Aah Beat ’m’ ups… One of the oldest forms of gaming out there. When games like Double Dragon were “the tits”? Was when gaming was still in its infancy. Walking in the shadows of fighting games in general, the beat ’em up genre garnered admiration in itself. Being a 2D platform brawler it shook the fighter gaming world. While not my most favorite games to play, I still can recognize the difference between a good one and a bad one. Nothing more so when it comes down to my next game to review, Fight ‘n Rage. A clear shout-out to the Side-scrolling beat ‘em ups from the past, Fight ‘n Rage tries to bring back that magic. Did they succeed? Or was this more of a low blow? Let’s find out in this review of Fight ‘n Rage! GO!
What do you do? You start your game as one of 3 available fighters. Each with their own combos and fighting style. My favorite was Gal, a quick-moving girl with some nice combinations that made me feel all-powerful. You will be fighting through all sorts of mutants and baddies to finally defeat the final boss.
- Fluid combat: The animation, the art style, the absolute powerful feeling that you’ll be getting while kicking and punching? Orchestrates itself into an amazing ballet and well-strung together combination of adrenaline and fighting prowess. With no silent moments or dull moments, Fight ‘n Rage pulls you straight into a hold lock, ready to bash your face in. Though this isn’t with its bad parts? The overall combat and gameplay is rock solid and deserves all the praise that it can get. Because I truly and absolutely loved the fighting here!
- Different enemy types: Each kind of enemy that you’ll be pummeled to the ground has its own fighting style. The mutant pigs love to belly flop you while the rats love to stab you a new butthole with their knife. The voluptuous whippers just love to slap you across the face with their whips while others will try to put you down with a quick succession of jabs and kicks. That also means that every enemy type has its own counter-attack and approach. And believe me? There are quite a bit of different types in this game!
- Boss Battles: While I talked about the enemy types already, the bosses deserve their own little section. These boss battles have their own rhythm and will set their own pace. You’ll have to take your time and watch what their movement pattern is. Don’t over rush these guys because they’ll smack a bitch up if you’re not careful! While the running up towards the boss arena is filled with quick action and brainless smashing? These bosses will demand respect from you.
- A surprising amount of content: What actually surprised me is the amount of actual content there is. Especially for the price point that the game is selling for! During your play sessions, you’ll earn gold coins each time that you die. And trust me? You’ll die! A lot. With these coins, you’ll be able to purchase all sorts of things in an in-game shop (no microtransactions!). These range from alternative skins for your fighters, new fighters. Heck, even an easy mode!
- Difficulty spikes: Though the game does have a few pre-sets for the difficulty? Its real difficulty lies in the enemy types themselves. While most of them are weak push-overs? Others are just insane when it comes down to their movement set. Even on normal! My absolute heartstoppers were the Doberman enemies! These ones always came in pairs of 2s and 3s. They move so fast and attack even faster! This can be fun, but at moments they aren’t the only ones on the screen and death becomes almost inevitable as you won’t be able to counter the barrage of hits, resulting in a never-ending circle of hurt. And eventually death. This can become quickly discouraging as you are alone if you’re not playing in co-op. The solo mode is more enervating than you’d think and this could result in players just rage-quitting after a while.
- Movement: Though the overall gameplay is smooth as butter, the movement of your character? Sometimes doesn’t really feel fluid. Start punching? And your guy/girl is stuck to the floor as if he or she stepped in a puddle of superglue. Meaning you’re a sitting duck. Another movement that feels sluggish is going up and down the field. It just doesn’t feel as quick as when you’re going left to right. A shame, because the rest of the game is just so smooth!
- Epilepsy warning: This game doesn’t put up an epilepsy warning, but it could surely need it! There are a lot of fast-moving things and explosions. Add on top of that the fact that the lightning in the game is very outspoken, resulting in a lot of flashing on the screen… I truly hope that they’ll still add this because I wouldn’t want anyone to have health issues because of this! Otherwise for the rest? There isn’t a lot of bad in the game!
CONCLUSION
Score: 85%
Fight ‘n Rage is an amazing combination of old school graphics, good and entertaining combat and a lot for you to unlock during your game time. The developer truly has a passion for the Beat ‘m Up genre and it truly shows throughout the entire game. If there’s only one thing that I’d like them to change? Then it has to be the Epilepsy warning, just to be sure to protect their fan base if there are people out there that have this illness. A perfect game for anyone who wants to feel those nostalgic feelings, or just wants to enjoy an amazing Beat ‘m Up!
Developer: Sebagamesdev Publisher: Blitworks
Played on: Xbox One X Also available on: PS4 – Switch and PC
Alexis spent 5 hours beating up baddies and taking names.
Achievement difficulty for 1000 Gamerscore: 15+ hours.
Perfect for: Anyone who loves a good Beat ’em Up. Anyone who likes the good old classics.
Xbox Game Store link: Click here
