Anarchy Reigns

Overview

Anarchy Reigns, known in Japan as Max Anarchy, is a beat 'em up video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the spiritual successor to the Wii video game MadWorld (2009), and was released in Japan on July 5, 2012, in North America on January 8, 2013, in Australia on January 10, and in Europe on January 11.

The player controls one of numerous fighters, each using their own unique moveset to defeat their opponents. The player can also fight other players online in Multiplayer Mode. The game includes separate story campaigns for two characters: the "Black Side" campaign featuring returning MadWorld protagonist Jack Cayman and the "White Side" campaign featuring new character Leonhardt "Leo" Victorion. The stories occur in parallel in an open world, intersecting at various points, before converging in a final "Red Side" campaign unlocked after clearing both.

The game features seventeen playable characters and one additional DLC character. Returning from MadWorld is protagonist Jack Cayman, an agent of the Chaser Guild, who is tasked to find escaped fugitive Maximillian Caxton. Competing with Jack to find and capture Max first is Max's former team, the Strike One unit, made up of villainous leader Nikolai Dmitri Bulygin, female agent Sasha Ivanoff, and reluctant agent Leonhardt "Leo" Victorion. Along with Jack, several other MadWorld characters appear, including former final boss the Blacker Baron and his assistant Mathilda, cyborg bull Big Bull Crocker, and Crimson Dragons clan member Rin Rin.

The game received "mixed or average" reviews on both platforms as reported by the review aggregation website Metacritic. Richard Mitchell of Joystiq praised the Xbox 360 version's good vocal performances, well-designed characters and well-performed story, but criticized the limited combat, irritating matchmaking problem and lack of competitiveness in the multiplayer modes. Mark Walton of GameSpot praised the same console version's satisfying combat, but criticized the story, repetitive single-player missions, lack of fluidity in combat, disappointing visuals, repeated textures and environment, as well as generic character design as he described most characters as "muscular video game guys, or overtly sexualised females". Chris Carter of Destructoid praised the soundtrack as well as the huge variety of playable characters, allowing players to play in every playstyle possible.

Official trailer

Trailer. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Fighting, Hack and slash/Beat 'em up

Developer

PlatinumGames

Publisher

Sega

Platforms

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Age rating

ESRB M

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

Yes

Online multiplayer

Yes

Co op

No

Age ratings

CLASS IND

14

GRAC

19+

CERO

D

ESRB

M

ACB

MA 15+

PEGI

16

Release dates

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 12.9 GB

Playable today

Credits

Region

US