14 DAY TRIAL // 
Side-scrolling brawlers have decreased in number lately, and the many that do appear are practically remakes of the old ones from the arcade days with just slightly revamped graphics and the same old exploits.
Developer Mediatonic, however, wants to change this trend and has just revealed Foul Play, a side-scrolling brawler that stars the unique Baron Dashforth, a daemon-hunter who goes on all sorts of adventures during his career. What makes the game stand out, however, is that Dashforth shares these adventures with an audience at the theater, going through Plays and Acts filled with many encounters.
With delightful visuals, an impressive premise, and the promise of tight gameplay that rewards combos and crowd management, Foul Play is looking to be a proper experience.
Does it achieve these lofty goals or should the curtain go down on this performance? Let's find out.
Right from the get-go, Foul Play impresses through its unique premise, starting with Baron Dashforth and his loyal assistant Scampwick in his library, as he recounts the adventures they've both had. From then on, every transition is done in pure theater style, with backgrounds and décor changing rapidly from scene to scene in a pretty hilarious manner.
You'll often see the janitors and prop-handlers bungle up their duties and appear in the frame, or the enemies who forget their lines, even if they're as simple as "Kill!" Opponents who are eliminated by the good Baron will drop dead and, when the scene doesn't change automatically, they'll often open one eye or get pulled by the hilarious hook seen in theaters many years ago.
This whole presentation makes the game utterly delightful and the gameplay is not too bad either, as Baron Dashforth and Scampwick can pull off some great attacks using their cane and chimney sweep, respectively.
Combat revolves around one basic attack, a move that sends enemies in the air, as well as a dodge button that's quite versatile and essential if you want to reach a high combo and delight the public. Speaking of the audience, it needs to be constantly entertained by the Baron by performing lengthy combos, varied combat, and by completing different goals, such as eliminating smaller enemies before taking down the bigger ones.
This can truly make big combos feel that much more impressive, as applause begin to grow in intensity and people even throw their hats in the air to celebrate your achievements. Other times, especially during boss fights that are much trickier because of big foes and lots of smaller ones, when you can't keep a combo going, you'll soon start to hear "boos" and you might even be forced to restart the scene because the curtain is pulled on you.
Enemies are quite varied and range from regular minions, whose attacks can easily be dodged and turned right back against them, to bigger foes that have more complex moves and require much more damage. Sadly, their health isn't displayed so you'll often be forced to keep fighting and hope that the final move will come sooner rather than later. This is especially tricky when confronting a large number of similar foes, as you don't know on which one to concentrate in order to make the fight easier.
Besides fighting alone, Baron Dashforth can also enlist the help of Scampwick, through the local or online multiplayer mode. Battling the hordes of enemies is much easier in two, as is gaining the favor of the crowd, resulting in bigger scores and completed bonus objectives.
In terms of visuals, Foul Play is quite impressive as, while the graphics may look a bit too cartoonish, they're of a high quality and the animations are top-notch, resulting in very few timing errors when it comes to dodging enemies at the very last possible moment.
The soundtrack is also quite impressive, managing to recreate the music heard in old theater plays and blends together with the theme of each actual play, which goes from ancient Egypt to rural England, and more.
Conclusion
Foul Play is a delightful side-scrolling brawler that impresses not just through the great visuals but also through the fast and fluid combat, not to mention the range of adventures Baron Dashforth and Scampwick go on during the entire theater play.
While the audience mechanic and the combo system are a bit unforgiving, there's a lot to be had here by those eager for a challenge and who settle with nothing short of perfection.
