Midnight Fight Express Review!

Midnight Fight Express, developed by Jacob Dzwinel (@JacobDzwinel on Twitter) and published by Humble Games (@PlayHumbleGames on Twitter) is a 3D action beat ’em up that launched on August 23rd 2022 and also day one into Xbox Game Pass.

In Midnight Fight Express you play as Babyface, a former member of a criminal underworld who has been lured back into his old life by a mysterious drone who claims they have until sunrise to stop a criminal wide takeover. You’ll come across some conventional enemies and others, shall we say a lot less conventional. In your possession is an array of fighting moves and weapons to take them down with, from pots and pans to rocket launchers and your trusty ol’ fists.

Story

The story that Midnight Fight Express serves up isn’t exactly the main selling point here, nor does it do anything crazy out of left field, but it’s serviceable and works quite well with the overall concept, and can actually be somewhat interesting, if you could approach it in a way that didn’t interrupt the flow of combat.

The main gripe I have here – regarding the story, is that Midnight Fight Express has lots that it wants to say, but does so at some of the worst possible moments which is only hindered even more with the lack of voice acting. MFE uses text dialogue to get its story across and uses it between some quite awesome combat moments, which once you’re into a groove of delivering left and right hook combos, kill the momentum.

Aside from this, the story serves it’s purpose, and that purpose is to give you a reason to visit multiple different locations, with a wide range of enemies and weapons, experiment with how to take care of them, all whilst trying to work out why you’re being dragged all over this city. It’s simple, but it works.

Now, this game will make you feel like a one-man army, essentially echoing the development process because it was in fact developed by the one-man army: Jacob Dzwinel. The story was handled by Fernando Jay Huerto. (Destiny 2: The Witch Queen).

Settings

Midnight Fight Express lets you tinker, if only with a small amount of things like turning off checkpoints (as if the game isn’t hard enough) and turning off the HUD. You can also switch off cut-scenes and dialogue, but surely you would have at least needed to have completed the game first, to even want to do this. However, it’s a very welcomed addition, especially since the game gifts you with a good amount of replay-ability and I’m not one for watching the same stuff over and over when you keep dying. You can also adjust screen shake and play around with the blood settings.

Appearance is seemingly everything, as the game gives you a very generous amount of customisation options for your character and clothing.

Gameplay

Gameplay is king here. You will have to go across the city over the course of 40 different levels taking down bad guys. You can do this, with almost everything and anything you can get your hands on.

Plate of food in the diner? Throw it. Jack-Hammer? Swing it around to get yourself out of a tight spot. Light machine gun? Mow down an approaching, overwhelming group of Russians. (If you’ve played the fourth mission of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then you’ll see the relevance if you decide to pick this one up).

Whether you decide to stick with your fists, grab a wrench, a handgun or even a grenade launcher, it feels oh so satisfying landing a sweet combo with a handgun and then pulling of some rather gruesome finishers, these differ in amounts of “holy crap, that’s awesome” depending on what you have in your hands at the time. The combat has a nice weight behind it and feels great connecting a combo to a finisher.

Skills and upgrades change the playing field here, and of course the unlocks as you progress, just remember to check up on your skill points once you’ve completed every other mission or so to make sure you always give yourself the best possible start for the next level. You have six different categories all with around eight or so different skills to unlock and utilize:

Skill’s and Upgrades, play a huge role within the combat, allowing you to do even more gruesome crazy combos and finishers. Linking up a quick one-two punch and finishing it off with a swift kick in the balls connects well and feels great. Using a parry to disarm an enemy coming at you with a wrench to then duck and weave and finish him off with his own weapon is brilliant, as is disarming a handgun from a bad guy, dropping him and putting one in the back of his skull.

But, it isn’t all that simple. I previously stated at the start of this review that this game grants you a generous variety of weapons and moves to use on your enemies, so of course you are also going to come across a great variety of enemies. From SWAT police, to Russians, to Bozoz and even Game Developers.

There’s a lot of variety within the game, which helps to keep it feeling fresh throughout the 40 levels, that are also accompanied by an awesome soundtrack that makes beating ’em up even more satisfying. You’ll also notice a couple of references to memes or other games, if you’re paying attention, which is a very nice touch.

Verdict

Midnight Fight Express offers a brilliant beat ’em up that manages to keep it fresh throughout the story. Featuring a “Playground Mode” where you can jump into an arena, select types of enemies, weapons etc and just take on an endless wave of enemies for fun. Add on-top of that the ability to go back through the main missions to mop up collectibles and challenges, and you’ve got a beat ’em up that gives you a reason to hang around for a while and re-visit.

Playground Mode however seems a little broken, as I was working towards an achievement for killing 500 dummies in this mode, but it won’t load up properly now, which is a shame as its a fun mode to try out with no risk to progression. This and the interrupting story are my only gripes.

Overall, it is definitely one to check out if you want some beat ’em up action and at no extra cost with an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you might as well jump in and see for yourself.

DISCLAIMER: I have played Midnight Fight Express for a total time so far of 21 hours and have obtained 22/40 achievements at the time of writing this review with a score currently of 550/1000 gamerscore.