There is this weird culture around sneakers, so many people buy them not to wear, but simply put in a clear box and display on a wall or shelf. So it is no surprise that when a complete collection of rare shoes are stolen, you might get a little angry and that is the premise for Anger Foot. The worlds first person kicker, but here is the real kick, it is not all about those kicks.

Free Lives, the developer of Anger Foot got my attention when they brought Terra Nil to market in 2023, so any game from them was going to get my attention, but I was not really expecting this. I know the studio has a penchant for doing whatever strikes their fancy, I mean the catalogue of games developed proves this, but this was something else. The game takes place in Shit City, the actual name and here crime does pay. In this city you are either part of a gang, or you are dead there is no space for lone gangsters here, well except for you. After scoring the last pair of sneakers for your collection, they are stolen by the cop crime gang and you set out to scour the city and reclaim them, kicking anyone who gets in your way. The premise is simple and that was likely a design choice as the game is all about the levels and it shows.

The levels are usually linear and they have you running from the start to the end, kicking all in your path. The major roadblock to you roundhousing everyone around you is that one or two hits, depending on the enemy and you are dead. So each time you run forward after your collection, you have to balance the speed against caution and it is a very fine line, one I struggled to maintain a lot. Clearing a stage nets you a star, get 5 stars and you will unlock new kicks. The shoes you wear can do things like make your enemies heads larger, or give you a fresh bullet upon a successful kick. There are even shoes that can let you fly, for a little while and finding the pair that works for you and the level, is going to be crucial to surviving. The real catch is that there are more shoes than stars you will earn from clearing a levelling, so you will need to replay levels to try and clear additional objectives. These range from only using your feet, or never jumping to the really odd one like completing the level in 5 seconds.

That is where the fun comes in with the game, each stage doesn’t have to be linear, sure the game directs you to follow a path, but that does not mean that is the only one. Of course, finding how to achieve those goals is going to be as much of a challenge as doing them. One level required no jumping, except there were a lot of large gaps to clear, so coming back with the shoes that allow you to fly might be the go. There is always a clock in the top corner that counts how much time you have spent in a level and while early on I did want to try and clear stages as quickly as possible, I found that slow and steady was more my pace, and that leads to my issues.

The game has no checkpoints, nothing at all to give you an edge. Yes there are drinks you can find in the stages, that let you unleash your rage, but they are not everywhere. When you run into a room and find yourself across from six enemies, all of whom have guns, you are quickly going to turn to swiss cheese. There were times I honestly felt that this was more soles-like than anything else, just due to the sheer absurdity of how easy to is to die. Now I am not saying the game needed a checkpoint every 12 steps, but there are some stages where I would be in the final areas, only to die from an enemy that I missed, or didn’t die as planned, the results of which meant starting over. The game is very good at that, there is almost no time between your death and a restart, so it isn’t like it requires a full reload, still sucks though.

Something else that sucks, the game has a number of technical oddities. Now when I was in a stage, there was nothing at all, the game ran fine, but outside. I encountered slow menus, which was weird but the most egregious of issues was that it would lock my entire PC up for a good 30-45 seconds each time I loaded into the game. Now this could be a product of the review build, but it was not a great experience and at one point, I thought maybe they have something in their discord about potential issues. So I went to the games official site and even that caused my computer to lag, it was making my CPU max out. I don’t know why both have issues, but is something that is hopefully addressed soon.

On the presentation side, the game looks interesting, it has a look that reminds me of Sludge Life, but with maybe a little Ahh Real Monsters mixed in. Each enemy look has a set action, the crocodile headed guys run at you with baseball bats, where as the cops with riot shields are pigeons. This actually works well for the player, as whenever I saw those little weird guys in the purple hoodies, I knew they would pop a few shots off at me, before trying to get into some cover. The stages embrace their setting, but they never really get to expand beyond the play space, you will notice it early on with the purple fog around the buildings. There are times when you get to walk around, before a stage officially starts and talk to folks, which gives you a chance to enjoy the visuals, without toes in the way.

The games audio is something I can honestly say, annoyed me so much, that halfway through the first stage, I turned the music way down. Now I do enjoy a good range of music, and I often find myself playing tracks from artists like Darude, Fatboy Slim and more recently DJ Daddy Trance. But the music in this game was horrible to me, I just couldn’t stand it. Music is such a subjective element and while I dislike it, you might love it.

Anger Foot is not an easy game to suggest you play, the hook is solid, you run forward and take out all enemies in your path. The problem comes from the simple fact that the game does very little to make it accessible to anyone who doesn’t have instant reaction timing. The ability to equip different shoes does change things up, but you only unlock them once you earn enough stars and getting those can be a challenge. If you are someone who likes a game that will gradually test your skills, then you might want to look elsewhere, but for those after a challenge, tighten those laces and step into the first soles-like.