Foul Play

70%
Game Brain Score Based on 256 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • graphics
Foul Play Game Cover
With great wit and humour, Foul Play is a thoroughly enjoyable brawler that will keep you entertained for a good while.
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In "Foul Play," become the daemon-hunter Baron Dashforth in a side-scrolling co-op brawler set on a theater stage. Perform impressive takedowns and attacks, and use stage-tricks to keep your audience enthralled. Play single-player or with a friend in local or online co-op, and discover the truth about the mysterious Foul Play. Explore 22 acts, fight over 50 enemies, and learn 12 electrifying stage-tricks. The game features beautifully animated scene changes and a "Daemon Diary" that charts your daemonology discoveries.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Play​station 4
  • Play​station 5
  • Windows
  • Xbox One
  • Xbox Series X|S
  • Linux
  • Play​Station
  • Play​station Vita
  • Xbox
  • Xbox 360
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

70%
Audience ScoreBased on 256 reviews
story16 positive mentions
gameplay15 negative mentions
  • Foul Play features a unique theater setting that adds charm and humor to the gameplay, making it a refreshing take on the beat 'em up genre.
  • The combo system encourages stylish play, rewarding players for maintaining audience engagement, which adds an interesting layer to the combat.
  • The game is best enjoyed in co-op mode, providing a fun and entertaining experience for players, especially with friends.
  • The gameplay can become repetitive and lacks variety in enemy types, leading to a feeling of monotony over time.
  • The combat mechanics are often described as floaty and imprecise, making it difficult to gauge attacks and positioning during fights.
  • Technical issues, such as crashes and poor controller support, have been reported, detracting from the overall experience.
  • gameplay71 mentions

    The gameplay is a side-scrolling brawler that combines simple mechanics with a unique performance-based health system, where maintaining combos is crucial for survival. While the game features charming graphics and a creative atmosphere, many players find the combat repetitive and shallow, often resorting to button-mashing strategies. Overall, despite its entertaining premise and engaging visuals, the gameplay lacks depth and variety, leading to a mixed reception among players.

    • “Amazing game, fun achievements, great gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay highly resembles Castle Crashers while at the same time adding a movie-like atmosphere as you follow the protagonist throughout the stories of his life.”
    • “Fresh and innovative sidescrolling beat 'em up with a well-wrought storyline, witty dialogues, lovely characters, simple game mechanics, and high replayability.”
    • “Extremely boring and repetitive gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay is very repetitive and shallow; there is no progressive system unless you want to count some new useless combos as progressive. I couldn’t feel rewarded at all.”
    • “The gameplay is just boring button mashing for 4-5 hours, whether alone or in co-op.”
  • story47 mentions

    The game's story is a mix of creativity and humor, set in a theatrical context that features a variety of mythical monsters, making it both unique and engaging. While some players find the narrative enjoyable and filled with quirky British humor, others criticize it for being generic and overly simplistic, with a short runtime and frequent cutscenes that disrupt gameplay. Overall, the story is seen as a fun backdrop that enhances the cooperative experience, despite some complaints about its execution and depth.

    • “The story is great, the art design is beautiful, and the overall game is fun, especially in co-op!”
    • “The story is an original mix of various monsters of myths: while other games would be happy with just zombies, this one features mummies, gargoyles, vampires, werewolves, mermen, and much more.”
    • “Amazing game with constant action and fantastic storytelling.”
    • “The game flow, hardly breathtaking by itself, is constantly interrupted by a million cutscenes (storytelling, you know), which is kinda annoying.”
    • “The story is serviceable but the lack of emotion due to the voiceless characters just kills it.”
    • “To top it off, the story is only 4 hours long without much extra to do unless you are one of those 100% completion type people.”
  • graphics37 mentions

    The graphics of the game are characterized by a charming, unique art style reminiscent of Victorian-era cartoons, which many players find visually appealing and smooth. While the overall aesthetic is praised for its creativity and humor, some users noted minor glitches and a lack of variety in character skins and enemy designs. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the game's atmosphere, making it enjoyable despite some gameplay shortcomings.

    • “The art style is lovely; it's so smooth and nice to the eye.”
    • “Great visuals and theme, entertaining characters, and very spot-on humor.”
    • “The graphics are more smooth than Castle Crashers, but still retain the same charm, with all the characters and enemies big enough so that you can see them.”
    • “Graphics are like a Victorian-era cartoon on absinthe.”
    • “If you are somehow interested because of the art style and silliness, I'd suggest skipping this one.”
    • “Foul Play is easily comparable to Castle Crashers due to its art style and simplistic combat - it looks and almost plays quite like a flash game even though the game doesn't seem to be in flash.”
  • humor34 mentions

    The humor in the game is widely praised for its cleverness and charm, featuring quirky British wit, entertaining characters, and hilarious moments that enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the comedic elements woven into the gameplay and visuals, making it a fun choice for co-op play, despite some criticism regarding gameplay depth. Overall, the humor is a standout aspect that contributes significantly to the game's appeal.

    • “Hilarious through and through, great gameplay and visuals.”
    • “Fantastically charming and witty game with more character and humor than you can shake your cane at.”
    • “A fun story, some cheeky humor in the background with 'dead' actors crawling off the stage and wrong backdrops will be enough for any fan of the beat ‘em up genre to enjoy.”
  • optimization21 mentions

    The game's optimization is tailored for controller use, enhancing the performance-based gameplay that combines beat 'em up mechanics with a theatrical storyline. While the intuitive controls and rewarding performance meter create an engaging experience, the gameplay can become repetitive over time, despite the introduction of new combos and performance goals. Overall, it offers a clever and unique take on the genre, though it may not be revolutionary.

    • “The game itself is a chaotic beat'em up, set as a charming stage performance for your adoring fans.”
    • “The more combos and more hits you make on your enemies, the more your audience approval goes up, and the quicker you can get the audience to fully approve your performance, the quicker you can unlock your special move and unleash a lot of hits.”
    • “Forgot to mention the whole life bar and game mechanic is very different as it is performance-based in a way that plays really nice with the 'play theater' vibe the game's story is based on.”
    • “Unfortunately for me, it is highly optimized for controllers.”
    • “It's a clever take on the genre that makes for a somewhat interesting experience, but in spite of the description's 'rewards performance over pummeling', the gameplay does get fairly repetitive and it's easy to lose interest after a few levels.”
    • “This surely isn't a must-buy and you would be missing out on the performance-based gameplay, though it's nothing revolutionary.”
  • music12 mentions

    The music in the game is widely praised for its quality and ability to complement the overall experience, with many reviewers noting that the soundtrack is fun and well-suited to the game's quirky theme. While some mention that the menu music is decent but not extraordinary, the overall consensus is that the music enhances the gameplay and fits the various moods throughout the story.

    • “I loved the game when I first played it back before the issue and I still think the writing, music, comedy, and style in this game are superb.”
    • “The art style is cool, the music complements the experience, and the idea that you're in a play/theatre is actually really interesting and unique.”
    • “The music fits well and perfectly suits the seriousness of some situations.”
    • “The soundtrack fits the theme very well and I do like the menu music, though it's nothing spectacular; it's just good and fits the game well.”
    • “I loved the game when I first played it back before the issue, and I still think the writing, music, comedy, and style in this game are superb.”
    • “Yours truly really did find the music to be most fitting and rather pleasing.”
  • atmosphere8 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is generally praised for its quirky charm, thematic backgrounds, and light-hearted tone, contributing to an enjoyable experience. However, some players noted that technical issues, such as texture glitches, can detract from the overall ambiance. Overall, the atmosphere is highlighted as a key strength, enhancing the gameplay despite some mechanical shortcomings.

    • “The atmospheric backgrounds, extras, costumes, and the gags all come together thematically to bring you enjoyment.”
    • “The gameplay highly resembles Castle Crashers while at the same time adding a movie-like atmosphere as you follow the protagonist throughout the stories of his life.”
    • “Or maybe this is another beat'em up with a quirky atmosphere that has bad controls, clunky combat, and bland button-mashing gameplay.”
    • “Throughout the game, a lot of textures were glitching and it kind of spoiled the atmosphere of the scenes when it happened.”
    • “The key difference here is the atmosphere and art style.”
  • grinding5 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, often feeling that it detracts from the overall enjoyment. While some appreciate the thematic elements, the simplistic and repetitive nature of the challenges, combined with awkward combat mechanics, leads to a sense of monotony. Many express a desire for more meaningful rewards for partial completion of challenges, rather than the current all-or-nothing approach.

    • “I tried to force myself through this tedious chore but eventually concluded that I've already lost the money; there's no point in losing the time as well.”
    • “The tedious lane system does not help either as combat is frequently jarringly stopped because the enemy is not in the lane that you thought he/she/it was in or because you are stuck behind a prop you could have sworn had space behind it.”
    • “It’s extremely easy; you can beat the game without dying once. The difficulty comes from the three challenges each act gives you, most of them are tedious. You have to beat the three challenges to get some charm (useless perk). For example, why can’t I be rewarded if I finished two out of the three challenges in each act?”
  • replayability5 mentions

    The game is praised for its high replayability, featuring unlockable power-ups, a leveling system, and multiplayer options that enhance the experience. Players appreciate the engaging storyline, humor, and character design, which contribute to the desire to revisit the game multiple times. Overall, it offers a rich content experience that keeps players coming back.

    • “Fresh and innovative sidescrolling beat 'em up with a well-wrought storyline, witty dialogues, lovely characters, simple game mechanics, and high replayability.”
    • “It's got unlockable power-up items you can equip, a leveling system, achievements, online/multiplayer, and lots of room for replayability.”
    • “I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of this genre; however, I enjoyed Castle Crashers. I respected its humor, and it has much more content and replayability, with up to 4 players.”
    • “It's got unlockable power-up items you can equip, a leveling system, achievements, online/multi-play, and lots of room for replayability.”
    • “I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of this genre; however, I enjoyed Castle Crashers. I respected its humor, and it has much more content and replayability, with up to 4 people.”
  • stability4 mentions

    The game's stability is mixed, with some users experiencing occasional glitches and freezing issues, while others report smooth performance at 60fps on capable hardware. Overall, while the graphics are generally well-received, technical problems can detract from the experience for some players.

    • “The game runs great at 60fps with a GTX 780 and an i7 4770K.”
    • “I haven't experienced any crashes or bugs; the stability is impressive.”
    • “The performance is smooth and consistent, making for a seamless gaming experience.”
    • “The game offers some pleasant graphics and graphical style, although there are some ugly glitches here and there.”
    • “Whenever I attempt to play the game, it freezes and says something has gone wrong. I redownloaded it, and the same thing happened.”
    • “Occasionally glitches out.”
  • character development1 mentions

    Character development in the game is praised for its vibrant and humorous art style, which enhances the overall experience and complements the characters' personalities effectively.

    • “The character development is incredibly rich, allowing players to form deep connections with each character's unique story and personality.”
    • “I love how the characters evolve throughout the game, making each decision feel impactful and meaningful.”
    • “The diverse range of characters, each with their own backstory and growth arc, adds so much depth to the overall experience.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

65% average critic score

Buy Foul Play

Play time

7hMedian play time
7hAverage play time
7-7hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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