iPhone game of the day: Corporate Fury - Deadly Premonition meets River City Ransom

On iPhone
Game: Corporate Fury
Price: $1.99
Size: 52.6 MB
Get it now on iTunes:US

One of the laziest things game critics can do is compare one title to another unrelated one in hopes of getting across what the title at hand is like. But really, the most concise way of boiling down the peculiar Corporate Fury is by doing exactly that: It's like deadly Premonition if it was about fight clubs. Eccentric, awkward (in a good way), and very strange, Corporate Fury has you take control of a young man whose last name is Crusher. As the opening cinematic shows, the poor lad was forced to watch industrialist Bobby Hendrix pin and then stab his dad in the face.

Fast-forward a couple of decades, and Crusher is climbing the corporate ladder of underground street fighting. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but you're controlling a dude in a three-piece suit who takes hammers to people’s faces at every opportunity he gets. It's probably best not to question anything and just roll with it.

There's a huge overworld to explore, though it exists largely for interstitial conversations to crop up with opportunities to fight if you don't like what they have to say or vice versa. For example, you'll find a recently divorced dad upset about his daughter's decision to live with her step-dad, and if you tell him it's her choice to make, he'll plant his thumbs in your eyes.

So, in essence, everything here exists to push you back into the ring. Combat itself isn't overly complex - you can punch, kick, use a weapon, or jump - but the more you level-grind, the more moves you can unlock and the more items you can purchase. It's a familiar formula, but perfectly suited to the iPhone. You can hop in, do a couple fights, and move on with your day.

There are also fetch quests to help shake up the game's flow, and they also benefit from the bizarre writing present elsewhere. One memorable quest is acquired after storming into a man's bathroom. Perched atop his porcelain throne, he begs for you to get him some duck butter - it supposedly does wonder for the runs. Nearly every interaction out in the world is this jarring.

So, yeah. Corporate Fury is weird as hell, and has very little to do with the business world as people might normally understand it, but it's jam-packed with nonstop brawling and the occasional errand. What's not to like?

May 24, 2011