If you compare the plot of Troublemaker with Bully, you’ll discover that they have one thing in common. They both revolve around troubled teenagers trying to gain their way to the top of the school hierarchy. If nothing else, they have a lot in common. As far as I can tell from the Steam reviews, Troublemaker is completely insane. It’s set in a high school where, as far as I can tell, the government sponsors a bare-knuckle fight tournament called Raise Your Gang for anything at all. As far as Steam reviews are concerned, the game is also set in Indonesia. And it contains a lot of Easter eggs and references that are very relevant to Indonesian kids.
There are a lot of beat-’em’ up games out there, so if the dialogue does not strain your patience, the gameplay is probably going to. The combat in Troublemaker isn’t great as you might expect from a game that revolves around fighting with your classmates. Then you punch and kick everyone until you beat them up in the classroom. Since you don’t have a real weight behind any of your actions, you can’t tell if you’ve actually made solid contact or if you just grazed your opponent.
As well as what I have already said, Troublemaker looks odd. The visuals are generally pretty good. But whenever the game has dialogue, cartoon characters appear on screen to say the lines. The weird clash of styles gives Troublemaker a weird appearance. It’s just like a fever dream if you wouldn’t play Troublemaker if you’re looking for something that’s either a) different from everything else out there, or b) a weird look at an underrepresented culture (or c) a weird cross between Bully and Yakuza). It’s just like a fever dream if you don’t play it.
