Fight’N Rage Review

Some of you have probably seen Fight’N Rage before. It makes sense, since it was first released in 2017 and is now available for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It is a 2D indie beat ’em up that follows in the footsteps of titles like Streets of Rage, Final Fight or Double Dragon. In fact, the game is made by only two people and “hits” much more than their cubes.

The simple story goes like this: In the distant future, Earth has been destroyed and humanity is at the mercy of animal-like mutants. But two people, the militant Gal and the ninja F. Norris, together with a mutant rebel, Ricardo, decide to put an end to this mess and fight against their bestial masters. It does not have much depth, although it is a rather dark plot. The game is quite short in duration, as is usual for this genre, but this is something the creators had in mind. During the adventure, you must make some decisions that lead you to alternate paths, which in turn send you to one of 56 different endings. This is something that adds to the story, as well as the replayability, and it’s not the only addition that achieves this, as we’ll see below.

The core game is the classic of the genre. You progress, defeat enemies, collect sweets for points and health replenishment, reach the boss of the track and when you finish it you move on to the next one. Each character has their own combos, special moves, and quirks. The battles are well done and ordered. The attacks, speed, movement and punches have the right impact, but also the right feel, which might remind you of a fighting game. Gal is quick and agile, F. Norris is pretty good at everything without excelling at anything in particular, and Ricardo is the slow but all-powerful tank who crushes everyone with grabs and crushing blows. The combat system is relatively simple, but when you correctly combine the abilities of each character and experiment with the different attacks, you can achieve effective, impressive and long-lasting combos that end up making enemies explode out of nowhere.

You also have at your disposal a meter for special moves, which are very useful when you are surrounded by enemies or when you want to deal a lot of damage to a boss. When you use any of these moves, the meter slowly empties and refills. You can do the special moves even when you don’t have a full gauge, but then you lose a part of your life bar. Also, if you’re good at timing, you can parry enemy attacks, avoiding damage and instantly filling the special meter. The problem is that you don’t learn many of these moves until you unlock the training mode. How do you do this? First you play arcade mode and when/if you complete it, or lose, you earn some coins that you can spend on game extras. My advice is to open the training mode first, so you can get used to each character’s move set. Beyond training, there are many other unlockables, such as new modes (survival, time trial, etc.) and new character outfits. You can even unlock the enemies you fight and use them in most of the different modes.

Let’s just say here that the game can get quite violent (maybe abruptly at times), since the mutants aren’t joking around, and this is especially true of the boss fights that build up the tension. Also, the checkpoints on the tracks are sometimes quite far apart, so you might get a bit lost sometimes. It’s a good idea to know the character you’re playing as, as well as the enemies, so you can make full and effective use of your ‘arsenal’. Of course, you can always play with friends and make your life easier while having fun beating everyone. Unfortunately, you can only do this from your couch, as there’s no online co-op, which is a shame.

Visually, the game is very interesting, featuring beautiful anime-like pixel art on the characters, with very nice, fluid and detailed animations (maybe too detailed in terms of… ahem, some parts of the female anatomy, with hilarious results). There are also very nice lighting effects and bright colors, although this is perhaps a bit “buried” by the fact that the game’s events mostly take place at night. The variety in the environments is quite good, as you sow panic among the mutants in ruined streets, dark forests, nightclubs, beaches, etc. Let’s also say that all the 16-bit aesthetics that govern the game are also present in the option. of choosing filters like a CRT screen or TV, so you get a completely old experience. The very strong soundtrack by Gonzalo Varela is an ideal accompaniment for all this. He handles the onslaught of action beautifully, with pounding electronic and rock/metal tunes to further decimate the hordes of mutants that stand in your way.

Fight’N Rage is one of the best independent brawlers in recent years. It offers many hours of fun registering, although it can be difficult at times and the absence of online is noticeable. If you are a fan of the genre, try Fight’N Rage and you will not regret it.