Written By: Patrick Orquia
Title: State of Anarchy: Master of Mayhem
Developer: Sometimes You
Publisher: Sometimes You
Genre: Action, Twin-Stick Shooter, Arcade
Number of Players: up to 1 players
Release Date: August 1, 2018
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Price: $7.99
Also Available On: PS4, Steam, XB1
We have another twin-stick shooter in our hands, and this time, it’s State of Anarchy: Master of Mayhem. The developers themselves say that this game offers “mindless fun” and is exactly what it does.
The art style is reminiscent of the doodles that we did when we are kids: stick figures drawn on a piece of paper, with tiny dots for bullets. And of course, we also do the sound effects ourselves, doing all the “pew-pews” and “booms”. This game has all those. It’s like those doodles and vocalized sounds all mixed into one simplistic yet awesome game, and with it now on the Nintendo Switch, you can take it on the go and play it whenever, wherever, and in short bursts. Of course, you can also play it docked and see it on your TV.
The gameplay is just simple: shoot anyone and everything before they shoot you. Enemies range from simple rioters to drones to tanks to alien motherships and many others. Also, you may see yourself battling in the streets during a level and then find yourself piloting a spaceship shooting at asteroids and then be at an alien planet shooting at, well, aliens, and then back to earth. That’s a big variety of enemies in tandem with different ways to shoot them up. Plus the longer you play and progress into the game, the more the harder to kill the enemies. And also you battle more of them, shooting at you from all directions, while you dodge out of harm’s way. At one point, the screen will just be so filled with enemies that you might have a hard time finding your own character. Luckily, the game also feature a good leveling up system. The more enemies you kill, the more experience points you get, and when you level up, you get to spend skill points on level permanent talents, like running faster or shooting more bullets. You can also spend money (dropped by slain enemies) on weapon upgrades. The more you level up, the stronger your chances in beating a level. Also, after each beaten level allows you to acquire a new weapon. Unfortunately, you don’t get to switch between weapons on the fly: each new weapon replaces your old one and you’re stuck with that until you acquire a new one. This makes some enemies and bosses harder to beat, making you grind a bit as you die multiple times, but eventually, you’ll get the upper hand defeat all of your enemies.
And that’s pretty much it. This game is ideal to play in short bursts and the Switch is built ideally for that kind of gaming style. The game has 48 levels that progressively gets harder as you play more, 60+ weapons to shoot your enemies with, and different upgrades that you can mix and match depending on your play style. Whether you’re on your commute to work or just sitting at home chilling at your couch and you feel the itch to play a video game that lets you shoot everything on the screen, this game on Switch lets you scratch that itch with ease. Be the master of mayhem you have been aching to be since you were a kid. Not ideal to do it in real life, of course, so do it in the next best way possible: in this game, YOU are the master of mayhem.
REPLAY VALUE: Very High
PROS
- Simplistic gameplay with mindless fun
- Ideal to play on the go, and is very ideal on the Switch
- Simplistic yet hilarious art style
- All sound effects are vocalized/done a capella style
- Awesome soundtrack; it has rock, metal, country, and other fast-paced music that complements well with the visuals
- Has a good leveling up system
- Has a good variety in enemies and ways to shoot them
- Has a good variety of weapons
- Vehicle driving is easy to execute
- Smooth animation with no frame rate drops
CONS
- May become too chaotic when there are lots of enemies shown on screen
- Can’t swap weapons on the fly
- No option to use shields
- Has a sharp difficulty spike that kind of forces you to grind
- The gameplay can become too repetitive fast, making the game not ideal for long gaming sessions
RATING: 4/5 doodles and violence-induced giggles
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