You would’ve thought that Achievement-like challenges would’ve been an obvious idea, but there’s nothing like that here. You’re congratulated for continuously scoring hits without getting damaged but that’s literally all.ĭespite there being a wide range of unlockable extras and characters (most of which are just old school Mega Drive sprites) they’re not accessed in any interesting way, but just by grinding your way to an ever higher score, which shows a peculiar lack of showmanship. That’s fine, but it’s surprising that there’s also not much of a meta in terms of the score. You could argue that maybe there should’ve been a bit more of that sort of thing, especially after one excellent sequence in a glass-panelled lift, but on the other hand the game avoids ever getting too gimmicky.Īs well as artificial intelligence, what there also isn’t any of in Streets Of Rage 4 is a block or dodge command, which we assume is a purposeful attempt not to turn the game into a kind of 2D Devil May Cry. The balance between variety and accessibility is handled very well, with weapons – most of which can be thrown – also adding a small amount of nuance, alongside environmental dangers that range from puddles of toxic goo to a giant wrecking ball that both you and enemies can punch around the screen. There’s also a stronger attack if you hold the button, dash and backwards attacks, plus a very useful grab which depending on the character can be used to vaunt over enemies or throw them. There are added complexities if you look for them though, with the special attacks, one of which is primarily defensive, costing you health that can be reclaimed if you cause enough damage in the following few seconds – very much like Bloodborne. Situational awareness and positioning yourself onscreen is very important and often there’s a good amount of kiting around the screen, watching out for enemy tells, before choosing to make your strike at the most opportune moment. On the lower difficulties you can get through the whole game with barely more than a single move, although that doesn’t mean this is a button-masher. Throughout the game the controls are kept elegantly simple, with just a standard attack button, a special move, a jump, and the ability to pick up items. The combination of button presses, animation, and sound effects is perfect and means every punch and kick feels enjoyable and weighty, whether it’s a lowly grunt or a giant boss you’re fighting. In terms of gameplay the most important thing is that punching people feels great. And in that respect is succeeds perfectly. Streets Of Rage 4 doesn’t attempt to move things forward either, as it’s goal is to rewind all the way back to 1994 and create the sequel that never was. It’s a style of game that doesn’t really have any modern counterpart though, probably because it involves simply walking from left to right and punching whoever gets in your way.Īlmost any video game could be described in a similarly reductive manner but for some reason there’s never been an attempt to evolve beat ‘em-ups into a more modern form, with the likes of Devil May Cry or Dynasty Warriors taking some inspiration from the genre but only in a fairly general sense. The original three games are all scrolling beat ‘em-ups, arriving relatively late on the scene but surpassing seminal titles such as Final Fight to become quintessential examples of the genre. But don’t worry, because it’s not a very difficult franchise to describe. If you’re not familiar with Streets Of Rage then you didn’t own a Mega Drive back in the ‘90s.
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