Streets of Rage 4 effortlessly sells itself as a direct sequel to the Genesis trilogy, for better and for worse.
Gameplay is the typical brawler fair, and the game is unencumbered by any sort of leveling mechanic or grind. Beat up dudes from point A to point B, that's all there is to it, and that's all I really want out of this kind of game. Streets 4 keeps things interesting over its long 12 level march with a host of new and returning characters (if you bought the DLC then you'll have no shortage of options), though the new additions felt a lot better to me than Axel or Blaze. Cherry might just be my favorite, her combos send her flying all over the place, jumping onto enemies to bash their heads in before flipping off to crash down onto more goons. Inbetween levels you can change characters, which is welcome, and I found everyone to be enjoyable to play as.
There is, however, a disparity between the old and new characters. Axel and Blaze cannot sprint for whatever reason, which means the same slow lumbering movement from the previous three games is all you have to work with. Given the speed at which your attack and how frenzied combos can become, it feels a bit weird to lock them in to a slow walk.
My other grievances also have a lot to do with baggage that the Streets series would do better to let go of. The difficulty takes a harsh turn 2/3 into the game, and the last level is absolutely brutal, and far too long. I was only able to beat it by inviting in a random online player. Unfortunately, playing online is pretty rough, and the game constantly locks up to resync the connection. I also had a lot of issues with lining up my character with enemies. Sometimes I felt I should be hitting them but my attacks would just whiff, yet on the same axis they would be able to damage me. This was a problem I had with the original three games and it's unfortunate that it's still a problem. I'm also not a fan of how often enemies jump in from off screen mid-attack, as this has a habit of knocking you out of a combo and ruining your score multiplier. It just feels a bit too cheap.
But I still had a lot of fun with this. It looks gorgeous, the soundtrack is top tier, and chaining combos never gets old. This is easily the best brawler of the last decade, though it's not like there's been much competition.
Gameplay is the typical brawler fair, and the game is unencumbered by any sort of leveling mechanic or grind. Beat up dudes from point A to point B, that's all there is to it, and that's all I really want out of this kind of game. Streets 4 keeps things interesting over its long 12 level march with a host of new and returning characters (if you bought the DLC then you'll have no shortage of options), though the new additions felt a lot better to me than Axel or Blaze. Cherry might just be my favorite, her combos send her flying all over the place, jumping onto enemies to bash their heads in before flipping off to crash down onto more goons. Inbetween levels you can change characters, which is welcome, and I found everyone to be enjoyable to play as.
There is, however, a disparity between the old and new characters. Axel and Blaze cannot sprint for whatever reason, which means the same slow lumbering movement from the previous three games is all you have to work with. Given the speed at which your attack and how frenzied combos can become, it feels a bit weird to lock them in to a slow walk.
My other grievances also have a lot to do with baggage that the Streets series would do better to let go of. The difficulty takes a harsh turn 2/3 into the game, and the last level is absolutely brutal, and far too long. I was only able to beat it by inviting in a random online player. Unfortunately, playing online is pretty rough, and the game constantly locks up to resync the connection. I also had a lot of issues with lining up my character with enemies. Sometimes I felt I should be hitting them but my attacks would just whiff, yet on the same axis they would be able to damage me. This was a problem I had with the original three games and it's unfortunate that it's still a problem. I'm also not a fan of how often enemies jump in from off screen mid-attack, as this has a habit of knocking you out of a combo and ruining your score multiplier. It just feels a bit too cheap.
But I still had a lot of fun with this. It looks gorgeous, the soundtrack is top tier, and chaining combos never gets old. This is easily the best brawler of the last decade, though it's not like there's been much competition.