As I stated in the Double Dragon review, I’ve played my share of beat ’em ups. They can often be fun and engaging times. I also grew up as a SNES kid, with some of the natural animosity toward Sega at the time (the console wars were weirdly tense back in the day). I got to play my friends’ Genesis from time to time, though none of them were that interested in the Streets of Rage franchise. No, my first exposure to this series was with the Game Gear game.
My parents got me a Game Gear instead of a Game Boy because it was a color system, therefore better. It also let me play Sonic, and despite having a SNES and a growing addiction to JRPGs, I did love the blue blur (more particularly I love Tails, and yes, that extends to this day). I don’t recall when or why I got the Game Gear version of the foundational beat ’em up series, but I do remember playing it quite a bit (I mained Skate, who was the kid character… also the quick one).
Streets of Rage 4 is one of those games riding on nostalgia, reviving a long forgotten series and bringing it into the modern age. It reminded me of playing that old game on my Game Gear, but it also brought with it a considerable amount of fun. (So much so that when I played this with my best friend, there was constant shouting and clear enjoyment).
The first thing that pops out at you is the game’s style. They adopted a hand drawn animated look, leaning into the old Western comic book aesthetic. It’s something I’ve seen before, sure, but it’s done quite well here. The game really wants to establish this whole vibe, like you’re playing a way too cool cartoon or anime from the nineties. That extends to the music as well, which had me going “this sounds so Cowboy Bebop” several times throughout my shared playthrough.
The game just oozes style and leans on that, which probably helps a great deal with drawing players in and getting them going. However, it’s a beat ’em up, which means that the main meat of the game is going to be moving your character from left to right through various imaginative stages.
The game nails this feeling. You pick from four characters, each one specializing in some aspect of the game. Often characters in a simple game like this can feel quite similar, though modern games have been breaking from this. Streets of Rage 4 breaks from it harder than almost any game I’ve played in the genre. I played the quick and nimble “kid” character, Cherry, while my friend played the hulking Floyd. It became readily apparent that our characters were drastically different. I zipped around the screen, dashing and kicking into enemies and unleashing a frenzy of combos. My friend stomped around, and any time Floyd got his hands on an enemy, that enemy regretted it.
The gameplay was smooth and frenetic, keeping both of us charged. I love how they utilize special moves. In old school fashion, using a move drains a portion of your life. This is shown on your life bar by a green bar. If you manage to hit enemies and destructible objects, that green bar turns into your normal health bar. That means that if you’re careful or nimble, you can use specials with frequency. It rewards skillful playing, or, if you’re like my friend, lets you go around grappling and living a power fantasy while constantly gobbling street meat.
You’re rewarded for good combos and playing well with a score. That score is tabulated per level, with a grade awarded to you for finishing. We consistently got B’s, with a few C’s throughout our playthrough (my friend lamented our lack of A’s, but for me, that just gives us something to strive for in future playthroughs). These points are then poured into a bar, and if you fill it up you unlock… retro versions of the characters.
Not great ,but the game is pretty good about giving you characters. You start with four, and a fifth unlocks part way through. If you don’t mind spending a little more, you can unlock some of the “brainwashed” or misled bosses as characters as well, which I appreciated. The game also allows you to switch characters between levels, which is great if you want to experience different play styles and character feels without restarting or dying.
The characters also have that design and personality that felt like it wasn’t quite there for Double Dragon. This is no doubt partially enhanced thanks to the comic book style cutscenes, some of which have actual voice acting. The story follows a pair of rich twins who are taking over the city with their money. They’ve bought out both gangs and police, so everyone is against your scrappy gang.
However, the cops and gangs aren’t really allies. If they’re both on screen, they’ll fight each other as much as they fight you. You can sometimes walk in on cops beating up a gang member or vice versa. The game does great at building its plot and world through little scenes and bits like that, and it’s great. I loved how you fight the police commissioner, who kicks aside his desk and brawls you, despite being an almost dead ringer for Gotham’s famous Gordon.
I also love how the twins fight like a pair of rich kids, one fencing while the other pulls out various weapons and fires at random. Every character just has this feel that lets you know who they are and who they fight: the Amazonian female cop (unlockable via DLC, and yes, I did pay primarily to play her) uses non-lethal, steady grapples; kid rocker Cherry dashes around and uses her guitar; the ninja ducks around. They’ve really thought about how characters express themselves via movement, to an even greater degree than other games.
I was slightly annoyed at how some moves would stop the game for a cinematic, particularly the cop’s super special. It also felt like the game had just a level or two too many, and there could’ve been a bit more originality in the stages (though maybe TMNT and Double Dragon spoiled me there). But the excellent feel, great music, and frenetic gameplay make this a success. If you’ve any interest in beat ’em ups or retro games, you owe it to yourself to give this a try.
9 gets the slight edge over some other excellent beat ’em ups with a boatload of personality and killer vibes; just needed a touch more creativity to really push into perfection
Fated Reviews 