Good but not quite good enough. (Streets Of Rage 3)

Member Name: Mutalisk

Product:	Streets Of Rage 3
Date:	10/04/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New character is quite cool, some new enemies, ability to run added, new special move system,

Disadvantages: The worst of a good series, Hardest difficulty too difficult, still difficult not to hit your ally.

In my opinion, this franchise should have ended with Streets of Rage II.

The Streets of Rage games and are a trilogy of genre-defining, side-scrolling beat-em-ups in which some original and exciting combat techniques must be employed in order to fight your way through level after level of hordes of vicous gang members and brand new enemies coming at you from all sides with knives, swords, guns, steel pipes, baseball bats, shurikens, grenades and much more (All of which can be utilized by the player.) until reaching a boss at the end of each round. The game has about 12 diverse, if a little silly and unrealistic level designs as well as a two-player co-operative mode which is a little flawed, as its difficult not to hit your ally amongst the chaos!

The special move, an aggressive or defensive power attack no longer detracts from your health as it did in the second game, in favour of a loading bar which shows you when your attack is 'charged up' and ready to use. While being a handy solution to accidentally using your special when you didnt need it, it somehow makes the special move feel less...special.

Yet again, the plot of SOR is that a group of police vigilantes - Axel, a bruiser, Blaze a gymnast and Skate a child on rollerskates(?!) are on a mission to overthrow a sinister crime syndicate masterminded by the dark and mysterious Mr. X. (Personally I believed I'd already destroyed the syndicate in the first and second games.) Only this time the cast are aided by Zan...some kind of cybernetic doctor as far I can gather, with super-strength and an electric attack.

All players can run in this game, as opposed to only skate in SOR II, this is a cool feature and adds a real sense of urgency to the game.

Despite being a veteran of the first two games, I found this one seemingly impossible to beat on the hardest difficulty, the only difficulty level in which the entirety of the games plot is unlocked.

Despite the style of gameplay and cast being fairly true to the outstanding gaming experience of the first two games, this is definitely the worst of the lot - Although as far of beat-em-ups go it is still one of the best in its field.

Summary: The worst installment of one of the best series ever.