Anarcute

[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote] [quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote] [h1]Overall Rating - Painfully Bad ★☆☆☆☆[/h1] [h1]First Impressions[/h1] I was looking through various games, and thought that I should play Anarcute (AC). It has an incredibly high review score on Steam, so I figured it was guaranteed to deliver on a silly version of anarchist action. However, something I noticed from the achievements was that despite reviewing so well, not that many people who tried it made much progress through the worlds. That didn't seem very promising, so I wasn't really sure what to expect as I started the game. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] After playing through the tutorials in the entry world, I already saw some simple problems. Even though your objective is to amass an army that follows your orders, they aren't all that easy to control. It's not that you'll mistakenly mix up the inputs, but unlike strategy games, you can't give precise orders, and expect them to be carried out by individual units. You're always guiding the mob, whether or not they really do what you want them to. There's not many orders you can provide, meaning you don't have much finesse on leading a growing group of peons. Although leading a mob into a chaotic battle sounds fun, in practice it winds up feeling more frustrating and limited than exhilarating. The main issue is that I'd rather just control one character deliberately, engaging in a more robust system of combat, than how it works here. Between playing a fighting game or musou title where one character destroys all in their way, and flailing away with a mob, the choice is pretty easy. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3760495325 [h1]Controls[/h1] Overall, I find it hard to grasp where exactly my locus of control is. I would assume the center of the circle is my core, but the problem stems from how I have to consider the animals at the edges. For instance, if I brush across a land mine, or am running through a group of snipers, I have to try dodging while steering a poorly defined group of characters. The same problem comes from combat. With several characters holding objects, how can I assess where to aim when I want to trigger a land mine, since the object could be thrown from several different areas? Melee combat doesn't fare much better, as I basically just spam a single button, hoping my guys deliver more hits than they take. It truly reminds me of the adage about the futility of herding cats. [h1]Story[/h1] Humans in heavy masks are shown locking up and oppressing animals all around the world. This would normally be seen as the work of evil-doers, but according to what is displayed in the gameplay, they might actually have a point. It only takes a few dozen animals to stomp hard enough to move an item weighting 100 tons, and knock over skyscrapers. If such a force existed, I'd want to contain and separate them from amassing into a destructive group. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3760495070 [h1]Visuals[/h1] Because the setting is focused so much on cities with skyscrapers, the tall buildings get in the way of your vision. It's kind of annoying, needing to adjust the camera due to an unfortunate impact from the setting, when you otherwise could move freely without objects obstructing your view. The map shows your targets and where you can acquire more animals, but it doesn't display where enemies or other hazards are, which would have been helpful. I'm also not positive that animals on skyscrapers show up on the map. Regardless, considering the title, you often can't see the theoretically animals very well because of the overhead view. Even when you can, I wouldn't exactly call them adorable, as their massive eyes aren't to proportion. Since they all stand upright, and the rest of their bodies aren't a unique fit with their heads, it's probably less disturbing to assume they're people wearing masks. [h1]Sound Design[/h1] With the idea of anarchy in mind, I would have anticipated the music being composed of hard rock or metal, as that's such a classic combination for rebellion. I understand that cuteness might dampen this pairing, but the alternative wound up leading to forgettable tunes. To me, they sound like bland pop songs. At least the music changes for each main area you play through, such as Tokyo and Paris. The instrumentation used for each place also seemed to incorporate something that would match it. For instance, the song for Paris included an accordion, and the synthesizer in Miami reminded me of coastal locations. On the negative side, all of the music is between 45 and 90 seconds long, so they loop quite quickly. Normally, this would have been quite a problem, but since any given level is finished in only a few minutes, it's less of an issue here. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3760509060 [h1]Pros[/h1] 🌟 If you take a bit of time to get more allies and weapons, as well as carefully avoiding hazards, it makes levels easier. 🌟 Levels are on the small, short side. [h1]Cons[/h1] ❌ What the mob is capable of is fairly basic, leading to the gameplay feeling routine and stale. There's not much to vary up what you do on any given level. ❌ Numbers aren't really an advantage when trying to navigate precise areas and avoid hazards. ❌ There's no upside to having a variety of animals in your mob. They're all the same. [h1]Tips[/h1] 🔍 If you want to earn S ranks, the scoring system only accounts for the two highest scores. So if you cleared an area very quickly with a large mob, that would count. 🔍 There's usually items scattered all over the place, so you should routinely pick up projectiles for your mob to use. [h1]Final Thoughts[/h1] I went into AC expecting kooky antics and destruction, but wound up having to be more careful trying to protect my weak mob than I expected. Even though you could destroy buildings, unless enemies are nearby, there's no incentive for doing so. You can't even do this as a way to make alternative routes, which seems like a huge wasted opportunity. That's the sort of thing I would have expected to be the main aspect of the game, but facing off against cops is a larger component. If doing so was more satisfying that wouldn't be an issue, yet combat winds up feeling really lackluster. Despite so many people trying out the first level, the clear rate for finishing the second world is just shy of 20%. With gameplay that's not very satisfying, this is a title I can't recommend. [table] [tr] [th]PC Specs[/th] [th]Performance[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Ryzen 2700 RTX 2070 16GB RAM ADATA SSD 1920x1080 [/td] [td]The game ran without incident on default settings. 💖 - AC is healthy [/td] [/tr] [/table]