For as far as I've played it, I can only praise the art and presentation, which is kind of hard to do. So many games nowadays come out that look interesting, stylish and unique, and with so many of them it feels more like a gimmick. I assume that ways and means of creating the passive aspects of the game art (look, sound, style, etc. - not gameplay) are becoming more accessible and the number of skilled, talented artists is growing, but we're somehow stuck with more or less the same gameplay ideas and keep making the same design mistakes, while there are so many examples of games that have perfected those same ideas. This game is a similar case. I looked at the cover and screenshots, watched a few positive reviews (couldn't find any negative ones), and thought, "There's just no way I will dislike this game." I turned it off after trying several times to take on the first boss. And, this is probably the smallest complaint I have, so I'll start with it: 1) Why, if I fail in the boss fight, do I have to go back and watch two cutscenes all over again (or hold the button to skip them, which isn't any less annoying)? This type of issue in action games is decades old. Just start over at the boss fight. 2) Delayed controls. I'm not asking to be able to perform an attack as fast as I can press the button, but maybe a tiny bit faster? Again, Streets of Rage and similar games have already perfected it. Why not learn from them? 3) Who thought it was a good idea to bind the attack and picking up weapons to the same button? The issue is that whenever I try to hit an enemy and there's a weapon within reach, I pick up the weapon instead of attacking and get hit by an enemy. If the enemies gang up on me, they never waste a chance to attack me when I pick it up. As a result, I end up in a loop of picking up a weapon and getting hit. Sound design is nothing special. The opening theme is okay. I can't say much else about music because I didn't make past the first boss.
MRB appears (and likely wants to be seen as) inspired by two big stand-outs of their genre: Streets of Rage and Hotline Miami, which makes it hard to judge on its own merits and not to think of certain things as borrowed. I liked some of the design and aesthetics choices. The grotesque and extreme vice and violance reminded me of TROMA movies (like Toxic Avenger and Return to Nuke 'Em High). It's consistent in its style and appears to be something the developers really wanted to do right, and, in my opinion, they succeeded at that. I think that the game could've benefited more if it wasn't done in the pixel style. Something makes me think that it was done as a tribute to both Streets of Rage and Hotline Miami, and as a statement to current fashion of nostalgia in gaming. Pixels may be justified as a way to give the game a 'grittier' look, but I think that they steal from its potential uniqueness. Sound design is ok. Every punch and kick sounds right and satisfying, which, in my opinion, considering the genre, should be expected. The music is fitting, but not very memorable. It's synth-wave / retro-electro, that's in every game nowadays. The gameplay isn't quite 'there'. This is the hardest part to explain, because one really has to play it to get the feel of it. Most enemies and bosses have too much hp, and fighting them feels tedious. There are some issues with alligning the fighter with enemies so as not to miss them. This issue is especially apparent with Natasha because she has the shortest reach. Some of them have cheap attacks, but there aren't that many. On the positive side, there's enough variety in type of enemies and ways to deal with them (including shoot 'em up sections). The story. I didn't follow it for the most part. It didn't seem very complex or deep. I didn't find myself invested into it. It's an okay beat 'em up with a unique and stylish setting.
I'm not sure if I'm breaking the rules not allowing the game to stand on its own merits, but considering all the remake / re-release / re-etc. in todays gaming, I see this game as aimed to recreate the experience from the first three SoR games. It's been 26 years since SoR 3, and now "all of a sudden" it's time to make the next one. And, it does it pretty well, that is, it succeds at being just like the first three. A lot of stuff makes a comeback: basic combat mechanics, enemies with their design and moves, even some interface elements are almost exactly the same. And, this is a negative for me. Because there's almost nothing new or original, other than up-to-date graphics and sound. The story is almost non-existent: badass heroes kick villains' asses. No twists, no chatacter development, or any sort of depth. But, that's how it's supposed to be, right? It's Streets of Rage. The music is also very faithful to the 'original' games, and it's for this reason it's not memorable at all. Because the creators, I assume, didn't think of making it sound and feel up-to-date artistically, but really wanted to make it just like in 1990s. The gameplay mechanics feel almost copy-pasted from the previous games. It felt satisfying for the first few levels, but then it got boring, because I already played SoR 1 through 3 and beat them many times. The only positive thing I can say is that the game is competently made and appears polished. Those who wanted more of SoR, will most definitely get it. And those who never played SoR, might even love it. It's 2020 and every successful title from the past is being remade. What a horrible time to enjoy games.
Can you imagine puzzles in Hotline Miami? The game looks and sounds good. There's not much in particular in style that makes the game stand out among similar titles. It can be described as a 2.5D shooter with synth-wave soundtrack. What's with synth-wave soundtracks? They seem to be in every action game nowadays. The talking banana in the trailer was intriguing. I thought it would be in the story more, but, (if I haven't missed anything important) other than the the banana that gives hints and directions and takes you to its world, where nothing interesting or relevant to the story happens, there isn't much. I don't think the story was the primary goal with this game. What appears to be the primary goal (and the game's biggest strength) is the combat mechanics that involve a lot of interaction with the environments, i.e. platforming, ricochet shooting, hitting enemies with various objects, slo-mo, etc. It works and feels great, but only for the first few levels. I consider split-firing (done through dual-wielding pistols or submachine guns) to be the most unique and fun element of shooting mechanics. Being able to kill two enemies at the same time from two guns feels amazing. Unfortunately, it's pretty much taken away from the player upon reaching the sewers level, where the only viable weapon is the assault rifle. Apparently, the developers thought that the players would get bored of all the same stuff on each level, so they decided to detach platforming from shooting, add puzzles (in a fast-pace shoot-'em-up game) and make dual-wielded weapons obsolete by turning up the enemies' bullet-sponginess. Split-fire wouldn't get old. Hotline Miami combat was pretty much the same all throughout the game and it didn't get old. The game would benefit from making more maps encouraging usage of this element. Platforming puzzles were also unnecessary, in my opinion. I enjoyed the first few levels though.
