Cinematics and scripted sequences can be wonderful, but they usually don't hold up to repetition. Same with most game dialogue.

On another note, Platinum Games are my new favorite game studio. I haven't played Anarchy Reigns, but Bayonetta and Vanquish both kicked ass, and I can't wait for Metal Gear Rising either.

Yahtzee is an anti-social loner who has professed that a game must be able to stand on its single player to be considered "worth it" to him. Anarchy Reigns never had even the slightest chance of a positive review from him. It's why I place more credit in Two Best Friends's "review" of the game than in Yahtzee's.

I used to defend Yahtzee's refusal to engage with multiplayer, but it was impossible to do so once I got into fighting games. I'm glad that Yahtzee seems to understand that there are genres he doesn't "get" and he does what he can to stay away from them, but I guess the Madworld connection and lack of other major releases allowed this one to fall through the cracks (also: props for the Two Best Friends reference).

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

"...an online battle royale, in which the entire battle seemed to be happening half a second in the future because Australian connections to US servers are a thistly jungle bumwipe..."

Oh look, almost 100% of all online gaming experiences summed up for every Aus/NZ gamer ever.

Jeez, Mr.Blum, talk about type cast. Has he ever played a feminine character?

Oh yeah... who the hell thaught that was a good idea?

Hey Orochimaru isn't all that feminine (once y'get to know him ), his character is just...scary, and creepy

 

[Strazdas]

Looksl ike amarchy did indeed reign in the developement process, or there is no other way to explain it.

 

[LadyRhian]

For Yahtzee, Apathy Reigned.

 

[Kuomon]

I figured he wouldn't like enjoy Anarchy Reigns since it's essential a fusion of the fighting game genre with FPS multiplayer sensitivities. I've enjoyed it so far, but I wish Sega had marketed the game better so that there was a bigger influx of new players. Having to play against the super pros who imported the game all the time can get frustrating after a while, especially if you're still figuring out how to play.

Back on topic though, I understand Yatzhee's desire to go into games with as blank a slate as possible, but I think in this case some context would have been helpful. The game is not a sequel to Madworld (although it does a poor job of making that clear) and was built multiplayer first, singleplayer second, meaning the singleplayer is effectively an extended tutorial in preparation for the online battles.

 

[Saika Renegade]

It's hard to feel a lot for Anarchy Reigns; compared to the game they're trying to tie it to, Madworld was admittedly less sensible but more fun. Any game where you can turn someone into a blood smoothie with a giant drill is fine by me. With Anarchy Reigns, it ends up feeling like the engine and controls are looking for considerably more people to mess up in much more graphic ways.

Admittedly, I'd like to see Steve Blum use his Guilmon voice at random while reading lines for one of these growly badass characters, if only for the complete WTF value of such a thing.