The Best Kind of Rage
This indie game was developed by Hollow Robot. The premise of Office Freakout is simple. You are Phillbert, who has had enough. The goal of the game is to cause as much destruction as possible. This is done through punching, hitting, throwing anything and everything in each level.
After being dropped into a level there will be a timer that starts. From there the havoc ensues. You can move around freely and begin the destruction. As items are destroyed, if you keep a good pace you can fill the ‘rage meter’ that will send you into a Rage. The Rage mode has upgrade items, like getting a bat that you can use to destroy items instead of just your firsts. By keeping the Rage meter up and refilling it, there are more upgrades that will come to help ensure the destruction.
Meet Phillbert
During the level there will also be a tier system for points. Reaching the first tier unlocks the key that will be needed to exit the level and officially complete it. Once the key appears, it will be in an item that needs to be destroyed. A compass will be in the corner to guide players in the right direction. I would usually go for the key as soon as it appeared, just going towards it and continuing my destruction as I go. I preferred this because it allowed me to focus on keeping the pace. And since it was needed to end the level properly, I did not want to lose track and need to run to find it with only a few seconds lefts on the clock.
The items that do show up in Rage mode can be customized and changed as you unlock them from the menu. There are also be customization options for your fists and the look of the office. These customizations will need to be unlocked through clearing levels, meeting level goals, leveling up, and completing tasks. Tasks will involve something like destroy X number of chairs. The tasks run in the background and crossover to all the levels, meaning there’s no struggle to get it finished within a single run of a level.
Leveling up is done through the points you gather at the end of each level. The point system has multiple levels: Pass Bonus, Emergency Exit, Times in Rage, Bonus Rage Points, Throw Points, Destroyed Objects, Destruction Bonus. The combination will comprise the total of your score. One pointer I do want to give is to play through each level at least twice. If you are looking to get more points and more levels, by going in a second time you’ll have more knowledge to the layout. And in the level there are some Special items that sparkle. Picking up and using them can allow for more destruction, like a spray can acts like a grenade when used.
The music has a quick beat and as the Rage meter builds the pace of the music will quicken. This seemed like a nice touch so it wouldn’t have to be looked at all time. Just by listening to the music players could tell that they’re getting close. The only issue to the music is that there is not a lot of variety. Nothing I would like to spend long period of time on.
I did find some bugs that could, and hopefully will, be fixed. I had some issues with the framerate and picture quality. It goes bad with more destruction going on the screen, but that is the entire point of the game. Then, in later levels, the game starts to add in obstacles that will make rampaging through the office more difficult. It does provide more difficultly to game, but felt a hindrance to the real fun of the game being about the destruction.
Another larger issue came from loading up the game after playing through some levels one day. When loading it up the next day, all the levels I had unlocked were gone. This might have been an error with an update, but it was still really disheartening. Finally, when watching the unskippable tutorial (for a second time) the voice over explaining the mechanics did not match the images that were showing on the screen. This might be another item that got hurt in the update since I remember it playing properly the first time.
This is a game that I really feel is a great game to get into and blow off steam for a few levels. Just gives players the chance to cause destruction. There are likely many people who have had a day of just frustration and misery. A day where throwing and punching something would feel great, but paying for that damage… not so much. This games comes as a relief to the rage by giving it an outlet, with a dose small dose of humor to help brighten the mood too.