Fight ´N Rage - Back to the basics

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Hello everyone! In the last entry I talked about several retro style games that belong to the recent wave of “neoclassical” games that have been taking the download services by storm in the recent years, and in this new entry I bring you yet another title that belongs to the same movement and that reaffirms that this recent “thing for the retro” it´s definitely far from being a fashion fueled by all those “nostalgia fighters” out there. The game is called Fight ´N Rage. Let´s see what this new gem of the indie scene has to offer.

Fight ´N Rage is a classic style 2D Beat ´Em Up game created by a single (extremely talented) Uruguayan developer known as Sebastián García. Perhaps for many of the youngest players the Beat ´Em Up genre is just some old and almost extinct concept used by the companies to empty the pockets arcade rats back in the golden era of arcade games, and that served as the foundation for modern classics such as God of War, Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, but for anyone who grew up playing the arcades of the 80s and 90s, the Beat ‘Em Up genre is a genre that spawned timeless classics such as Final Fight, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Alien VS Predator, Knights of the Round, The Punisher or Dungeons & Dragons, classics that helped companies like Capcom to reign almost unanimously in the genre, allowing Osaka’s videogame giant to enter the Valhalla of the videogame industry. Of course, there are many other great titles in the genre, such as Tecmo’s River City Ramson (of which return I already talked about in this blog) and Double Dragon, the “founding fathers” of the genre, or Sega’s Streets of Rage and Golden Axe, however, just like it happened with most of the stuff Capcom was shipping back then, it was undeniable that Osaka´s pixel masters were constantly one step ahead from their competitors. Unfortunately for many of the most veteran players (me included), and just like it happened with many other genres, the rising to power of the domestic systems and the arrival of the back then magical polygonal graphics changed the video game industry landscape radically, gradually plunging the 2D Beat ‘Em Up genre into a crisis that ended up on their almost complete exile from the industry, and although it is true that in the recent years we’ve seen a few good titles such as the charming Castle Crashers, the hilarious Scott Pilgrim or the exquisite Dragon’s Crown, many of them didn´t seem to capture the essence and spirit of the original arcade classics the way Sebatián´s did with Fight ‘N Rage (a title that seems an obvious tribute to the classics FINAL Fight and Streets of RAGE).

As I was saying before, Fight ‘N Rage is a 2D Beat ‘Em Up inspired on the arcade brawlers of the 80s and 90s, so just like we could see in those classics, our objective will consist on making our way through several stages packed with all kind of enemies waiting for us to beat the crap out of them (or in some cases perhaps more like to beat the crap of us). In order to do so (I mean beating the crap out of them), we will be able to choose from among three different characters; a female called Gal, who looks like some kind of hybrid between Street Fighter’s Chun-Li and KoF Mai Shiranui (you will understand when you see “the bouncing”) and whose name seems a parody/tribute the Final Fight’s Guy, a ninja-like character called F. Norris and a “mutant minotaur” called Ricardo. Each of them fits on one of the typical profiles we can find in the Beat ‘Em Up genre, being Gal the quick character, Norris the balanced one and Ricardo the heavy-hitting but slow hulk. Regarding the controls, Fight ‘n Rage makes use of a pretty simple and classical control scheme, with one button used to attack, another to jump and a third button used for the special attacks, which will be one of the key features of the game. We will be able to perform a special attack at any given time, however, we will have to keep in mind that if we perform an special attack when our power gauge it not full, we will lose some health, so learning the guess the right moment to perform a special attack will be one of the key aspects of the gameplay. Another of the key elements that takes Fight ‘N Rage one step further than most games in the genre will be it’s easy to learn but difficult to master combo system, which will allow us to perform huge combos with relative ease, including movements like counters and the above mentioned special attacks, resulting into a combat system rarely seen in the genre that adds a lot of deepness of its gamepay, thus helping the stop the game from becoming too repetitive too fast. And speaking of the feeling of repetition, it is worthy to mention that it is easy to see that Sebastián has been very careful with this aspect of the game, for not only includes stages with several routes (leading to different endings), which really helps to expand the game´s replay value, but these also have include elements that force the player to pay attention to other details other than just punching everything they find in their way, like stages with different high levels that add an always much needed variety in this kind of game, although always inside the obvious limits of the genre. On top of all this, the game will also allow us to use all types of melee weapons that we will be able to find inside the classical barrels, which will also contain all types of food that will allow us to refill our health bar. I know, I know, finding a hamburger inside a barrel doesn´t make much sense, especially for younger players used to the more realistic and “logical” (and I use quotation marks for that is really relative) style of recent games, but like all those who ever played an arcade game will know, when the screen if full of enemies and you are about to bite the dust, logic if the least of your worries, I mean, one of the main characters is a minotaur and we fight against giant humanoid rats and pigs, so I guess finding a burger inside a barrel is not so bad… Finally, it is also worthy to mention that the game will allow us obtain money that we will be able to use to unlock new characters, outfits and game modes, and it also includes an always fun 3-player multiplayer mode, although it only supports local matches (sorry online lone wolves, but it´s time for some good old beer/pizza time with the buddies).

Regarding the graphics, Fight ´N Rage looks exactly as it plays; retro, but a good retro, with detailed and well-animated sprites with a colorful “super deformed” style that really fits with the game´s overall cartoonish charm. It is also worth to mention how fluid everything looks on screen despite displaying quite a number of characters on screen at times, as well as its catchy guitar-based soundtrack.


Fight ‘N Rage is so solid that it is hard to believe that it was fully developed by a single person, it´s definitely not perfect, but it is indeed a great game and I have no doubt that it will be able to deliver everything a fan of the genre could be expecting from a game like this, for its many great qualities turn make of it a worthy successor of the classics that inspired it. Fight ‘N Rage allows Sebastián to join the selective club of “one-man-army developers” like Spanish indie developer Locomalito or American indie developer Jonathan Blow, developers capable of delivering awesome titles all by themselves, proving that sometimes passion can overcome even the hardest of the obstacles, and if he did it once, there is no reason to think he wouldn´t be able to do it again, so it will be interesting to follow this talented developer and see what he might be able to come up with in the future. I personally hope that Fight ´N Rage is just the first of many, for there definitely seems to be a growing demand for this kind of games out there. The game is available on Steam. If you are looking for a good reason to throw some good old pixelated punches and kicks, you should definitely check out Fight ´N Rage, for I´m sure it won´t disappoint. Enjoy!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4BMyKlpJPo