Anarcute

Anarcute is a game set in a brightly coloured dystopia where corporations have taken over most of the world, brainwashing the police and controlling the media. The goal is to gather and control a crowd to lead riots, take out opponents and complete objectives to overthrow the dictatorship and free the world. As the title suggest it is not a grim game, it focuses on cute characters with comedy elements. The game consists of five locations (Tokyo, Paris, Reykjavik, Miami and Anarland) with several missions for each one. Between missions there are often animated cut-scenes that reveal more about the story and the setting. The game uses elements from the Katamari games as objects are absorbed in the sense that can be picked up by crowd members, there is the element of controlling a large group of characters like in the Pikmin games, and the ability to let individual crowd members act or receive different powers based on the crowd size and for the entire group as in The Wonderful 101.

Levels are small environments with some freedom to choose a path. There are objectives such as disabling antennas, destroying buildings or raising protest flags. Usually the player controls a group of protesters that can be steered in any direction. At the start the group is usually small, but more rioters can be gathered by locating cages and freeing them, or simply finding groups awaiting your arrival. During enemy encounters crowd members may be defeated and die, so the player needs to manage the group carefully to maintain a large size as there is no way to restore health. Although small in number, there are a few missions based on stealth and avoidance where only a single character is controlled. Every location has a boss battle where very different strategies have to be used. All characters of the group are different types of animals and many of them, along with different gear, are unlocked based on certain achievements.

The crowd automatically raises protest signs and bands together. They can be steered to attack, but they can also pick up objects such as statues, trash cans, benches, bikes, phones booths and fire hydrants by walking into them. These can then be launched at enemies to attack them from a distance and they can be picked up again afterwards. In some occasions they are used to solve small puzzles in the environment or to disable mines and traps from a distance. Single-use cars can be picked up and launched, causing an explosion, often needed to get past certain barriers as well. The group can also pick up lasers from defeated robots to attack with them a few times. Enemies have different strategies including lasers and dashes that can kill many members at once. There are also mortars, helicopters, electric turrets and spider robots. Therefore the crowd needs to move all the time and a dash move can be used to escape quickly.

The group size fills a meter on the left side of the screen and this determines what type of group powers are available. With a certain amount of members, the group is able to push away heavy objects by stomping, overthrow entirely apartment buildings with snipers on top, or receive endless projectiles. Other actions become available after attacking, such as the ability to stun opponents for a moment. Great performances and progressing through the game is rewarded with coins. These are used to unlock boosters from a dispenser, used to get a perk for a difficulty level, such as the ability to walk faster or extend the stomp radius. The camera always follows the group, but it is possible to zoom in and rotate. An in-game map is available to keep track of the level lay-out and objectives.