Tonight We Riot is not the game you’re thinking of. Yes it has the premise of rioting, and there are tons of games with this kind of dramatic premise and deep storyline. this game is not it.
It’s actually a sidescrolling brawler like Streets of Rage. with the addition of “units” like Lemmings or Patapon (anyone remember that game?) and throwing weapons and the likes. kinda what happens if you mix a brawler into a party game. You can play up to 2 players in a local co-op
You start from the left as the leader of the revolution (aka the riot team). start with a few people. you liberate buildings along the way and recruit more people that way. you fight riot police. drones, and later on you meet weirder enemies like chainsaw farmers, a Crab robot, Mech suits, a giant mutant alien squid, and apparently a building that turn into a giant robot. Throughout a bunch of stages like midtown, factories, a bridge, the woods, basically where people usually riots.
Every stage basically represents a “riot”. and every stage you control a different character. such as factory riot, city riot, bunch of farmers rioting against… well. you get the idea. After a couple stages you get to fight a giant boss. Once you finish the game you get to unlock the Endless mode. basically an endless wave of enemies. And with every stage you beat. you unlock a new weapon to use in later levels. You can also destroy all the things in the environment, gas tanks, cars, etc. just be careful not to accidentally kill your own people in the process.
The music is retro synth, industrial, and overall. very retro. reminiscent of well.. er… retro. Graphic is a fun 16-bit pixel style. it’s actually filled with blood and gore, but kinda hard to see any of it with the tiny cute little people jumping around.
Apparently there’s some kind of social commentary or political message, but honestly. whatever it was. it’s just a fun chaotic mess to be had. i dont even care about the whole thing. Especially when your character is doing a dragon punch with a wrench.
The charm of this game is in the chaos. once you get enough followers and fight a large number of riot police and such. the screen will be filled of explosion, fire, things thrown around, and beatdown. this is where you forget strategies and just mash buttons. fun!
All in All. it’s a fun game that left me wanting more of it. i hope they do add more stages or such in the future. it’s a good 8/10 from me.
