Jan 12, 2023
Happy New Year to you! This is the first episode of 2023.
I just finished Midnight Fight Express and had a great time with it.
I played it at home after work for 30-60 minute sessions. I didn't follow the story as I would listen to podcasts in the background while playing. However, the enjoyment of the presentation and the game, beating up the bad guys(& girls), and unlocking new fight moves kept me going.
The game has a New Game plus type mode where after you beat it, you can select levels and replay them with all your new unlocked skills while skipping the cut scenes(if you wish). Very convenient, and I wish more games would do this. Another great feature is the easy-to-use photo mode. The player can pause the game and take a picture of their current progression. I loved using this feature, especially in Remedy Entertainment's 2019 game Control. Afterward, sharing these images on my social feeds is fun.
(SPOILER)I was satisfied with the ending as the heroes (your character and a talking drone that follows you throughout the game) look at a sunset while both mortally wounded. I was left to assume they died after.
The Scorpion Queen boss was where I got stuck for some time. Finally, out of frustration, I put the controller down, watched a gameplay video on Youtube for this particular section, and eventually beat her.
I found a great article discussing the tropes inside this game compared to past beat-em-ups, movies, and TV shows(see that article here). Such as going up an elevator and fighting your way to the last boss, beating up a biker gang, and even fist-fighting zombies. Here's a link to that article. The bosses and villain intros were fun too. One was an overweight mid-boss called 'Smiley' who looked like the DC Comics Joker character.
The website howlongtobeat.com says the game is about 6 hours long, which is perfect. As a working adult, I have limited time to game, but I want to play more often. These 5-10-15 hour games are perfect to chip away a little at a time. I want to complete and discuss more games, but 40-50+ hour commitments are too much unless they are compelling. Thanks to Xbox's Game Pass service and the How-long-to-beat website, shorter, excellent games are readily available.
If you're a fan of beat-em-ups, side-scrolling brawlers like Streets of Rage, with a combat style similar to the Batman-Arkham games, Midnight Fight Express is for you.
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