Anarchy Reigns is the best game you’re not playing. After a long wait thanks to publisher Sega’s unwillingness to bring the game over from Japan to the US, Anarchy Reigns was met with mixed reviews, nonexistant marketing and a small fanbase off the bat. Admittedly, the game does have a few rough edges, but it still is one of the best – and most unique – multiplayer experiences I’ve had in a long time. Here are a few reasons to hopefully convince you to join in on the fun.
1: The Multiplayer
I’ve already said Anarchy Reigns’ multiplayer is great, but what is really interesting about it is the slew of multiplayer modes. Aside from shooter staples like Deathmatch and Capture The Flag (which all work strangely well in a fighting game format), there is also a Survival mode, which my friends and I have spent the most time on. In Survival, you and two other people have 10 minutes to complete 10 increasingly-difficult waves of enemies, finishing with a boss wave of varying difficulty, depending on the stage you’ve chosen. While the strategy rarely strays far from “1: Run at that guy, 2: punchpunchpunchpunch” it is fun to splatter all the smaller enemies over the walls, and dodge around the larger enemies attacks as a group.
2: The Story
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, seeing as this comes from the same people that developed Bayonetta (which still remains one of my favorite games of all time), but Anarchy Reigns has a damn good story mode for a beat-em up. The cutscenes look great, the acting sound fantastic, and the story – in which you follow two sides of the same messed-up situation – is actually pretty interesting.
3: The Action
What would a beat-em-up be without great action? While Anarchy Reigns’ controls are tight, and the action is fast-paced, most of the fun comes from the spectacular attacks each character has. Everyone comes equipped with their own “Killer Weapon”, which ranges from lightsaber nunchucks to flaming, golden boxing gloves, all of which look awesome in motion and feel even better when you’re controlling them.
4: The Soundtrack
Perfectly complementing the twitchy, fast-paced combat of Anarchy Reigns, the soundtrack is filled with incredibly catchy rap and hip-hop from loads of underground artists I’ve never even heard of, but can’t stop humming to myself or pulling up on Youtube after putting the game away.
5: The Characters
I didn’t want to list individual characters as reasons to buy the game, otherwise the list would literally just be every character with “This guy” written next to it. They’re just that great. While Bayonetta is a DLC character, and a handful of characters from Madworld are playable, Anarchy Reigns features a bunch of unique characters that make you want to try them all out. My favorite character of the bunch is Nikolai, a Russian with huge tesla coil gauntlets that allow him to punch people with lightning. Some of the other characters include a mechanical bull, a guy that is part cat and part revolver , and someone who is essentially Bane with a weight problem.
So, there you have it. Anarchy Reigns is a fantastic game, and absolutely deserves your attention if you like beat-em-ups, good character design, or even just appreciate a great game to go with some great rap music.
