Streets of Rage 4

Pros... Graphics - the sprites are crisp and well animated, definitely feels like a great update to the originals. Gameplay - Gameplay still feels great, all the old moves are there (except running) and it just feels great to pull them off. The classic enemies are all there, minus some of the mini bosses. The new enemies range from ok to great, The police with their tasers and shields add a good new challenge, while the thug chemists that throw different concoctions at you can be a cool challenge at times, but they can be equally annoying as they are another enemy you have to chase down with no ability to run. Levels - They all come with some fun gimmicks thrown in and they are well constructed and fun to play. There is nothing super original though, no pirate ship, fair ground or baseball pitch which would of been nice, but oh well. There is one level that you walk in the open back of a cargo plane as you are punching dudes and it takes off, but thats the only level that pleasantly surprised me the others are all pretty standard fare for streets of rage. Cons... You can't run anymore - No idea why they took this out and it can be really annoying at times to chase enemies at walking speed. The Music - The music is quite bad I turned it down, because it was really annoying me. A lot of it is just too busy and instead of simple catchy tunes that get stuck in your head like the originals this is just a mess of sound that I found grating after a while. This is probably the biggest dissapointment I have with 4. Character Selection - The new characters are pretty lame, Cherry is an early 2000's grundge rocker that hits enemies with her guitar and Floyd is just a mix of Dr Zan and Max. I would of preferred it if the devs added the original roster instead. Max is even in the game there is no reason why he shouldn't be in the roster. They should of put the entire cast in as its only an extra 3 characters, this is pretty inexcusable in my book.

Enjoyed at the very start, bored and annoyed at the very end. Overall level design and graphics work is cool, liked the new OST too, but all other is so-so. The plot is irrelevant, the game would be better without it. Anime and cyberpunk... nah. We had parts 2 and 3 that are more cartoon-ish than 1, would be really cool to return to part 1 atmosphere for a change. If not, than at least not to repeat and exaggerate 2 and 3. Playing on Normal, it took me 7 or 8 times to beat level 9 and it was much much easier to beat the final one with 2 bosses, I mean come on... And the worst thing is, I already was not enjoying the task, because my goal was to only beat the game to unlock other modes n stuff. Which in the end made no difference, because I expected at least some bosses to be unlocked as playable characters. (If that was the case, I wouldn't call it "Nothing new" above. Just saying...) Too many small details considering battle mechanics, which make fighting harder and less fun. Here is the part where devs could actually copy-paste part 3 plus add something they'd like on top. Overall, I would only hope that there will be newer versions with improvements.

This game is great. I am having a ton of fun with playing it and replaying it. By myself. It would be more fun if I could play it with my friends across the country. I feel kinda ripped off that I bought he game for the same price that every other platform is charging for it but I don't get to play online. Took a star off for that because I was looking forward to that part.

Streets of Rage 4 builds on what made the SOR series great, while tossing in some modern touches. Characters' special attacks still drain health, but will replenish if you can combo it out without taking a hit. Enemies now bounce off a wall at the edge of the screen, keeping the action flowing. Four playable characters are different enough to justify them. More characters can be unlocked. The music, muh gawd! As with SOR2 and SOR3, there's a Battle Mode for local competitive multiplayer. Sleek manga inspired graphics style. Everything we loved about the ol' Sega Genesis beat'em ups...and a whole lot more. My only gripe is no Linux support...yet. But, hey, SOR2 thru Kega Fusion, eh? i5 3.2GHz dual core, Nvidia GTX 1050 4GB, Logitech F310 gamepad, Windows 10 64 bit.

My excitement for the return of Street of Rage was definitely a roller coaster of emotions with each new reveal and I feel like I can finally breath a sigh of relief and say well done to all that have poured their time and effort into reviving the series for a 4th entry. Lizard cube's art design and fluid animation has given the world of SOR a makeover I would have never imagined and while I feel like certain details weren't as mind blowing as my initial reactions made them to be, its apparent that the title was in good hands with this talented group of developers. The guard crush engine is to be praised as well as it is apparent that the refined combat system adds some additional layers to the games original mechanics that truly make it feel like an evolution of the original game play. While the music of SOR4 certainly has its highs, I personally feel like it just doesn't quite raise the bar when compared to the highly lauded SOR2 soundtrack. With that being said, SOR4 does have its moments of genius especially in transitions as you can certainly feel a heightened intensity as you progress further in the level. All in all this a great return to the series, and I can say without a second thought that SOR4 is one of the better games in the franchise when compared to its predecessor.