It’s lamentable that Fight’N Rage’s main lead, simply named Gal, sways her inflated breasts practically out her dress. That’s just when she’s standing around. It’s obnoxious. Fight’N Rage doesn’t ignore the overall sleaze of its world though. Humans stomp on anthropomorphic animal foes, brawling in a ghastly place where slathering pigs and seedy wolves attack. This is less a gang war – the traditional beat-em-up setting – than it is about punishing human slime, depicted as carnivorous animals. Seeing a pig attempt to force himself on a woman, belly first, is crude, yet thematically striking. A fly, wearing itty boxing gloves, captures the inhumanity of predators. The snappy, satisfying combos used to punish them feels inherently right as in the best revenge stories.

This isn’t an angry fight; it’s furious. In motion and movement, Fight’N Rage practically sets itself ablaze. Over zealous contrast and deepened shadows lend the aesthetic intense pop, further granting Fight’N Rage a sense of fury.

Outside of character design, there’s minimal sense of Fight’N Rage setting off on its own. The litany of homages and references, from an expected elevator ride to a final boss mirroring Double Dragon’s Willy (and Streets of Rage’s Mr. X), there’s a tug-and-pull between evolution and homage. Neither side wins out, but in the middle sits a fierce, brutal story of feminine revenge, offset by the insistence on sexualization.

4/5