Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Website: https://tonightweriot.com/ Price: $15 on GOG / Itch.io
Blurb: “tonight we riot is a revolutionary crowd brawler about worker liberation and lobbing molotovs at mech suits & crazy bosses!“
and
“In a dystopia where wealthy capitalists control elections, media, and the lives of working people, we’re faced with two choices – accept it or fight for something better. (Isn’t that what we have now???? -E)
Tonight We Riot doesn’t have just one hero. Instead, you play as a movement of people whose wellbeing determines the success of your revolution.”
Time to don our socialist big girl pants and take on the PoPo!!
The first thing I want to talk about is the sound. I let the intro play all the way through and waited for the melody to finish. Go listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Lrw5OOn1Uv - The music is top notch. The synthwave genre takes the retro rumble to a futuristic retro rumble. The game sounds are there and they are okay, I suppose, but I would suggest that you leave the music on. (Honestly, I was expecting Katyusha or something similar, so the music was the surprise).
With that out of the way, what is Tonight We Riot? In essence, it is a beat-em-up where you are the flag runner. Somehow it reminds me of ‘river city ransom’, another pixelated beat-em-up. You move from left to right on the screen and beat up any cops in your way, to liberate the workers. After you have liberated all the workers in one section, you will reach the end and the rich bosses will flee in terror. You will get rated on how well you did and how many of your followers survived. That is the main game loop. Every level, there are new enemies and new weapons, to keep things interesting. It is not only the police and the wealthy that are your enemies. The terrain can be an enemy too, so choose your path well. Objects on screen can be moved or destroyed, the choice is yours, but again, realise that an exploding propane tank will kill anyone near it. Your progress is measured on an overhead map, a-la Mario. You can skip a level at any time and go directly to the next.
This is a single-player game or a two-player game. You and your partner in crime or fellow revolutionary, get to wield weapons and fists as well as projectiles. Every so often you will encounter some helpful bricks or Molotov cocktails on the road. You can earn weapons by keeping your followers alive, things like baseball bats or wrenches. That said, you better not die either. You have the standard health bar and weapons type indicator. If you die, another revolutionary takes over, until none are “left” or left…
Different weapons on either side have different effects, for instance, tear gas will make your crowd disperse, where bullets will kill them. Not everything is static as you move from left to right either, vans filled with riot police will ride onto the screen and offload some cops. Water cannons will counter your ranged attacks. Now even if this is a cheeky game, with lots of violence and killing cops, one should remember to take it with a pinch of salt. (When you want to hit a dog, you will find a stick).
Though there is an option to play this game by keyboard, I would suggest getting a controller, as this was designed around a controller. It is meant to be a fast paced, beat-em-up, endless runner, and this is where a gamepad shines. It is not that the game is unplayable with the keyboard, far from it, the better option here is just mindlessly mash your buttons and bumpers.
The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag for me; some of the pixel art is gorgeous and some looks very lazy. Especially the characters. They look like an afterthought that is stuck between 8-bit an 16-bit graphics. Some of the stages and vehicles have a really stunning look to them, and others are not so good. Somewhere along the line you even have a dog join your cause. It would have been spectacular if there was more detail; at the moment, the dog reminds me of Snoopy, badly drawn. The news is a nice touch and advances the story as you play. The shiny news anchors and other characters are well drawn.
The game is challenging, and not for those with OCD. You cannot save all your comrades all the time. Though you can try, I suggest you do not worry too much; the pixelated murder, and mayhem, should just be part of the background noise, while you enjoy the ruckus. It is a barrel of fun, nonetheless, so whip out those capitalist dollars and buy this game. Trust me, you will have a riot, one way or another. *wink. I have the GOG version, and everything worked great as expected on Ubuntu. Touch wood, but so far I haven’t had an issue with the GOG installer on Ubuntu 14 through 18.
The question now remains, is it worth the $15. Well if you are in a country where fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks, sure. The thing is if you are in another country, where fifteen bucks is two hundred bucks, then maybe not. Try to look for regional pricing.