Fight'N Rage

Lots of replayability with alternate paths, multiple endings, a good number of characters, unlockable content like skins, goodies and in game options, and so on. Not to mention the speedy controls, simple mechanics easy to learn and tricky enough to master the combos, fair difficulty, multiple local players, vibrant music riffs, art visuals. A classic.

Do you remember the first time you play Streets of Rage or Final Fight? This game invokes that same sense. A fantastic soundtrack, tight controls, enough of a variety of characters to pick from. Combine that with a crisp, clean art style and a ton of unlockables and you've got yourself a game that you'll be playing for quite a while. It's a love letter to the beat em up genre as a whole and an absolute must own for any fan of the genre.

This is a love letter to 2D beat em up games so I have to spread the love over here too. I own this game on Steam, GOG, and Nintendo Switch, and it just does not get old for me (PC version for costume mods and 144hz support in game, and Switch so I can play on the toilet). The combat is simple yet deep, as in it may consist of just a jump, attack, and special button, but the flexibility of the combo system, parry mechanic, physics, movement, and cancellations of move animations coupled with the wonderful scripts for the AI patterns makes the gameplay very deep because every decision/action has meaning behind it. Overall, there is not a single beat em that comes close to feeling as good to control to me personally. Fans of the genre will notice some inspiration from classics (flashback to the 90s and you'll see). The game has a heaping load of content for its MSRP and no other official 2D beat em up to date comes close. From the branching paths and all of the endings, CPU helpers to play with you, the enemy characters, costumes, and modes to unlock, you can easily put in 50-100+ hours. That said I do have to address some potential negatives for some folks: - The game can be pretty challenging . Not trying to be full of myself or scare people away, but even on normal difficulty, it'll probably keep you on your toes and you'll feel accomplished. Most players will never see the last 2 difficulties of this game. The difficulties in the game are easy (you have to unlock this), normal, hard, hardest, insane and unfair. It's taken me over 200 hours to reach unfair, but maybe I just suck. - Training mode (doubles as a combo challenge), easy mode, and stage practice modes are also locked from the start, though you can get enough coins to unlock easy and training mode after one game over. That said, this game has become one of my faves of all time. You can enjoy this as a casual or hardcore fan of the genre. I highly recommend it.

Game goes HARD. Might've been a bit ahead of its time, it isn't very noob friendly. (i.e. you have to unlock training mode) but it does reward patience and noticing things. If you have been playing fighting games and beat 'em up, you'll love it. TIP: Listen to your favorite music while playing (rock, metal, rap is suggested).

I don't know how this game managed to fly under my radar for so many years. I may not be THAT much into brawlers, but I've played enough of them and looked up some on the new ones from time to time. Somebody mentioned Fight'N Rage on YT and it stirred my curiosity. Took a quick look at it and at first glance it didn't seem too impressive, at least visually. But now that I've played it for some time, I have to say that I regret not getting this game earlier. The controls are very responsive. The mechanics are tight. Moves are quick and chain nicely, giving battles a beautiful flow. Music slaps on each and every level. And speaking of levels, this game has many forking paths (some of which you might not expect), so the replayability of the MAIN game mode alone is quite high. And yes, the game has more than one game mode. Also, visuals are not as a bad as I thought initially. The designs are actually quite nice, and in some cases a bit daring ;^) (which is something that I've come to appreciate a bit more nowadays). The game does not take itself too seriously, and I like it. Also, if you're into that kind of thing, the game is chock full of references to various classics (more or less niche). The developer has some good taste. But, of course, I also have to list some of the cons. I mentioned earlier that the battle flow in this game is nice. Well, in my experience, that applies to 2 of the 3 playable characters. The third one is more of a slow, powerful and tanky grappler type of fighter, but it feels like he was more of an afterthought. His moveset is more limited, and after playing with the other 2 characters, controlling him feels sluggish and clunky. Even his animations seem to be less detailed. Some of the enemies are VERY annoying. Some of them have like 1-2 frames in their attack animations and they can easily sneak up on you and ruin your combos. Level design could use a bit more variety. Not visually, but rather mechanically (walls, traps, etc).