Sage Reviews: Anarchy Reigns
One word away from making an Antichrist joke. Damn!
Anarchy Reigns
Players: 1-2 Players Offline, 2-16 Online Players
Publisher: Sega
Genres: Action, Fighting
Publisher: Sega
Genres: Action, Fighting
Release Date: January 8, 2013
Developer: Platinum Games
MSRP: $29.99
Developer: Platinum Games
MSRP: $29.99
Set in the post-apocalyptic future, this is an over-the-top close combat fighting game, set in a massively open and fantastical world. Pick from an imaginative mix of human and cyborg characters and set out on a multiplayer challenge where anarchy reigns.
With a diverse range of multiplayer modes on offer, ANARCHY REIGNS pits players against each other in team co-op or last man standing battles.
Sage Reviews: Anarchy Reigns
Posted By Bennett The Sage about 4 months, 1 week ago
Sage Reviews: Anarchy Reigns, 
One word away from making an Antichrist joke. Damn!
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Anarchy Reigns Review
If you are looking for a close-quarters brawler which makes no bones about having fun with audacious, off the wall characters, and insanely twisted scenarios, Anarchy Reigns is the game for you.
Sage Reviews: Anarchy Reigns
One word away from making an Antichrist joke. Damn!
Anarchy Reigns Review
If you are looking for a close-quarters brawler which makes no bones about having fun with audacious, off the wall characters, and insanely twisted scenarios, Anarchy Reigns is the game for you.
Exclusive Gameplay Modes & Bayonetta Among Anarchy Reigns Pre-Order DLC
The madness is returning like never before.
Platinum Games Unaware of Anarchy Reigns Delay
According to Platinum Games, they didn’t know either…
No Anarchy Reigns For You! Sega Delays Release Till 2013 For European and American Audiences
Sega Hates You
Anarchy Reigns Delayed in the West for No Particular Reason by Sega
Sega decides to hold off on releasing Anarchy Reigns in North America and Europe.
Exclusive Gameplay Modes & Bayonetta Among Anarchy Reigns Pre-Order DLC
The madness is returning like never before.
Platinum Games Unaware of Anarchy Reigns Delay
According to Platinum Games, they didn’t know either…
No Anarchy Reigns For You! Sega Delays Release Till 2013 For European and American Audiences
Sega Hates You
Anarchy Reigns Delayed in the West for No Particular Reason by Sega
Sega decides to hold off on releasing Anarchy Reigns in North America and Europe.
Anarchy Reigns Delayed to July
The multiplayer arena brawler has been pushed back a few months. The Blacker Baron is not pleased.
Anarchy Reigns Review
Posted By Robert G. about 4 months, 1 week ago
Anarchy Reigns Review
Sage Reviews: Anarchy Reigns, 
HOWARD: Good evening, couch potatoes and welcome to the latest arena of death match. It is a long time coming from the MadWorld that was the Varragin City Deathwatch games, but I can guarantee the bread and circuses haven’t stopped as we watch several insane gladiators duke it out until their innards are strewn all over the arena floors! I am Howard “Buckshot” Holmes and as always, I am with my partner in crime, Kreese Kreesely.
KREESE: Howard, it’s good to be back.
HOWARD: That it is, Kreese. It has been some time since the last Deathwatch games, where we saw now perennial fan favorite, chaser Jack Cayman, impale, stab, slice, and throw his way to victory in one of the bloodiest contests known to man.
KREESE: The cleanup crews had to work overtime to wipe up the blood Jack left for them.
HOWARD: Sounds like my ex-wife when were in bed together.
KREESE: Still a sick bastard, Howard?
HOWARD: You know it, Kreese. But regardless, we are back on a murderous rampage with Jack and a slew of new and old faces this time. Anarchy Reigns supreme tonight as our intrepid cybrids beat the loving shit out of each other in all forms of cruel and unusual entertainment.
| PROS | Insane! Fun! Colorful cast of characters! |
| CONS | Story mode is shallow, The fighting is Sometimes unfair |
| WTF?! | Everything! |
KREESE: And you aren’t kidding Howard. We got arenas of death, battle royales, even capture the flag this time for those pasty-faced fuckers as home to enjoy. I’m so excited I can barely keep myself contained.
HOWARD: That’s impressive for you, considering your balls don’t work anymore.
KREESE: Laugh it up, Howard. Laugh it up.
HOWARD: I always do.
KREESE: Although we do have to deal with some business before pleasure before the main event begins. This time around we got to follow our heroes test out their abilities against those cannon-fodder kill seekers littered all over the place!
HOWARD: Right you are, Kreese. Jack and newcomer Leo are the main attractions….
KREESE: Leo? The pretty-boy cosplayer?
HOWARD: The very same. Although I wouldn’t go near him, hes a trained BPS agent who will cut your balls off and feed them to you.
KREESE: What else is new?
HOWARD: Seems like both of them are looking for someone, a rogue agent named Max who went on a killing spree.
KREESE: Unsanctioned killing spree, no doubt!
HOWARD: Right you are Kreese, it wasn’t in the arena. It was just some crazed bastard wantonly murdering people left and right.
KREESE: Like our contestants, but with pathos to it.
HOWARD: Pretty much.
KREESE: You know, that type of story barely makes any sense.
HOWARD: When do they ever?
KREESE: Good point. Although you got to admit it doesn’t take too long to get through.
HOWARD: Like my ex-wife when were having sex.
KREESE: Even shorter than that, Howard!
HOWARD: We can only hope. Thankfully, the arenas were similar to the MadWorld Deathwatch games: open space and lots of mook murdering. Free missions and grinding for points to complete the three main missions in each of the levels.
KREESE: Sound’s almost like a video game, Howard.
HOWARD: Yeah, how fucked up is that?
KREESE: That it’s a video game, or that it gets in the way of the main event?
HOWARD: Both really.
KREESE: I can’t fault that vague description at all.
HOWARD: Once the main storyline is completed though pretty much all of our fighters will be unlocked for the big brawls.
KREESE: I guess those prison sentences were short and sweet for sixteen vicious killing machines.
HOWARD: Short indeed, all you need to do is get through the storyline once, then discard it completely for pure anarchy online.
Fights online are old school, fast and furious slobber-knockers.
KREESE: Online, Howard? This shit is sounding more complicated than Japanese calculus.
HOWARD: Oh Kreese, you ignorant slut, it really is quite simple.
KREESE: Then explain it to my damaged brain instead of beating around the bush!
HOWARD: Something you do on the weekends, Kreese?
KREESE: At least I still get close to bush.
HOWARD: *chuckles* Well, you can take our chosen fighter onto the online arena, and duke it out with up to sixteen different people at once!
KREESE: Sixteen! Holy shit.
HOWARD: Holy shit indeed, Howard. Holy shit indeed. Matches are fast and furious, with blades, bombs, and punches flying everywhere.
KREESE: No kidding. Arena matches are so insane thanks to the Action Trigger Events, one minute you can be beating the tar out of some unlucky bastard and the next–BOOM!–an airplane lands on your head.
HOWARD: Or a black hole appears and throws you across the map.
KREESE: Or Cthulu shows up. That robotic bastard is a pain in the ass to fight, let me tell you. I had to have my eyeballs surgically exchanged after his ray beams melted them out of their sockets.
HOWARD: Sounds like another victim for the Great Old One.
KREESE: Fuck him, I’m still breathing!
HOWARD: But you are absolutely right though, the ATE events keep the matches fresh and insane enough to make random luck the name of the game over pure skill.
KREESE: Well, you need skill to survive out in the wild, Howard.
HOWARD: But when you get so many fighters in the arena at once, it might just be easier to bash your way to victory through brute force. We see a lot of dense fighters do that over the years and they finally get a chance to reign supreme in the arena.
KREESE: They don’t call it Anarchy Reigns for nothing, Howard.
HOWARD: Good name drop, Kreese.
KREESE: I earn my paycheck.
7/10
Anarchy Reigns Review
If you are looking for a close-quarters brawler which makes no bones about having fun with audacious, off the wall characters, and insanely twisted scenarios, Anarchy Reigns is the game for you. Sage Reviews: Anarchy Reigns
One word away from making an Antichrist joke. Damn!-
January 12, 2013 at 12:14am
As excited as I was for this game, it has some of the most broken, unfair combat I’ve ever seen. I don’t know if it’s any better in the multiplayer, but the campaign stuff is absurd, especially on hard. It’s Darkstalkers Syndrome in its truest form.
Maybe I just suck, and I’m sure I do, but when you’re getting air juggled and its taking your entire health bar and then some, something is wrong.
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January 13, 2013 at 02:42pm
online its sort of the same. The biggest difference is that online they encourage you to beat the crap out of people behind their backs.
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January 09, 2013 at 12:12am
Wait, did they change something from Max Anarchy? You could unlock characters just from leveling up in multiplayer and not having to play story mode.
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January 09, 2013 at 01:32am
Didn’t know that…sadly the multiplayer mode online was restricted off for the NA servers and I didn’t get the pass code to play them. I did play the training mode though with bots which served the purposes for the review. Today I played multiplayer online and its still fun.
If that is true I guess I need to change it somewhat. Thanks for pointing it out.
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January 08, 2013 at 03:59pm
And now I will be disappointed when every other review of this game doesn’t have the dynamic duo of Howard “Buckshot” Holmes and Kreese Kreeley narrating it.
BTE3 Day 2: Anarchy Reigns Preview
In 2009, Platinum Games’ Mad World brought the Wii its most over the top, hyper-stylized,
I just realized something, you did not do a end of year crossover with Spoony. A shame really, I love your team ups with Spoony.
Well, at least it’s not 60$. (bought the game brand new and haven’t played it yet.)
Why is emotional consistency necessary? Life is rarely emotionally consistent, why should a story? Being with characters through the bad and good, the drama and comical, makes them far more relatable then going through a pure dark and depressing story or vice-versa.
And while this game doesn’t hugely interest me, to anyone it does, I don’t recommend listening to sage, he was wrong concerning Asura’s Wrath, guaranteeing it would be a major disappointment to anyone who bought the game at full price, while the game was somewhat disappointing in its lackluster combat, overall I wasn’t disappointed by the experience, and I know I’m far from alone on this. I can foresee this coming off as mean spirited, I’m not hating on you, just criticizing that you make sweeping statements about a games appeal and lasting value that have been wrong.
I have yet to play Anarchy Reigns myself (I plan to very soon, though), but I have to agree with him on the story aspect. This is the same problem I’ve had with every Platinum Games story; it tries to be serious and dramatic while also being insanely goofy, zany and over the top and it clashes horribly. It was like this in MadWorld, in Bayonetta and in Vanquish, and it’s really the one big weakness in all of them.
It’s not that it’s a dramatic story with occasional comic relief, nor is it a lighthearted story that tries to get serious for once. It’s not trying to maintain a balance. It’s trying to have both extremes at once, something that really comes across as confusing and inconsistent. Trying to be an OTT action game with ludicrous feats of strength and insane characters while at the same time trying to be a gripping, down to earth tale is simply a bad mix.
I disagree with Sage on every aspect except the targeting and camera. I agree with you on Asura’s Wrath, Sage not recommending something due to anything but massive technical failings usually throws up a big “Must buy” sign for me.
From what I can see, Sage played on Easy then quit and I can tell this by him killing enemies with a single light attack – something that even on normal will not happen as enemies get much more durable. Try beating a boss on Hard just throwing light attacks, spamming dodge, and not burning any of your retries and tell me how that works out. Hell, just try beating a boss on hard.
I don’t get the complaint about the tone either. Yeah, the characters are crazy and over-the-top, that doesn’t mean they can’t or shouldn’t have dramatic depth. I’d say the dramatic moments, especially Jack’s “moment” and if you play it you’ll know what I mean, was incredibly intense because all the bravado and snark was gone, this was raw emotion boiling over. “Funny” characters can have serious issues, hell the Disgaea and Persona series thrive on this notion. I think we’ve just been so saturated with constantly gravely, brooding characters and their “drama” that we’ve become unable to imagine anything else.
My complaints about the game – The camera is iffy, the targeting is inconsistent, and the difficulty is all over the place. Oh, and on Hard mode, bosses cheat.
To be fair, the Disgaea games don’t exactly have stellar writing. The first game was pretty good from what I remember, but after that they kind of shot themselves in the foot with the constant barrage of redundant humor and formulaic story points. Eventually all potential emotional tension was sucked out and I just got through the stories waiting for the next decent joke. Don’t get me wrong, I still love them to death. Just sayin’.
You don’t know what “Emotional consistency” means do you? In fairness I’m not entirely sure but I pretty sure it doesn’t mean the same emotion through out. It is hard for me to explain (for one thing it doesn’t seem to have one definition) but in generally and extremely simplified terms it means having the emotions in a scene fit. For example having a character running around hooting & slapping there bum during a scene that is supposed to be sad would be emotion inconsistent.