Anger Foot reminded me of my love for console games

Over the weekend, I sat down to play a bit of Anger Foot on my PC. The game’s quirky mix of shooting and kicking always had a certain appeal, but I was worried it might be a cheap gimmick, a joke that went on too long. But after my colleague Andrew King’s rave review, I decided to give it a go. As I booted up my PC, I reached for my Xbox Series X/S controller. As I rummaged under the desk for a cable to plug it in, I realized I’d grabbed a PS5 USB-C cable.

As I sat there with my Xbox controller connected to my PC with a PlayStation cable and my wrists resting on my Pokemon wrist rest, I thought to myself, “How evolved are you?” I’m above the console war, not concerned about the brand war of mere mortals, just floating above it, carefree and wise. Then I played a level of Anger Foot and thought, “Damn, I wish this was on PlayStation.”

What makes a great console game?

This isn’t an argument that Anger Foot is better on console. It’s just that the console experience – big TV, comfy sofa, not in the room I work in – is far superior to the PC experience for me. I rarely play games on PC unless I have to, but since Anger Foot is PC exclusive, I have to.

I know some games are better on PC due to the greater control the mouse offers and the better graphics performance of extremely high-end machines. I also know what it means to be a “Switch game” and to a lesser extent a “Steam Deck game”. Portability means you can take games on the go, where some of them go down well, or snuggle up close to them on the sofa, feeling their warmth against your body and breathing in their musky scent as you explore all their untouched secrets and make their fans moan… wait, I’m just being told I’m just a nutcase about that last part.

The point is, I agree that some games are better on PC. And I agree that some games are better on Switch. I’m not sure I can really argue that any particular game is better on a dedicated home console. All I know is that I’d rather play any game in the world on console. As I said, I’m not really concerned with Anger Foot. I’m concerned with the nature of the console war.

I don’t take sides in the console war. I have so little to do with the game that I lose a little respect for people who care about which color console sold more units in New Zealand in March 2023, as if that statistic justifies their purchase, their many tattoos of company logos, and their decision to name their kids Joel and Ellie. Playing a PC game with accessories from all three major consoles made me grin a little, knowing how silly people are to worry about that.

The console war makes sense, even if we don’t like it

And yet, soon after I started playing the game, I found myself wishing I played differently. Not even because of anything the game did. Just because. It was important to me, even if it was silly. Ultimately, a lot of it comes down to that. There’s no real reason I wanted to play on console, I just enjoy it more. For the same reason, I prefer the color orange to the color yellow, beef to lamb, action to comedy, cats to dogs. I just do it.

I realize that having a good enough PC to play most games on, a PS5, an Xbox Series S, and a Switch doesn’t give me the typical gamer experience. Most people have to choose, like I had to my whole life before entering this profession. I missed out on the Xbox, PS3, GameCube, and Wii U (dodged bullets), and had to sell my Xbox 360 to buy a PS4 when I realized the Xbox One was the wrong horse. When you have to make that choice, you want to feel like you made the right choice. Right choice, and so Team Green versus Team Blue becomes part of your identity.

Last generation, PlayStation won hands down. Exclusive games became the battleground and Xbox had no answer. This generation, Xbox seemed to take the lead with easy access while Sony’s games seemed to dry up, but the death rattle of Game Pass echoes louder in the still largely empty gap where Xbox should have been stuffing its good exclusives by now. It feels like neither console is truly dominating, and it will be interesting to see how that affects the console war going forward.

The ideal hope is that everyone will put down their tools and embrace each other – a hug as hot and loud as when you hold your Switch to your chest at night and feel it purr at your fingertips… fine, I’ll stop. But the point is, we’ll always have favorites. People will always gravitate towards a preference and will always defend that preference because that’s how people tick. The console war is unavoidable. At least not until we join forces to defeat the evils of PC gaming…

Anger Foot

Anger Foot is a wild first-person action game where you kick and shoot your way through a city full of gangsters and cool beats. It’s fast-paced, with plenty of shoes and secrets to discover.

Approved

July 11, 2024

developer

Free Life