At Gamescom 2021, developer Jacob Zwinel and publisher Humble Games unveiled a fresh trailer for the isometric action game Midnight Fight Express. The videos are bloody and spectacular with the use of weapons to electronic music.
There is very little in the game other than combat, Midnight Fight Express is essentially a modern beat’em-up in which the usual 2D side-scrolling sprites are replaced with 3D fistfights.
You are Babyface, a former criminal gang member, and you are lured into your former life by a mysterious artificial intelligence drone. Your seemingly impossible tasks are breaking through the city before dawn and preventing criminals from capturing the entire city. The main character can strike with his fists and kicks and use objects of the environment – for example, take a barrel and throw it at opponents. Help destroying enemies at close range is capable of a whole arsenal of melee weapons. Bats, boards, bags, guns – everything is involved in the game.
There are also enough guns in the game: in the latest trailer, you can see pistols, machine guns, submachine guns, a rocket launcher, and much more. The protagonist can sometimes combine shooting and acrobatic skills. The variety of locations in the project deserves special attention – a new nightclub is expected to appear, in the backyards of some buildings, in a casino, and on the carriages of a moving train.
Gameplay
On the darkest night in the city, an unexpected hero appears.
Motion capture
Jacob Dzvinel led a very small team and created something pretty damn cool. The motion capture work from the SuperAlloy Interactive team sells brutal hand-to-hand combat in a way that big-budget games have struggled with at times.
There’s more, but the game does a great job of slowly introducing you to each new mechanic early on, although some didn’t show up until the last half of the game. Combat itself feels fantastic after a few updates, and the animations associated with your parry and finishing abilities have become especially frustrating. A mix of melee and ranged combat keeps it feeling fresh.
Enemies
The appearance of the enemies is very diverse, but their behavior is almost the same. Standard types: one that can’t block, then one step up that can block but can’t dodge, elites that have learned to roll over to avoid you, and a top that can do whatever you can. There are enough enemies in the game, and even on the normal difficulty level, they can be a good headache.
Customization
I liked how many different skins he has, and each time the bulkiness of a fighter indicates how difficult or easy it will be to defeat. Later, some enemies will appear that can kill you in one unavoidable move, which was a problem during the ten or so minutes I spent on the level. Outside of this area, everything looked well balanced at the default difficulty level. Another area where the game shines is in the options. There are a few presets, but you can customize your experience and change things like your character’s health, enemy aggression, how long you can use focus, and more.
Skills & Updates
The game has a basic development system in which, after each stage you get one ability point. Some abilities are limited by the number of levels you complete, but by the end you will unlock them all. Cosmetics are tied to cash you earn on missions at a reasonably generous rate, and you can customize your psychopath with a very wide variety of both skins and slot items.
Your move repertoire quickly expands as you climb each branch of the skill tree, and this is where Midnight Fight Express starts delivering more fun. Your basic attacks evolve, including ground slams, vicious uppercuts, and force slides that knock enemies down. You also gain access to a rope that allows you to drag unfortunate enemies towards you or throw them around to knock their buddies off their feet. There is also a single-shot revolver that uses non-traditional types of ammunition, including electric bullets and homing mines.
Music
Another critical point in the game is the music, which feeds adrenaline non-stop. Even when missions are only 3 or 4 minutes long, sometimes my focus was as high as it could be, in large part due to the frenetic tempo of the music. Artist Noisecream’s work on the soundtrack is just excellent.
What do we end up with?
If you like games like: Hotline Miami, John Wick, Police Stories, and Party Hard, you should try this game.
Midnight Fight Express leans heavily on its deep combat system but doesn’t create an interesting enough sandbox to encourage players to make the most of it. While I had a bit of fun during my five-hour playthrough, its wacky story, combined with forgettable locations and music, dampen an otherwise good beat ’em up.
The game relies heavily on its deep combat system but doesn’t create an interesting enough sandbox to encourage players to make the most of it, as it ends with a simple X press.
