It's pretty cool most of the time.
Base gameplay is pretty much the same as regular Spikeout. There are a lot of minor touches to make it feel more unique but some things to me come off more annoying like how some of the bosses work.
Cons:
I think this is the case where the speedy nature of Spikeout could have been toned down a bit, specifically with bosses. Maybe from the fact I played as Luna first might have soured my taste a bit combined with me not playing with an arcade stick. Not to mention, jump attacks in Spikeout aren't great unless its to get a combo going which is REALLY annoying with bosses where you need to attack airborne (namely Marionette and Evileye).
I feel there could've been a meter for Super Magic moves that refills instead of what the game has. The game would still feel challenging without feeling the need to gamble then lose for the rest of the level.
Pros:
Levels themselves are fun. And its pretty surprising that there isn't a single reused enemy, even at the last couple of levels.
Game looks great for the time as well.
Even though the gameplay is largely the same as SpikeOut, I like the added tools like a different special attack mid-combo and the Berserker mode. Sadly, this is the case where you wouldn't know all this stuff unless you looked online which is a shame because they help a bunch.

So yeah, compared to Spikeout, it's okay as a sequel but some things keep it from being a total improvement over the first game.

Good. Very good but not amazing.

I think having punches feel like SOR2 was a good call. Characters like Axel or Blaze without a dash (coming right out of SoR3) felt a little weird. I think you can manage VERY well without it and calls for evasion aren't THAT demanding at least to me. But still, slightly handicapping Axel and Blaze from what the 3rd game did, I just can't wrap my head around. I don't mind them having something like Adam's short dash minus being able to turn around the opponent would've suffice. People say there isn't much depth to combat, but I think whatever tricks unique to each character can do make it worth at least experimenting with.

Enemies felt varied enough at least until the last few stretches of the game. Though, enemies like the taser cops felt a bit on the cheap side. Fat enemies felt a bit more annoying than previous games.

Bosses definitely posed a challenge without being TOO hard if you know what you're doing. The most I would have are at least one retry normally. This is speaking of experience of a normal mode run-through. These bosses definitely felt different from one another which is good.

One thing I straight up didn't like was locking some features by beating the story mode first. Arcade mode and Boss Rush: fine, I guess. Stage Select and Battle: no.

Presentation is pretty great technically. There's of course the actual art style for the character art which I don't mind personally. Its probably to make animation less taxing so I think they did good with what they have. Damn good. Backgrounds I'd say are an evolution for the series.

Overall a good game and a fine revival.

Shame that the western version got gimped a bit but honestly, it's not that bad. Good, even. The new moves and a sprint for all characters is nice all things considered.
Music is terrible which might be a breaking point for a whole lot cuz y'know, Streets of Rage 1-2 music are classics.
I don't know. From pure gameplay, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Probably one thing I don't like compared to 2 is that punching feels a bit... off. Like something's a bit loose. Other than that and the music, not many complaints at all here.
I'd definitely recommend playing the japanese version instead.

Pretty much a Jet Set Radio fighting game. In general, the colorful cel shaded look, goofy fun party atmosphere, and the wild character designs share an aesthetic. Doesn't help that they were released in the same year. But it's a fun game. Plays akin to the Marvel Vs. Capcom games minus the tag mechanic. Honestly, attacks feel a lot snappier which isn't something you'd expect for most fighters of this console. There's also this Rhythm mechanic where you play a rhythm game to initiate a character's ultimate move. I've never fully pulled one off. And neither has most of the internet. Can't even find a compilation. They're mostly good for chip damage I suppose. But yeah. Surprisingly good game.

Combat is pretty cool with its focus being purely hand to hand. People may find it more "limiting" than normal yakuza gameplay but I think the game's way of trying to be challenging is to have the exact same skills as the enemy. I think it's pretty cool since the combat is more akin to those Wrestling/UFC fighting games. Fighting styles are pretty cool. A lot of them really feel different from each other despite sharing a few animations. Bosses are probably the best part of the game to me. For the type of combat this is, I feel the challenge is pretty fair for most of them and bosses probably felt the most imposing out all of the series from a gameplay standpoint.

This is probably just a "me" thing but the art style of the game is also my favorite of the franchise. I like the cutscene art a lot. Feels what Yakuza's 1 & 2 might look like in 2d form with its gritty look and all. Its probably what stood out to me the most and in a way why I wanted to keep playing the game without knowing a lick of japanese when I was "checking it out." So at first, it was just me wanting to look a bunch of pretty pictures. Animation is pretty much flash animation but it's stylized up the ass to really make me care.

The game overall looks pretty nice for a PSP title. I also like how diverse enemy designs look. Some of look straight out of a delinquent manga.

Story (from what little translations I managed to scrounge up) is pretty good. I imagine if you like stories like Judge Eyes/Judgement, you'll appreciate its tone and how it differs a lot from main series Yakuza despite taking place in the same city. In this era of the series, its one of the more grounded stories in my opinion. Erm... At least after a certain part of chapter 1/before/after confronting the final boss.

For cons:

Navigation can be a pain in the ass (though it's not because of controls). There's no taxis. And the cops can make getting to places kind of annoying if you end up a lot farther away from your intended location.

Enemy health can get pretty beefy especially on harder modes unless you upgrade stats. Leveling up stats is pretty weird since it's completely different from leveling up normally (experience points, etc.) Money is pretty god damn scarce.

The combat is CLEARLY not designed for multiple enemies. There's no real crowd control options in combat or at least ones that feel natural.

This is probably what can turn off fans from checking these games out, the camera is too close in combat and shakes too much whenever clean hits are made. It kind of makes the game worse than it actually is. Its not like zooming out the camera is a bad idea. Not like obstacles can obstruct the gameplay in the first place.

Side content other than substories is pretty limited. This has more to do with it being on a PSP so they probably had to make due with a smaller space than usual.

This probably depends on who you are but having the options of making cutscenes skippable AFTER beating the game is pretty pinheaded. It made redoing some sections to give the best gameplay performance I could a REAL pain in the ass.

So yeah. Interesting spin-off for the series

Underrated Final Fight entry overall. This game just feels right to me. The movement in this style of gameplay feels very smooth especially doing running attacks. Albeit pretty easy. But what can you do. The whole multiple paths also seem very innovative for the genre. But very few that do aren't even in the mainstream zeitgeist I feel. You can probably argue Final Fight 3 is the first "mainstream" one given the series its attached to. But yeah. Its up there as the best arcade... well.... "arcade" brawlers on the system.

Pretty great 3d brawler of its era.
Hard as balls though.

Mechanically, there's quite a few things that separate it from others.
One, its charge attack system. The way they're implemented is pretty easy to under stand. Pretty nifty in many situations.
There are also attacks performed with combined inputs like Jump + Beat = a sweeping move which is really useful. I'd go as far and say it makes combat more complex than others for the time.
Some aspects of other beat em ups (mainly from the Snes era) are multiple pathways. One stage you'll be on a boat while in the flipside, you'll be in a Sega Theme park of sorts with a large Sonic statue.
There's also a shift button which is surprisingly useful for dodging enemy attacks. Just don't charge while shifting. It slows you down.

Big cons are how fucking unforgiving timeouts can be. The timer runs out so fast compared to other beat em ups. You might time out before your health drains.
Then there's the bosses while unique and cool, abuse the ever living fuck out of their super moves that give them invincibility frames. The last enemy gauntlet with the flying Grim Reapers was absolute cancer.

But yeah. Cool game. Cool playable characters with their unique quirks and such. Combat in general feels snappy and satisfying.