Given that a full 17 years passed between the release of Streets of Rage 3 and the superb fan-made Streets of Rage Remake, and another 9 years between Remake and 4, I still can't fully believe they announced this, never mind released it - it feels like a fever dream. It would be like if they suddenly announced Phantasy Star 5, or Megaman Legends 3, or SatAM Sonic season 3!
The updated hand-drawn art style is really slick, but the core beat-em-up gameplay remains intact - with a new element that adds an extra layer of depth. I'm referring, of course, to the big flashy combo counter which increases in number whenever you land a hit on anything (an enemy, a destroyable item, a falling KO-ed enemy) and awards you points based on the length of combo you can build. These points can be used to get extra lives (which you absolutely will need on the higher difficulties)... and thanks to the addition of wall-bounce and air-juggle mechanics, combos are relatively intuitive to learn and satisfying to perform. SOR4 is a game that not only rewards you mechanically for mastering its core gameplay gimmick - it ensures that gimmick actually feels good to do. Few things beat the visceral satisfaction of grabbing an enemy and wailing on them, then throwing them into a wall and hitting them with a blitz as they bounce off.
In this way, this new and evolved iteration of Streets of Rage kind of feels like a shmup! It rewards points not on progression but on skill - your main source of points is no longer stage completion or item pickups, but the abovementioned combos as well as picking up health items with full health (i.e. not getting hit). The fact that you get ranked on your performance after each level on story mode and can eventually unlock a stage select to try and improve on those scores really pushes you to get better at the core gameplay - and makes it feel more like a 'score attack' game than any of the previous entries.
That said, one of the biggest virtues of SOR4 is that it has something for everyone to enjoy, whatever your skill or experience level is. Because of the addition of charged attacks and a more robust move-cancelling system, some of the more fanciful combos available require finger dexterity and timing not unlike what you would need in a modern fighting game! But you can also stick to basic beat-em-up stuff (start a combo and then switch to a more damaging move/throw before you knock them down) and the game still feels like a lot of fun. The basic story mode (where your lives are reset every level and you can restart from the beginning of the level if you get a game over) is simple enough for casual players to get through, but the game also has an Arcade Mode for players looking to get that 'original hardware' experience.
Streets of Rage 4 looks great, feels fantastic to play, and has that new combo counter that appeals to the dopamine addict in all of us - ordinarily that would be the end of the review, but being the overthinker I am I also do want to add in some thoughts on how this could have been better.
- A relative lack of content especially compared to Streets of Rage Remake. You can unlock the 'classic' pixelated versions of the characters from earlier SOR games, but that's it really. It has 12 levels and no branching paths, which means you know exactly what to expect after going through them once. A bit like death by snu-snu, it's possible to have a bit too much of a good thing.
- Shadows. In previous games, the characters' shadows were a useful way of lining yourself up with enemies, as well as knowing their position when they jumped. SOR4 handles shadows more realistically - we don't have round black blobs underneath our feet at all times - but not having a clear way to tell exact character placement affected the game feel a little. I found myself whiffing a lot more often, and not being able to easily tell if we were aligned horizontally or not does get annoying in some sequences (for example when fighting enemies that jump offscreen, or those Galsias that walk diagonally across the screen holding a knife in front of them).
- For as much praise as I give it, the combo system in the game could have been better executed. While the game doesn't tell you this, if you get hit in the middle of a combo, you lose all your combo points. And I get that this is a risk-vs-reward, mechanic, but if you want to get the points (which you need for extra lives, remember), how it plays out is that you will rack up a big combo, and then just walk around idly for a while so you can 'cash in' your combo for points, which really breaks up the momentum of the game.
I think it's cool that between SOR4 and the fanmade SOR Remake, they basically have created the perfect beat-em-up. SOR4's combo mechanics (perhaps slightly tweaked) on top of Remake's branching path structure and wider variety of unlockables, SOR4's graphical style with clearer character shadows like in previous games. Which of the two games you prefer is entirely down to personal preference - a lot like choosing your favorite character.
I think Remake still takes the edge for me in the way that its gameplay is simpler but almost as satisfying, and its greater variety in the form of branching paths and host of unlockables. Still SOR4 is an absolute triumph of a series revival. It's a great entry point into beat-em-ups and an equally great game for veterans to refine their skills, and (I foresee) an early contender for one of the best games I play for the first time this year!
(Beat story mode on hardest, arcade mode on hard. Mained Adam)
The updated hand-drawn art style is really slick, but the core beat-em-up gameplay remains intact - with a new element that adds an extra layer of depth. I'm referring, of course, to the big flashy combo counter which increases in number whenever you land a hit on anything (an enemy, a destroyable item, a falling KO-ed enemy) and awards you points based on the length of combo you can build. These points can be used to get extra lives (which you absolutely will need on the higher difficulties)... and thanks to the addition of wall-bounce and air-juggle mechanics, combos are relatively intuitive to learn and satisfying to perform. SOR4 is a game that not only rewards you mechanically for mastering its core gameplay gimmick - it ensures that gimmick actually feels good to do. Few things beat the visceral satisfaction of grabbing an enemy and wailing on them, then throwing them into a wall and hitting them with a blitz as they bounce off.
In this way, this new and evolved iteration of Streets of Rage kind of feels like a shmup! It rewards points not on progression but on skill - your main source of points is no longer stage completion or item pickups, but the abovementioned combos as well as picking up health items with full health (i.e. not getting hit). The fact that you get ranked on your performance after each level on story mode and can eventually unlock a stage select to try and improve on those scores really pushes you to get better at the core gameplay - and makes it feel more like a 'score attack' game than any of the previous entries.
That said, one of the biggest virtues of SOR4 is that it has something for everyone to enjoy, whatever your skill or experience level is. Because of the addition of charged attacks and a more robust move-cancelling system, some of the more fanciful combos available require finger dexterity and timing not unlike what you would need in a modern fighting game! But you can also stick to basic beat-em-up stuff (start a combo and then switch to a more damaging move/throw before you knock them down) and the game still feels like a lot of fun. The basic story mode (where your lives are reset every level and you can restart from the beginning of the level if you get a game over) is simple enough for casual players to get through, but the game also has an Arcade Mode for players looking to get that 'original hardware' experience.
Streets of Rage 4 looks great, feels fantastic to play, and has that new combo counter that appeals to the dopamine addict in all of us - ordinarily that would be the end of the review, but being the overthinker I am I also do want to add in some thoughts on how this could have been better.
- A relative lack of content especially compared to Streets of Rage Remake. You can unlock the 'classic' pixelated versions of the characters from earlier SOR games, but that's it really. It has 12 levels and no branching paths, which means you know exactly what to expect after going through them once. A bit like death by snu-snu, it's possible to have a bit too much of a good thing.
- Shadows. In previous games, the characters' shadows were a useful way of lining yourself up with enemies, as well as knowing their position when they jumped. SOR4 handles shadows more realistically - we don't have round black blobs underneath our feet at all times - but not having a clear way to tell exact character placement affected the game feel a little. I found myself whiffing a lot more often, and not being able to easily tell if we were aligned horizontally or not does get annoying in some sequences (for example when fighting enemies that jump offscreen, or those Galsias that walk diagonally across the screen holding a knife in front of them).
- For as much praise as I give it, the combo system in the game could have been better executed. While the game doesn't tell you this, if you get hit in the middle of a combo, you lose all your combo points. And I get that this is a risk-vs-reward, mechanic, but if you want to get the points (which you need for extra lives, remember), how it plays out is that you will rack up a big combo, and then just walk around idly for a while so you can 'cash in' your combo for points, which really breaks up the momentum of the game.
I think it's cool that between SOR4 and the fanmade SOR Remake, they basically have created the perfect beat-em-up. SOR4's combo mechanics (perhaps slightly tweaked) on top of Remake's branching path structure and wider variety of unlockables, SOR4's graphical style with clearer character shadows like in previous games. Which of the two games you prefer is entirely down to personal preference - a lot like choosing your favorite character.
I think Remake still takes the edge for me in the way that its gameplay is simpler but almost as satisfying, and its greater variety in the form of branching paths and host of unlockables. Still SOR4 is an absolute triumph of a series revival. It's a great entry point into beat-em-ups and an equally great game for veterans to refine their skills, and (I foresee) an early contender for one of the best games I play for the first time this year!
(Beat story mode on hardest, arcade mode on hard. Mained Adam)