Midnight Fight Express - Not exactly Hotline Miami, but a worthy product

The Beat'em Up genre is always a lottery for both developer and player. Developers need to guess with accents and physics, not to miscalculate with the level of difficulty, players - to choose exactly what will not leave an unpleasant residue.

For example, most players were disappointed in their skills after the teeth-grinding Sifu, and some, on the contrary, lacked the challange in Batman: Arkham series, where the opponents are so polite gentlemen, that they attack only one by one, no matter how many bullies do not act against Batman at once.

Midnight Fight Express is an arcade action game, the same Beat'em up, that has incorporated the best features of movies and similar games, as well as some of the gameplay design ills of the late nineties. But first things first...

"Why not Hotline Miami" or "Plot needs a ticker."

The first thing you should realize is that Midnight Fight Express is not the spiritual successor to Hotline Miami.

The plot of Hotline Miami, despite its lackluster and at times jagged presentation, was one of the fundamental motivators to get through it. The strange, simple, sometimes dramatic, sometimes frightening and sometimes touching story of the first Hotline Miami and the twisted, almost cinematic story of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. If Midnight Fight Express has it all, it's in very small proportions.

Hotline Miami was catchy with its atmosphere, catchy tracks (many of which were added to my playlist as well) and the railtrope style. Even the pauses in Hotline Miami are stylized like the pauses of a movie recorded on VHS tape. Such a subtle hint that the whole game is snuff. I will not give a definition of the word "Snuff", google yourself, not for the faint of heart...

So, if you came to Midnight Fight Express for the atmosphere of Hotline Miami and expect to see the same adult storyline, you're in the wrong place. The storyline of Midnight Fight Express is two heads below, and it is one of the few disadvantages of the game, and even in comparison with Hotline Miami.

The plot of Midnight Fight Express is simple, classic and does not even try to claim the laurels of a scripted masterpiece. Our protagonist's name is Maloy, the game begins with a scene of interrogation of the protagonist by policemen. According to the classics of the genre, Maloy has lost his memory, and the entire upcoming plot is presented as his memories. The catalyst for the mayhem was the invasion of the city by gangs devoid of any humanity. In general, a complete copy of The Ascent, only without the cyberpunk setting... Well, almost.

After every slightly significant scene Midnight Fight Express considers it necessary to burst tons of graphomaniacal text, but the author took this point into account in advance and added the possibility to pass the game without any dialogues at all. All the conventions that you have to keep in mind for an adequate perception of the scenario without losing the thread of the narrative: Maloy receives a parcel with a drone that will accompany him during the course of the game. The drone plays the role of narrator and occasionally brings clarity to what is happening. Maloy, on the other hand, must recall the events of just one night, when he managed to beat the shit out of a hundred of the most unscrupulous scumbags. From psychopathic thugs to game developers to ultra-nationalists to Vladimir Makarov's accomplices from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, he whacked them all.

Good old ultra-violence

But if in terms of story Midnight Fight Express is a bit simple and can not boast an original script, but all that concerns directly fights is implemented at least on the "good". Again, in terms of combat system, a complete divergence from Hotline Miami, so stop comparing.

Midnight Fight Express begins rather blandly, gently leading the player by the hand through the first level, explaining basic mechanics and setting up the blows of not too quick-witted psychopaths. Over time, Maloy will learn not only to quickly shower opponents with blows and heavy lashes, but literally in the course of action to learn techniques of judo, sambo, free-style wrestling, and closer to the middle, and will think of himself as the aforementioned John Wick and Batman in one bottle: the first - the ability to assess the situation lightning quick and use absolutely all available methods to annex the enemies, the other - at some point will hook-a-cat.

It's worth giving Midnight Fight Express its due. There is enough violence in the game to enjoy it: a moderate amount of blood on the screen, X-ray slow motion with broken bones just like in Mortal Kombat, spectacular finishing and quick heads...

At the same time, Midnight Fight Express does not descend into a meaty sadistic fascination, as it was in the now forgotten Manhunt or Hatred. The pleasure here comes not from the ultraviolence in general, but from its presentation, as Maloy gleefully deals with crowds of enemies. It did not do without the movie clichés, where the protagonist disperses the heavily armed SWAT team in the elevator.

But most importantly - the developer did not mess up with the abilities of the protagonist. Kid is not a rickety kid who dies from a bat, but he's not the Hulk throwing tanks at helicopters either. Challenge in the game is present, do not be afraid to set a high difficulty, closer to the end will only become more interesting...

One DevArmy

Midnight Fight Express was developed by only one person - Jakob Dzwinel, but with a lot of support from specialists. Thanks to this Midnight Fight Express has no problems with physics, Motion Capture technology to help...

...However, in some places the work of a lone artist catches the eye. From remarks on the creative aspect: an overabundance of inappropriate references and sometimes wacky decisions "for the sake of hilarity".

Note on the technical execution: some individual levels in the game are noticeably more difficult than others. And the saddest thing is that the author did not take into account one nuance of the isometric camera from above - approaching the wall, which faces the player's eyes, this same wall must become at least translucent. Without this nuance, the Maloy, who has been driven into the lower left corner, becomes an easy target, a corpse, and the through silhouettes do not help in this case.

Not without a tribute to the classics, Jacob decided to diversify the already dynamic gameplay with additional conditions. So on the level in the subway, there is a risk of being hit by a rushing car, and on the level where the opponents will be the firemen, Little gets knocked down by a hose run. What's more, if the levels refer back to the mid-nineties gameplay design - levels with chases. At one point, Midnight Fight Express makes you feel pleasantly nostalgic for Fighting Force...

...From there to Midnight Fight Express also moved the balance problems, when the opponents on the vehicles humiliated the player until he somehow miraculously played better than any South Korean and did not build in front of the injustice of the game. Okay, if Midnight Fight Express was a game about hardcore, but because Midnight Fight Express about the drive and the dynamics, and ten attempts to pass the same place throws off this same dynamics.

But no problem, Midnight Fight Express has 40 levels, everyone will find at least 5-6 favorite ones. For each level the player gets 1 skill point and swings one of the holds of his choice. It is true that Jakob screwed up a bit here too - some moves are noticeably better than others, and for the cancellation of the selected skill the experience point is not returned to the player; therefore, you will have to use useless skills for some time, until you try all their variety in practice.

Is Midnight Fight Express worth buying?

If you play on Xbox, Midnight Fight Express is practically free for you, it's in the GamePass subscription. With this console, you can spare an evening or two for this game, you'll have fun. Buying it on PlayStation will cost you on the order of $15, which is a bit pricey for a game like this. A PlayStation player should only be recommended Midnight Fight Express if you're bored with the Beat'em Up genre. On the PC, the purchase would cost about $5, which is more like an attractive proposition.