American interpretations/reimaginings of Japanese media usually don't go well but this is the only game where I can face off Cammy & Andore while listening to Slipknot & MF DOOM so I'll let it slide just this once. It makes absolute sense here that a city that has been crime ridden for decades to just be this gritty & run down with the citizens acting Slimy & Edgy to each other. The dialogue and presentation is so committed to the edge that it can come off as unintentionally funny & cheesy at times. This game had a pretty short development time which is both impressive and very much explains why some segments just feel unsatisfying to go through. The approach is very weird on what it wants to let the player get away with and its so inconsistent that I can't tell if I cheesed a boss fight or just outskilled him with a solid combo. If I was a Final Fight purist I'd probably hate this game with a passion but its actually possible to have a good time here when you don't try to force yourself to be upset over a game that hasn't been canon in almost 2 decades. They gave Guy some seriously clean outfits here the Street Fighter dev team needs to take that white suit as an outfit if they ever return him.

Now I know what you are thinking. I gave this game 5 stars. But hear me out first. I get it for something that has the Final Fight name, its awful. However, if you have that rare ability to put that aside, you will find something fun and insane here. Not to mention funny and campy as hell. Almost consider it parody of the Yakuza style game just with a western setting.

No kidding, on one mission you are beating the shit out of thugs and then comes another where you wager against a random grandma at a game of darts lol

The combat in streetwise isn't too bad, it has the necessary umph factor that makes beat em' ups fun. The inclusion of a parry is cool except that it has a real tight window but when you land it it feels great. The instinct meter can also be used to parry. You buy moves and upgrades so collecting cash is essential. You could just do the main missions but I highly encourage you to do the side missions just to see how wacky they get.

Soundtrack is quite solid, some good jams. They use licensed music from rap and metal artist (mostly rap) but they are pretty good picks. There are some original tunes as well like the main town themes.

Some people consider streetwise to be a spiritual sequel to BeatDown: Fist of Vengeance, also by Capcom and yes I definitely see that.