Anarchy Reigns

Chunky, satisfying online scrapper - but a dreadful single-player. Proceed with caution. [Feb 2013, p.84]

Overall Anarchy Reigns is definitely worth a look. There's a substantial amount of content present for the asking price, and the overall feel of the game is pretty polished. The combat aspect that drives the single and online play feels really solid, with easy to pick up and understand movesets for characters that don't feel like cookie cutter copy and paste jobs, featuring strong art direction and a fantastic soundtrack to wrap it all up.

Anarchy Reigns is an over-the-top beat 'em up adventure with a half-baked single player mode. The multiplayer makes up for it, though. That is, when there are enough players. Anarchy Reigns desperately needs automatic playlists. [March 2013]

Make no mistake, this is a game for gamers: furious button mashing, intense competition, and destruction on a scale that only Platinum Games seems to understand.

Anarchy Reigns is a dream come true for some, and a mediocre game for others. At first glance, the game hides its potential well - the single player campaign is short and simple, and multiplayer is complex, demanding and hard to master. The game is uneven in the graphical department as well - maps are impressively big, there are some great monster and character designs, but terrible textures and a faulty physics and destruction system can put you off. But Anarchy Reigns is good at what it needs to be good at - being a great multiplayer beat'em up. Underneath some sloppiness there's a well designed game that is worth buying now, when people are playing it.

Fast paced combat, a great roster and plenty of multiplayer modes makes anarchy reigns one of the most fun fighting brawler game around. Platinum Games hits the mark, again.

Greater than the sum of its parts, and something no fan of the genre should miss.

Anarchy Reigns is an attractive, bombastic entry that retails for half the price of a normal title while delivering a fantastic level of quality. If you ask me, smaller-budget titles that try to do something different should be supported and celebrated-definitely give this one a shot, but keep an eye out for double chainsaws approaching from the rear.

It's every bit as stupid, chaotic, flawed and brilliant as it sounds.

Anarchy Reigns is pure awesomeness, the true core of an entertaining gameplay and the God of multiplayer. Sadly, SEGA and Platinum Games will not earn much money from this great project. As usual.

It's true that the plot is a mess and a few odd quirks keep Anarchy Reigns from being a polished AAA release, but despite that, there are tons of freaks to beat up, plenty of online combatants to choose from, and balanced gameplay that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Anarchy Reigns has simple but effective gameplay and combo mechanics. Great online beat'em up full of online modes. Frantic and fun, but has a repetitive and too-short single-player campaign.

It's too easy to see where Anarchy Reigns could have been better. Games are made within a budget and Anarchy Reigns' surely wasn't much, but you have to admire the purity of its intentions. In a perfect world it would have a Call of Duty 2-like impact and birthed refined successors, but as it stands Anarchy Reigns is an enjoyable oddity pleading for an elegant sequel.

While the single-player has several issues, the multiplayer makes up for it. The $30 price tag helps as well. I wouldn’t recommend this to every fan of beat-em-ups, but if you can handle the unique Platinum flavor, then it’s worth trying out.

Arena brawlers are underrepresented within the fighting genre, and Anarchy Reigns is a welcome nostalgic trip back to simpler days.

Anarchy Reigns' multiplayer scratches an itch I didn't know I had, but its camera faults and near-identical character move sets hold it back from scratching hard enough. However, online matchmaking is quick and easy, and the network fidelity held strong through every round I played.