REVIEW

Anarchy Reigns Review: Return of the Brawler

(PS3, XBOX 360)

Developer Platinum Games wraps together some absurd ideas to deliver a solid multiplayer brawler.

By Jose Otero 01/09/2013

Anarchy Reigns can look like a scatterbrained mess of a game at times. Its art direction wanders all over the place, with character designs culled from a wide palette of visual styles. Imagine cybernetic burly dudes, skin-tight vixens, robots, and a dash of Dynasty Warrior costumes, and you'll start to get the idea. Its use of hub worlds and a scoring system to unlock new missions can appear obtuse and even arbitrary. Some may even think the single-player feels a bit tacked-on, mostly due to a oddly implemented campaign structure that can feel like a perfunctory way to unlock the remaining 16-player roster. And then there's the middling graphics, which range in quality from up-rezzed PlayStation 2 visuals to an almost-but-not-quite-Unreal-Engine-3 level of detail. If you can't handle these types of flaws, you probably won't find Anarchy Reigns that impressive or fun -- even at the tantalizing price tag of $30.

But there's more to Anarchy Reigns than these surface level flaws, and if you're willing to look a little deeper, there's actually a fun game to enjoy here. Anyone disappointed by its presentation and campaign structure will still find a surprisingly deep brawler to play with, and for developer Platinum Games that's kind of the point: Sure, Anarchy Reigns presents a handful of irksome single-player design decisions, but it ultimately succeeds in resuscitating the multiplayer brawler and applies a modern sensibility to a forgotten genre.

Brawlers fell out of vogue more than 20 years ago, either becoming commonly tied to licensed properties or mechanically becoming assimilated into other genres -- more specifically, action games like Devil May Cry -- but Platinum Games uses this vintage source material to inform every aspect of Anarchy Reigns. Mechanically, each character possesses the same core abilities -- a uniform set of heavy and light attacks, a killer weapon which runs on regenerating energy and sets up damaging combinations, and a distinct fighting style that comes with strengths and weaknesses. Special abilities play into certain online game types -- which modifies the damage output if you perform a 360 degree attack or enhances the reach of your attacks -- and players have to reach specific milestones, online and offline, in order to unlock them all.

Since multiplayer comprises a bulk of Anarchy Reigns' design, a player has to invest a lot of time online (or practice against bots) in order to grasp the nuances of a character. This learning experience mimics a similar curve found in most fighting games, where experience and constant exposure helps a player uncover effective strategies and character choices. A few hours into Anarchy Reigns? multiplayer, one thing is certain: This isn't an online game where button-mashers will find success. In order to win, you need to understand the limits of your character and then cultivate strategies to fit those strengths.

Anarchy Reigns offers a variety of deathmatch and objective-based modes for players to dive into. If you've played a competitive online game in the last 10 years, you won't find modes like Team Deathmatch or Capture the Flag enticing at first, but Platinum Games does a great job of adapting these established game types to fit the mechanics of their game. Even a wave-based cooperative survival mode finds its way into Anarchy Reigns, and although we've seen this idea taken to varying extremes by plenty of developers before, it still ends up feeling fun and interesting thanks to the well-designed combat mechanics.

It almost feels like no idea seemed too off-the-wall for the Anarchy Reigns development team. Sure, the garish way the art comes together can stand as one possible example of this, but there are positives too, like the way cataclysmic events can randomly occur mid-round and transform the battlefield into a chaotic mess of panicked enemies and destruction. These black holes, explosive runaway semi-trucks, poisonous gases, and other calamities add a random variable that makes staying alive more challenging. If that's not enough for you, then there are multiplayer ideas like Death Ball -- a game type that marries brawling and sports into an entertaining experiment that almost feels as polished as Halo 3's Grifball. Understandably, some may find a lot of the content excessive and repetitive, thusly, Anarchy Reigns might not appeal to everyone, but its solid combat and multiplayer offering mark a promising restart for a genre many folks forgot about.

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Comments (19)

Big Mex aka Noe V
Posted: userComment.createdDate by GAM35WH1T3P30PL3L1K3

Curious to hear his input on this, he wrote quite an expansive article regarding the history of brawlers since 1988. For me, this is the game I've been waiting to play since Power Stone 2. The gameplay is jaw dropping, the controls are smooth, and the dialogue (F bombs and stereotypes every 5 seconds) will make you laugh out loud multiple times. Anarchy Reigns is Bayonetta, Gears of War, Contra, Street Fighter 2, Dynasty Warriors and Borderlands combined with a Terantino gore and crass dialogue.

The online community is really engaging as well. Everyone is excited to be playing this game win or lose and no 2 battles are the same.

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This review is 100% correct
Posted: userComment.createdDate by V4Viewtiful

I've just went through the practice modes, hectic doesn't even describe the chaos. It's advised you go through the tutorial otherwise you get your arse handed to you, I'll get to the campaign later but so far I hate it and it's broken...

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Awesome review!!
Posted: userComment.createdDate by GameNTrade

Awesome review thanks for posting great information!

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Sleeper Hit?
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Olongjohnson

I need to try this game out, looks pretty fun!

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Goldy!
Posted: userComment.createdDate by BrokenH

It's my kind of game. Besides, it might be a welcome mix-up from my usual Koei/Tecmo Dynasty Warriors fix! I've read that you can even play through the story with all the characters after you beat the game's campaign mode. (Though it is kind of a shame the cutscenes remain the same.)
Thanks for the review,Jose!

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Is That Bayonetta Beating Up the Main Character?
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Nightmare_Omega

I may have to check this out.

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- RIght?
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by Sikman
  
  Sure as heck looks like her. But no mention of it in the article. Surely its just a knock off...not sure.
  
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- No, that's Bayonetta :)
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by V4Viewtiful
  
  It comes either as an exclusive or later DLC, she's just an extra
  
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- Research
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by lllYakuzalll
  
  Do you people realize Anarchy Reigns is made by Platinum Games, The people behind Bayonetta? Wow
  
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- @Research ... shhh
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by deafwing
  
  you spoiled the fun :D lol
  
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- Haha
  Posted: 01/10/2013 by Diesl
  
  ^^ No fun
  
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The game seems all over the place
Posted: userComment.createdDate by Diesl

The game seems like a good idea at first glance but after reading this review and a few others/seeing some gameplay it feels eratic. The game doesn't look smooth and feels like a more intense version of mortal combat with a few other aspects thrown in. The feeling seems to be if you mash your buttons as fast as you can, you'll win. It doesn't seem original. The only good part of the game seems to be the art.

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- Not really
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by JOTERO
  
  Anarchy Reigns definitely appears chaotic, but button mashing will get you no where fast. Smart players dodge, counter, or use killer weapons to rip you up.
  
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- @Diesl
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by roto13
  
  The review says the exact opposite of that, but ok:
  A few hours into Anarchy Reigns' multiplayer, one thing is certain: This isn't an online game where button-mashers will find success. In order to win, you need to understand the limits of your character and then cultivate strategies to fit those strengths.
  
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- Maybe
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by Diesl
  
  I feel I would have to play the game to be sure. Never the less it still seems like a rip off of Mortal Combat. The review says that it doesn't promote the button mashers but button mashers will always find there way into games like this and do moderately well
  
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- Are you Trolling?
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by lllYakuzalll
  
  Are you really comparing this game to Mortal Kombat? I don't see what resemblences you see between the 2 at all. The only conclusion I can think is that you're just trolling. This review doesn't really do the game justice, it's a niche title and isn't for everyone. I for one absolutely love it. It's original, and a game that isn't afraid to do something different when everyone else is just making generic first person shooters.
  
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- Not trolling, opinion
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by Diesl
  
  It's a lot like 3D Mortal Kombat and something like FFA Call Of Duty when it comes to the multiplayer (minus the guns) and for the missions it's essentaily Boarderlands 2. It's two great ideas mashed together to form whatever this is. Except that in Boarderlands 2, you can follow the story line which you can't do in this. The missions are described as "repetative" at best and the only thing that lends them character is how gruesom they are
  
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- Title of Comment
  Posted: 01/09/2013 by roto13
  
  Ha ha ha ha ha ha, what? Mortal Kombat? Grusome? Have you so much as looked at a trailer for this game? You clearly don't have even the tiniest little clue about what this game is or what it's like and you have the nerve to describe it as "repetitive" or anything else?
  
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- Looked a lot
  Posted: 01/10/2013 by Diesl
  
  I've looked at a lot more than the trailer. I've seen multiple reviews, a ton of gameplay, and have many other companies opinion on it. It may be a good idea, but all in all it looks like something that's already been done. Maybe not in this genre though. In whole, not a game I would buy
  
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