Some people grew up on Double Dragon or Final Fight as their big introduction to arcade brawlers. For me, outside of licensed games like the various Ninja Turtles games or X-Men, my intro to the joy of fighting swarms of enemies with friends was the Streets of Rage series. It has been 26 years since the release of Streets of Rage 3, making Streets of Rage 4 a big deal on that fact alone. Does Sega and Dotemu’s new addition to the franchise measure up or tire out?
Years after the fall of Mr. X’s Syndicate, Wood Oak City finds itself once again taken over by a shady criminal cabal. This time, the villains are Mr. Y and Ms. Y, aka the Y twins, the children of Mr. X. Yes, really. . . Naturally, with all this going down, someone has to step up and take down the new threat. Series’ mainstays Axel and Blaze return, this time joined by Cherry (daughter of original team member Adam) and Floyd, a cyborg who is the apprentice of Dr. Zan from the previous game. Of course, the plot is mainly an excuse to have a group of varied characters fight armies of bad guys but the presentation of that story is pretty cool, using hand-drawn comic-style cutscenes with no spoken dialogue. There are some admittedly fun twists here and there despite the lack of a script, especially the return of a few fan-favorite characters.
One thing I love about this genre is how the controls are easy enough to pick up and play, with the mastery being from knowing how each character handles from each other and using it to your preference. Axel and Blaze both are more balanced, the former leaning more towards power with his punches and kicks as well as flame-based special moves, while the latter is more about speed with her more gymnastic style and electric techniques. Cherry is the fragile speedster of the game, playing similar to the previous games’ Skate, only instead of a rollerblade/breakdancing style she uses her guitar in her combat. Floyd is a merge of SoR2‘s heavy-hitting wrestler Max and SoR3‘s cyborg Dr. Zan, meaning he has ridiculously insane physical power at the cost of reduced speed and a diminished jump. That’s just the starting lineup!
The gameplay is familiar to anyone who’s played the series before: fight armies of bad guys using your fists, special moves, and weapons, eventually coming face to face with the level boss, and repeat. Like its predecessors, the fun comes from the set pieces of the locations, with locations ranging from basic streets, sewers, a police station, cargo ships, the inside of an airplane, a skyscraper, and a private island. Each has its own twists and traps, and they’re all gorgeously realized in a beautiful hand-drawn, high definition style. That same art style is applied to the characters, making them look more animated and more detailed than they have before. We still haven’t talked about one of the staples of the franchise, the music. All of the tracks are lovable jams that I could listen to on their own. For those feeling old school, there’s an option to switch the soundtrack to the classic Genesis music.
The game does have a double-edged sword quality though, the multiplayer. For the first time ever, you can play with four players and when you get a good group game going, the fun is constant. The issue comes from playing it in single-player, as the amount of enemies is still meant for a squad of four, so if you want to have some solo play be prepared for a challenge. This is not helped by the game strangely not using the vertical dodge-roll mechanic from Streets of Rage 3, meaning that when you’re surrounded you’re going to take a beating, and even your normal special moves aren’t a guarantee to break an enemy’s combo.
Going alone can be tough but it is doable.
Before you think that means there’s no reason to replay the game in single-player mode, there’s one beautiful treat if you do; as you play each level and with each character, you accumulate lifetime points. As your points continue to rise, you start unlocking the classic characters from the previous games. That means you can play with those old school sprites and their moves and combos in this modern game. This is one of those treats that has me replaying the entire campaign with every character. One day, I’m going to have a team game with everyone playing a version of Axel and it will be glorious.
Streets of Rage 4 was a blast to play, taking me back to my childhood and allowing me to have a reason to play with my friends. I recommend it not just to fans of the series, but as a fun introduction to this classic franchise.
More information about Streets of Rage 4 can be found on the official website. A digital PS4 copy was provided for the purpose of review.
For more beat-em-up action, take a look at my thoughts on the newest God of War title or check out Joe’s review of The Yakuza Remastered Collection on PS4.
