2024-02-04 09:30:10
Anomaly Agent is a beat ‘em up Eighties cyberpunk, with all the action and music of the time.
Phew Phew Games is a Turkish developer created by two brothers who love video games, and it shows. Anomaly agent is his first job. Respira 16 Bits in its design although the mechanics are updated and well implemented.
When the 80s were the future.
The idea of cyberpunk is both vintage and futuristic. It’s a rooftop from 80’s New York with more neon (if possible), flying cars and some mechanical arms. Anomaly Agent has all this and a story that he could have starred in Stallone o Bruce Willis.
The player plays an agent for TDAY, the office in charge of space-time anomalies. One last mission and you’ll be promoted and can rest in your chair eating donuts and reading reports. But that mission gets complicated (who would have thought) and ends up trapped in a time loop being attacked by a group of bad guys and their army of clones. The story has its merits but it does not leave aside the humor and the inconsequentiality of what it tells in favor of fun.
It has a pixel art aesthetic that fits wonderfully and a character design from multiple recognized references, from Cowboy Bebop until Matrix. A detail that I loved: For the presentation of main characters, another type of design is also saved that matches perfectly with the game, giving it more definition. In the end we don’t see faces and we need a bigger push for the imagination, the typical art that was left for instruction notebooks.
An environment like this sounds like synthesizers and music increscendo. It sounds like a disco full of neo-tobacco smoke and sweaty biomechanical bodies. All mixed with action. And so Anomaly Agent crushes your ears. It has the best soundtrack an old cyberpunk action game could have. In this section it is worth mentioning. We are all ready to return to the past.
Arcade 16 Bits en 2024.
It’s not just the pixel that takes you to another era. The agent always moves in scroll lateral (o vertical) jumping on different platforms to blast the hordes of enemies that appear from portals. In this sense, it mixes the two concepts little: screens (yes, screens) that are about escaping through agility and others that are only about destroying clones with punches and weapons that they leave along the way. Of course then it gets complicated, the way a cartridge or an arcade used to get complicated: insanely.
But we are in 2024 and what worked then now seems artificially difficult and the consumer has played more. This is where Anomaly Agent takes it for a spin. Everything is more difficult, it is measured so that it gives you the feeling of impossible but that in some of the attempts the game clicks and you see the matrix. In fact, the combat at first is frustrating because it does not go at the speed we are used to, the parry is difficult to handle and in my case, the configuration of the buttons did not favor me. This can be changed, and by the end of the trip I was enjoying each room like a Kung Fu master.
He adds a few combos and skills that make the very fluid combat (in its tempo) and a skill tree to spend money on and increase your damage. Here I find a flaw and it is that the skills you buy are mostly to improve firearms. It is not well compensated with the rest of the skills that in my case I used more.
I said screens before and yes, it has screens. Each phase ends with its final boss, as it should. But these phases are in turn divided into screens or rooms that, when you overcome them, restore your life. It also happens during the different boss stages. It draws powerful attention, but the game is really demanding. The number of attempts per room is high since Sometimes you have to stop and think about where you start to distribute. Because, like in the old days, the enemy does not wait his turn and two launch their super attack at you at the same time.
Conclusions.
In case you don’t know, we have a Telegram group in which we talk about what we play. The comment about finishing a dense game and then starting another long game has already been repeated. Anomaly Agent can be the perfect pass between wells of hours. But not because it is simple, but because it is fun and challenging at the same time, without wanting you to immerse yourself in a complicated story. Even with its New Game + it can stay for a while. It is a very enjoyable game in all its sections, especially as soon as you find the tempo of the combat. Finding yourself in a hallway full of enemies is a familiar feeling. With Anomaly Agent it is very pleasant. A challenge only suitable for you. The music goes up. It’s time to share.
Anomaly Agent
14,99€
Pros
- Music
- Combat
- funny dialogues
Cons
- Undercompensated Skill Tree
- Until you get into combat it can be frustrating
- The platforms part is very simple.
#ANOMALY #AGENT #ANALYSIS #LOOP