Max Anarchy [360/PS3] review

[fuse]

We definitely need a thread for this - US and UK versions (under the title 'Anarchy Reigns') are currently stuck in publishing limbo, with Sega cancelling their previous street date. Japanese version is out though, fully localised with English text and voices, and totally region-free on both consoles.

It's a 3D brawler from Platinum, but instead of having the one character with lots of modification to play with (a la Bayonetta) you've instead got a whole host of characters to unlock and play as, who each have their own styles, moves, and "killer weapon" to work combos around. You can hold two items at a time too, and these range from rocket launchers and rifles to invisibility power-ups and shields.

Campaign sees you pick either the 'Black' or 'White' side - you end up doing both though, in a Resi 2-esque Leon/Claire type of interchange. Perhaps most interesting though is the inclusion of multiplayer - I understand this goes up to 8 player. I've not had a chance to play this yet, but am looking forwards to it a lot.

I finished it yesterday and thought it was good; really good - and it's real shame that it's not going to be out here for ages. I'm hoping to try hard mode soon to see how that stacks up, but I'm also wanting to play some MP with people too. Who else is in?

[eastyy]

what is the single player mode like ? i was really worried they sacrificed the single player mode for multiplayer

[fuse]

I thought (like you it seems) that it was primarily a multiplayer game with single player completely missing, but I came away pleasantly surprised. It's not a long campaign but it's not short either; there's four main 'hubs' that you move through, with each having 3 story missions and 3 'free' missions for each 'side'. The story's nothing amazing but as a vehicle for introducing each of the characters and what they do, it's passable and fun enough.

The missions have a fair bit of variety and for the most part are good - you open more up by reaching certain scores, and this can be done either in the missions or by just beating people up in the hub. If you're happy to just hang around beating people up then it's easy to spend ages bumming about in the hubs; there's loads of enemies, they respawn, and there's also events that can happen too - like a big enemy might come, a black hole might open, a twister might start. Even without MP I feel like I've got my money's worth.

[BaronSqwelch]

YesAsia seem to think my shipping date is August 1st. If that is true I will see you online on the 14th. But am more likely to see no-one online in October...

[Riskbreaker]

I kept intending to make a thread for this but you've beat me to it. Been playing the PS3 version myself. Can't comment much on the single player as I've barely put a dent in it, on the the flip side, multiplayer has been a huge amount of fun. Most of my games so far have been against Japanese players so there's lag to take into account which never works in your favour for any type of versus game. Despite that most matches are as entertaining as they can be frustrating. Played over a mix of the games stages it's not just other players that you have to contend with, airstrikes, out of control vehicles, dangerous obstacles and bosses all make an appearance. Stages are littered with makeshift weapons, vehicles and signposts can be used to batter opponents; explosive barrels, gas canister and tires can be used to stun your opponents. Meanwhile, airdrops and slot machines dish out power ups to those that reach them first.

What this amounts to is that some game types have a tendency to feel like a bit of a clusterf#@*, and versus matches are as much about location as they are fighting prowess. You can be top tier but if you pick a fight in a crowd you'll wind up dead soon as the rest. For me as long as I'm not always on the receiving end (it does happen) it's wildly entertaining.

But the biggest time sink has been the Survival mode. It's the Anarchy Reigns version of Horde mode co-op with 2 other players or with AI, 10 minutes, 10 waves, faster the finish, the bigger the bonus for the leaderboards. It's strangely cathartic running around trying to batter everything as quickly as possible.

And I have to give props to the soundtrack, it matches the game perfectly.



You know you're kicking ass when this starts playing.

Platinum also deserve kudos for the inclusion of AI across all of the multiplayer modes. While not as apt as human players it's a welcome inclusion.

Import players can go here for an extra game mode:

http://maxanarchy.jp/bar/

Click on menu at the bottom and play the High and Low game until you get 500 points then click download. The 500 point link gives you a 360 or PS3 code for DLC that adds the Max Survival mode. Similar to the survival mode it instead pits you against the games characters over 5 rounds and is a good deal of fun.

[chopemon]

Looking forward to digging into this at some point this week.

Do you know how to redeem the Bayonetta code on 360? It doesn't download from the UK marketplace, can I download it on a Japanese account and have her show up when I play with my UK profile?

[Riskbreaker]

Can only say that for the PS3 one you have to download it from the Japanese PSN and it then works across all the PSN accounts. I've read that it works that way for 360 but I'd get someone to confirm it first

[fuse]

Yep, it works fine. In short, if you download anything from Xbox Live then it's DRM'd for that console and that account, in this case meaning if you log in as your J-profile (that downloaded it) on another machine you're ok to use the DLC, or if you use the UK account (that didn't download it) on the same console you did download it on originally then you're good too.

[Goemon]

Yea, was just gonna say the same thing.
The only time it becomes a problem is when you are switching consoles...

I have an UK and JPN machine...I DLed some content on my JPN account on my JPN console. I then moved to my English console, redownloaded the DLC with my JPN account but my UK account can't see it. :facepalm:

[chopemon]

Thanks guys, worked fine.

I got through the tutorials and started exploring the first area last night.

Hot damn, not even scratched the surface but I love it. I was expecting Power Stone type arenas, not a big area with roaming enemies and quests and random events. Really looking forward to playing more and throwing down against some proper enemies.

Speaking of throwing down, no one in the world was online last night. When have you guys found is a good time to play? Can we get an evening going next week for a 360 meet up online?

[Riskbreaker]

Late I've always found is best. Normally I don't get US games until 1/2AM, Europe always seems to be quiet. That said I can pretty much always find a game with Japanese players, but I'm on PS3. With any luck you should have better luck finding US based matches on the 360.

[BaronSqwelch]

So....I came for God Hand 2...I got a musou game with added mega monster bosses.

Played the first 2 chapters on the black side. Initially I hated it but its growing on me. Some really annoying parts (the Parasite control level in Ch2 is stupidly frustrating)

Once I got used to blocking more instead of trying to evade everything its got a lot more playable...but sometimes the stuff thrown at you is really unfair!!

Like the big open levels/mini hubs and finding the safes but again, what is the point of the carpet bombing/poisongas/microwave array attacks? Most seem unavoidable but all that happens when you die is an instant respawn in the same place and you pick your items straight back up. Just to be annoying it seems.

Soundtrack is good and so are the graphics/character designs but its got that muddy/foggy look like all japanese games seem to have lately. Its worse here than Binary Domain and Yakuza Dead Souls.

*edit* Have finished the Black side now. Difficulty level is all over the place...things like the Super Mutant kicks your ass yet the final boss was so easy I got my first PERFECT against him!

Did enjoy it more as it went on, and after a brief play on the WHITE side the different character seems to be more my style of play.

[S3M]

Well my PAL copy arrived today thanks to Shopto, seems more like a sequel to MadWorld more than God Hand. Enjoyed what I played so far old school scrolling beat'em up fun. The Hub and mission based structure takes a little getting used to but I quite like it, found the game to be quite easy even on hard at the moment.

However can't say I'm impressed with the blur fliter they have used on the game, it looks a bit rubbish even at 1080p on the Xbox360!! Also the mutliplayer is a huge little down why the **** doesn't this game feature offline local co-op? Me and my bro's were hoping to do some scraping together, but it appears Platinum Games don't quite get the core rule of fighting games, never play alone. This is their third attempt at one and they still haven't included co-op!

Despite my complains it's still well worth a pickup at ?20.

[saturn-gamer]

I enjoy the full game more than the terrible Beta. I do think its a bit **** though. I mean if you put it into perspective the graphics are mediocre, single player is short and cheap, online play is broken and its netcode and menus are ****ty... kind of a dealbreaker considering this thing should not be bought for its single player. So far releasing this for a reduced price is exactly what the should've done, any more and I would feel ripped off.

My voucher didn't even work.

[teddymeow]

I'm enjoying it.

I actually quite like the chunky graphical style. There's some nice effects too.

Nor finding it terribly hard on Normal though I had a couple of issues with the mutants as I was trying to be all cool and evade when really I should just block.

?20 is a fair price. I can't see me playing much MP but I look forward to playing more SP.

EDIT: The soundtrack is funkin' amazing!