I honestly wasn’t expecting too much from Midnight Fight Express when I saw it launched on the Steam platform. (The game is also available for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.) Graphically, it looked like a mobile game in many ways, but I was intrigued by its claims of smooth, stylish melee combat. Watching some of the videos, it looked like something out of a John Wick movie, or maybe one of those chaotic fight scenes that John Woo is known for directing. And after picking up a controller and trying it on, it’s clear that both probably affected Midnight Fight Express.
There is little plot in this title. Basically, villains have taken over the city and it is up to you to race through the city and fight against each of them in a huge running battle. Take out the bosses, save the people, destroy every breakable object you come across and save the city before dawn to prevent the villains from taking full control. You will be assisted in this attempt by a talking drone that will fly next to you and act like your hype man, encouraging you to use extreme violence and reminding you that you are a well-trained assassin whose memory has been wiped. The drone shocks you, and that somehow restores your memory. And once you start breaking bones, it all comes back to you.
I was most impressed with the smoothness of the combat, but you really have to play this one with a controller. While it supports mouse and keyboard controls, it’s basically designed as a twin-stick shooter, so having those twin-sticks is pretty important. Fortunately, the Steam platform supports controllers, so just plug any PlayStation or Xbox controller into your PC via the USB port, and you’ll be able to play any games that support controllers there. Of course, if you already have the PlayStation or Xbox versions of . plays Midnight Fight Expressthen you have all the gear you need to crack heads.
This game starts out pretty simple and you just need to memorize a handful of moves like light and heavy attack. As you play the first level, your drone will introduce you to advanced techniques such as blocking, counter punching and dodging. The early criminals are very helpful in letting you practice on them. Your drone will tell some enemies how to block their heavy attacks, and a bunch of thugs using that tactic will burst into the room. Eventually you will learn how to use melee weapons like clubs, knives and even pistols and other weapons. The weapons in the game have limited ammunition, but are quite fun to use. And when you run out of bullets, you can throw them at someone for one last shot of ranged damage.
After going through the tutorial, you will start earning money and experience points every time you complete a level. This experience can be used to buy new skills and combat moves, making you more powerful, but often requiring you to learn more button combos. The money can be spent on cosmetic items to make your fighter look cooler or weirder, whatever your preference. Being able to play dress up games with your fighter is a surprisingly fun extra activity.
The graphics in Midnight Fight Express are passable. You can tell what everything and everyone is, and it does a good job with blood sprays and other serious injuries as you fight. However, the soundtrack is where it really shines. There’s a series of adrenaline-pumping numbers in the game, and it conveniently tells you which one is being played. You can go back and listen to any previous song you unlocked, fighting later if you have a particular preference for it. Overall, this kind of music isn’t one of my favorite choices when listening to music for music’s sake, but it’s great to listen to in this title as your character performs a long-running dance of death, destruction, and combat. If you just can’t get enough of the music during your gameplay, the Midnight Fight Express soundtrack is available for purchase on Steam with 47 tracks offered in both MP3 and FLAC formats from the composer Noisecream. Also in the noise category, hearing the bad guys yell and scream as you hit them adds a surprising amount to the fun level of the game.
I honestly felt a bit like John Wick while playing, mainly because I was learning more and more advanced moves. During gameplay, I’d have my character kick someone in the face, disarm as ragdoll tossed them around the room, fire their gun at a bunch of other bad guys until the clip dried up, then throw the gun in the last enemy’s face, making they lose balance and rush in to finish them off with a flurry of blows. It’s extremely violent gameplay, almost comical, but also extremely stylish.
There are quite a few hours of gameplay in it Midnight Fight Express. If you’re like me, you might lose track of time as you jump through many levels of hapless bad guys to cut your destruction trajectory. There’s a fair amount of replayability in the game too, especially considering you’re scored on your progress based on things like the variety of kills you make and whether or not you perform cool special moves, plus how long you spend on it. does to push through all your opponents. So it is almost always possible to go back and get a higher score and earn more money. I found that I often only earned a B or a C grade the first time I progressed through a level, but was able to raise that later in subsequent plays.
Midnight Fight Express is currently on sale on Steam for just $20, which is a great deal. If you’re looking for a way to switch off your brain a bit and enjoy smooth, stylish combat, step up and take your shot, and see if you can make both Misters Wick and Woo proud.
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