Anarchy Reigns is a strange game, a contradictory mix of the chaotic and the methodical, the cutting edge and the quaintly old-fashioned. On the one hand it's a throwback, an arcade-style brawler indebted to Spikeout, Power Stone and Streets of Rage.

On the other, it's evolutionary and experimental, an attempt to translate Platinum Games's patented brand of "character action" into a multiplayer form. Not that the game is devoid of single-player content, mind; the offline story mode is a decent length, and boasts all the personality (if not the polish) that characterised Bayonetta and Vanquish. The mechanics of Anarchy Reigns, however, were clearly built with the online multiplayer format in mind.

Here, the game's title proves apt, for better or worse. Random "action trigger events" – airstrikes, black holes, marauding 16-wheeler trucks, triffids – ensure the balance of power is always shifting, but can reduce matches to crazed free-for-alls.

Persistent players will eventually discern method in the madness, but many will lose patience after they are swatted into the path of an oncoming freight train or the jaws of a kraken for the 50th time. That's a shame, because while not as accomplished as some of Platinum's past releases, Anarchy Reigns offers an entertaining twist on their blueprints.