The gaming industry has seen a lot of action-platformers enter the arena, but few do so in ways that stand out from what’s on the market. Anomaly Agent offers up a highly-stylized world to engage with and enemies to interact with. The cyberpunk setting sees you start off learning the ropes about navigating and attacking enemies while slugging, slicing or shooting your way to the next area. There are parkour elements in play as well with various kinds of action-platforming. There are even bits of endless runner-style action blended in to keep things interesting and variety is very much the spice of life in Anomaly Agent.
The core premise is pretty intriguing as you’re just plopped into the role of an agent with no idea of what’s going on around you while a lot of chaotic events unfold. Portals open in mid-air that you can travel through and enemies show up to take you down. Thankfully, you’re able to defend yourself with punches, kicks and even stun foes with a business card or eventually use that same method to slice chains above things that can take out enemies with environmental damage. There’s a flow to the combat and what the Donkey Kong Country series relied on for rhythmic platforming, Anomaly Agent does for its blend of combat and platforming. There’s an ebb and flow to everything that allows the fast-paced mix of not only dealing out damage, but also avoiding it with a blending of rolling and parrying to be not only doable, but fun to learn.
The minute-to-minute action feels a lot like Namco’s classic Rolling Thunder only modernized with a smoother gameplay feel and even tighter controls. It’s very much a game that feels like it would be at home in the ’80s only with more modern-looking graphics and visual flourishes. The mix of offense and defense throughout keeps every section of the game interesting and it’s a well-crafted game across the board. It’s available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.
It isn’t rated as Steam Deck Playable, but does play on the device and is a great pickup for anyone who loves the spirit of an endless runner, but wants something with more action to sink their teeth into. There’s far more variety here than in most games like it and it keeps the action fresh at all times.
