Anarchy Reigns

An inspired reinvention of multiplayer brawling, that carves out a whole new action genre for itself and those brave enough to learn its ins and outs.

It may not be Platinum Games' most technically sophisticated piece of work, but it's damn good all the same. For $30, it's a total steal, and a great way to kick off 2013.

Anarchy Reigns is exactly the kind of game that 'gamers' say they want: original, high-octane action with bags of depth, plenty of modes and multiplayer. It's all game, all of the time.

If you don't take Anarchy Reigns seriously, it's worth a look, and it's got a nice discounted price tag to boot. It's a big, colorful, ridiculous brawler about a bunch of cybernetically-enhanced idiots who don't realize how ridiculous they are, and while the single-player campaign's about five times as frustrating as it needs to be, the multiplayer's decent once you get a handle on it.

It's hard to know where to place Anarchy Reigns. Character action? Multiplayer fighting game? In all essence it's a bit of both and it's utterly brilliant in its sheer insanity. With a short campaign that manages to out-weird Konami and a chaotic, beginner-friendly yet deep multiplayer, Anarchy Reigns delivers on most of its promises.

Weak graphics and underpopulated servers aside, Anarchy Reigns is a great game. The strong story and extensive multiplayer are the main draws.

An inventive, compelling online brawler, the likes of which you won't have experienced before. It is technical and spectacular enough that it accommodates both skilled players and those who just want to mash some buttons and watch the sparks fly.

Leave the inner critic at the door and dive into Anarchy Reigns without cynicism. Anyone hoping to do some soul-searching will be sour by the end, but if you've got a need for anarchy SEGA and Platinum have this dish piping hot. Anarchy Reigns is violent, vulgar, and a confusingly hilarious, all within a tight budget.

Anarchy Reigns delivers an intense fighting experience, packed with a double single player campaign and plenty of multiplayer modes, all for a budget price.

This is one of those games that, in a few years, might become a classic no one understood. If you want to make the most of it, jump into the multiplayer modes as soon as you can.

A Frenetic and varied online beat´em up, plenty of options and game modes... but a bit insubstantial for the solo players.

The campaign is rough at times but overall entertaining, though I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a high-caliber action experience.

Anarchy Reigns is not a complex fighter like Bayonetta or the Devil May Cry-games. Dodging is pretty basic, the number of combos is limited and the ability to cancel an incoming attack and counter it with one of your own is absent. [January 2013, p.76]

There is fun to be had here - a lot of fun in fact, if you're prepared to dig and claw for it. For those people, anarchy will indeed reign, but everyone else will find themselves wishing for a little more law and order.

A good multiplayer beat 'em up action combat video game with a solid ground and a tutorial campaign for lone gamers. However, all of its colourful characters you may use to smash your faces up in a great number of multiplayer modes are lacking the most important thing - gamers themselves.

The single-player game is entertaining enough and full of replayability but the structure and narrative suggest it was an afterthought when the idea of a multiplayer only title, or the challenge of learning the game in an online arena, was deigned unreasonable.

Anarchy Reigns is one of the cheesiest games in recent years. It’s limburger, gouda, mozzarella and various other assorted dairy products rolled up into one package of lactating violence and rap songs that will leave your head spinning and your thumbs broken. But if you happen to take a bite of that cheddar, you might just fall in love with it.

[T]here are people playing Anarchy Reigns – but there's not a lot of them, and they're all a million times better than you. The terrible shame of it – and the dilemma for us – is that it's pretty obvious Anarchy Reigns would be incredible if only it could only attract more players. Battling it out with the bots, we often saw glimpses of what could've been, and were always left wanting more. [January 2013, p66]

This is a hardcore Japanese action game, through and through. Its rigid, uncompromising mission structure can be less than accommodating but nonetheless charming. It's difficult, rewarding, and satisfying in equal measure.

This action-packed title is fully focused on online play, and will offer classic hack-and-slashing to those who are willing to try it. The downfall comes in the form of a bland campaign and some other technical issues that will have to be ignored in order to enjoy a game that, if we stick to its virtues, can be serious fun.

Anarchy Reigns may not have an incredibly in-depth story and also has some nagging flaws that detract from its otherwise entertaining gameplay, but it's enjoyable enough to warrant a playthrough.

In single player the game suffers from a huge lack of varied content and could do with a more flexible fighting-system. It's understandable perhaps that the developers didn't want to burden their central multiplayer mode with the complex combos of something like Bayonetta, for example. But in doing so, Anarchy's single- and multiplayer modes keep on holding each other back. Still, regardless of its problems, matches regularly end up being a ton of fun.

Anarchy Reigns can be lots of fun, but the muddled and clichéd story doesn't help the campaign, and neither does the general repetitive nature of the gameplay.

Anarchy Reigns is not on the same level of Vanquish and Bayonetta, those who venture into the game with this premise in mind will be disappointed. Rather it is a beat'em up designed for multiplayer, reusing some of the assets of Madworld and on small budget, which entertains at a lower price than usual.

Surely not one of Platinum Games' best moments, but as a budget title this online brawler can offer some enjoyable mindless action.

Developing a multiplayer-centric title is all well and good, but Anarchy Reigns could have been something more. Playing solo is a necessity for honing your skills and unlocking new options before you take the fight online, but those tight controls and enjoyable combat feel wasted during the hollow and repetitive single-player campaign.

It's surprising to see a game from a truly esteemed developer fall into such an indistinct art style, borrowing characters but none of the gripping visuals from Madworld – just as it's surprising that Platinum can botch a camera, deliver another stuttering framerate, and display so many rough edges. But most surprising is that for all these flaws, Anarchy Reigns is still a fulfilling online experience.

Anarchy Reigns is far from perfect, but despite being less visually striking than the developer's past titles, it nevertheless embodies much of that Platinum Games spirit, blending energy, humour, transforming robots and hammer-wielding cyborg bulls. There's real character here, and at the back end of this generation, there are too few games that can truly lay claim to such praise.

Anarchy Reigns sits awkwardly, then: its balanced multiplayer mode means a fixed moveset and an unremarkable singleplayer campaign, while the high online player count means matches too often descend into scrappy pileups. Neither its on- or offline offerings are essential, but Platinum has shown that an online brawler can work. It's rough around the edges, sure, but it's a proof of concept to build on.

The mindless enemy encounters in the empty open world aren't why you want to play this, but it's almost necessary to make the most of the multiplayer's exciting madness and unpredictability.

Pure fun is what Anarchy Reigns aims for with its combat-system and chaotic game-modes. And if we solely look at a few of the multiplayer modes it somewhat achieves its aspirations. But even if you're expecting a shallow beat 'm up, Anarchy Reigns lacks polish, charisma and flow. Things we've come to expect from developer Platinum Games. It never seems to be able to keep its own chaotic content in check, which makes this an expendable experience.

While the audience that Anarchy Reigns is trying to reach is surely a broad one, the number of gamers who will actually latch on to and continue to play the game is surely a small one. High skill and extreme patience are two qualities needed to succeed here.

While the overall setting and characters are both delightfully stupid and unironically bizarre, there's little else in the game's narrative that's much to write home about. The story itself is rather bland and melodramatic, and the single player campaign is frought with repetitive missions and fights. The multiplayer doesn't fare better, with interchangeable characters and game modes that leave something to be desired.