So, for example, those ginger lads committing the biggest crime since 1996 – double denim – can be dealt with easily. Fighting a group of the same enemy is fine. Then, as you get further along with the game, the enemies become that much harder to beat, as well as trickier to manage. The earlier stages introduce the low-level criminals who can be beaten to death with a few mashes of the square button. A dozen levels filled with various bad guys and bosses. If you’ve played a Streets of Rage game before, you know what’s coming. Those of you who are into chasing high-scores, you’re in for a tough one. I just wanted to play the game and enjoy it, and I did. I’m not one for chasing leaderboards, so I wasn’t bothered. If you’re struggling, you can add some extra lives to your chosen character, and even extra stars (stars = super special moves) to give you the edge, but this comes at the cost of your overall score. I cheesed my way through the game’s “normal” difficulty by using the options within the game. If this was purely an arcade game that was sustained by coins, I’d understand, but for a home console release, it’s got me beaten. And I mean so old-school that it’s murderously difficult. OK, so the controls are a touch modernised, but the rest of the game really is old-school. I know, it’s sacrilege, and my seven-year-old self would kick me for it, but it’s true. I thought I’d lean this way, too, but after playing through the game, I’m sorry to disappoint the hardcore d-pad fans Streets of Rage 4 is better played with the analogue stick. Traditionalists will insist that Streets of Rage 4 should be played using nothing but the d-pad. You can pull the right trigger to do a back hit, rather than pushing the stick/d-pad in the opposite direction to which you’re fighting. The developers have slipped in another button, and I only really noticed this towards the middle of the game. Instead, you’ve got one button to do your hitting with, another to jump, another to do a special move, and a very simple combo (two buttons, triangle and circle) to do your proper special attack. There aren’t any elaborate combos to master, nor are there any obnoxious special move animations that take 3 days to finish. Simple controls make putting punks in their place a joy and not a chore. This is a fight that has been raging since my days on the school playground.Įverything that makes a Streets of Rage game is here in abundance. It’s a comic book in motion, complete with hand-drawn punks, hookers, and turkeys. Like, I’m not even bothered if that sounds like the most generic, cliche, lazy description of the game’s graphics, because that’s what they are. Streets of Rage 4’s graphics are stunningly beautiful on PS4. Likewise, the bad guys you come across are also weird and wonderful, just as you’d expect from a Streets of Rage game. The rest of the game’s stages range from the weird to the wonderful, and back to the weird. Across the 12 stages, I think only a couple of them have you beating fools in the street. It’s a 90s game dressed up pretty – very pretty, in fact – and I bloody love it.Ĭome to think of it, not much of the game takes place on the actual streets. It’s simple, straightforward, and there’s no mistaking where in history Streets of Rage 4 belongs. The story is a side-show that doesn’t try to get your attention. Mr X is gone, but his ridiculously named kids, Mr Z and Ms Y, have taken over the family business. The city streets are full of bad guys – again -, and your job is to punch and kick your way up to the big bad boss, who is actually bosses this time around. So what I really needed was a modern sequel that wouldn’t turn my spoilt nose upwards at “another 2D indie game.” And yes, I know that Streets of Rage 3 existed, and I’ve played it. I’d already finished the game a dozen or more times as a child. Years later I would get to revisit the timeless classic thanks to re-releases on modern platforms, but the magic wore away. I played the hell out of Streets of Rage 2 back then, mainly because I was a child who – thankfully – wasn’t a part of the labour force, so I could only play whatever scraps my parents, family, or neighbours threw my way. With SEGA leaving my house, so did Streets of Rage. 20 or so years have passed since my SEGA Mega Drive and all of its games were flogged at a car boot sale to make room for the PS1.
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