Streets of Rage = Streets of Fun! (Streets of Rage)

Member Name: eelam_garek

Product:	Streets of Rage
Date:	25/03/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: VERY fun, loads of bad guys, weapons, good gameplay

Disadvantages: Can become repetitve after a few play throughs, not as good as the sequel!

Streets of Rage was argueably one of the best games to ever be released on the Sega Mega Drive system. It is a platform based beat-em-up with a mean storyline to boot. I remember playing this as a child and thinking how innovative and awesome it really was. There weren't many other games like it, and it drew some controversy as a result.

The plot sees the city taken over by an evil crime syndicate, headed by a very nasty man who goes by the name of Mr X. The police are struggling to maintain control of a crime ridden city, and a number of police officers are getting tired of seeing their good city go to ruins at the hand of this syndicate. In a fit of rage at the lack of action by the police, three police offcers decide to quit the force and take matters into their own hands.

This is where you come in. You assume the role of one of three characters, each with their own unique hand to hand abilities, both in terms of power and speed. You can play this game by yourself in 1 player mode, or for maximum fun, team up with a friend to fight crime for some multiplayer fun! It's alot more fun with a friend.

First we have Axel. Axel is the most average of the 3 characters. His power and speed fall somewhere in the middle of the scale which makes him a good all rounder, and a good character for players who are new to the game. His style specialises in martial arts and his strikes and moves reflect this.

The second character at your disposal is Adam. Adam specialises in boxing, which gives him alot of power. As a result Adam hits the hardest out of the three characters. The price he pays for this power, is in his speed. Adam's agility lacks, this makes Adam the slowest out of the three playable characters.

The last and by no means least character available, is Blaze. The only female of the group, Blaze boasts good Judo capabilities. Her style is based around this, so she what she lacks in power she makes up in her speed. Blaze won't hit enemies for very much, but she is fast and can deliver good hit combos and move around very speedily too. Blaze is the fastest of the three characters.

Because the characters all have their own unique styles, when you are playing them their moves differ slightly. For example, both Axel and Adam will throw a punch when you hit a certain button on the Mega Drive game pad, but hit that same button with blaze and she will deliver a Judo-style palm attack for exammple. It still classes as a punch, but it's very unique and individual to each character.

All of the characters have these differences due to their unique fighting backrounds. There are normal hit combos, achieved by mashing the same button a few times, or you can use the D-pad in combination with buttons to achieve ground attacks. Axel's "Chris-to-pher" move is now famous, with everyone having their own version of exactly what he says as he sweeps his fist along the ground.

Aswell as the normal hit combos, every character has a special attack. These come in the form of backup from your loyal friends at the police force. At the press of a button they can drive up behind you and fire rocket launchers/flame throwing attacks which wipe out everything fighting you at that specific time. Think of them as the get out of jail card, but you can only use it once per level (with a few exceptions near the end of the game). So, you have to be clever about when you decide to use this ability.

Each character has a health bar at the top of the screen, aswell as an indicator showing how many lives you have left. When you die, your body will disappear and you will fall from the sky (or heaven as we used to joke), to start again on full health at the point you left off. Be careful though, unless you're using cheats, lives aren't infinite! You will eventually reach a game over screen, and we don't want that at all! The game is setup in a level based system. So you run along the levels from left to right, fighting as you go. When you reach the end of level 1, level 2 will begin and so on.

Although you assume the role of one character personally, in multiplayer you can team up to do some special attacks. One human player can throw another human player for example, launching them into enemies in a kind of ball like attack. This element of teamplay really opens the game up for multiple players, as you can co-ordinate some devastating attacks against the thugs. Be careful though, as this is a beat-em-up, you can also damage your partner. There has been many a time playing when my friends and I would get side tracked in a little fight because some "accidently" let loose with a punch on the other.

Of course, our intrepid fighters will need bad guys to beat up, and boy are there bad guys. In fact at times, it seems like they will never end! When you progress through the levels of the game, bad guys come in waves. At first they start off light and easy and they gradually progress to a harder level. Bad guys range from hand to hand fighers, who will simply run up and hit you with basic attacks, while others are "ground attackers". These are a variety of enemy that will run right close to you, and slide along the ground in an attempt to knock you off your feet. Very sneaky indeed!

The game somewhat lacks in the generic bad guy skins, as you often see the same skins used, but just recoloured on different levels. As well as the change in clothes colours, these enemies will have their health and abilities adjusted to make them harder or easier. This seems like it would detract from the gameplay, but it really doesn't. You just get used to enemies flying at you and then fighting them back. The forumla is really fun.

At the end of every level you will encounter a boss. On one player mode just one boss will spawn, but if you play with a friend a second, identical boss will spawn just to even things up a bit. These guys are special enemies, with more health, special abilities and just generally not very nice. As the levels progess, they get gradually harder and more difficult to beat. By the final level, you eventually have to come face to face with the big boss himself. For those of you who haven't played this game yet though (I can't fathom a reason as to WHY this might be the case, the game is a classic!), I won't spoil the ending.

To help you along the way, there are various pieces of food/weapons/money to pick up and use at your will. There are apples and turkeys to eat, these will replenish your health if you are too low. You can also pick up crow bars, and knives to assit you in your attacks. If you get bored of these, feel free to throw them at an enemy in a final attack. There is also money to grab along the way in the form of sacks of money with dollar signs on (American made game). The money has no real application other than adding to your final score at the end of the game.

The game was immensely popular in it's time and as a result spawned a successful sequel. The sequel was even more well received but divided the Streets of Rage fan community somewhat, with some prefering the original and others worshiping the sequel. The second Streets of Rage installment went for a slightly different graphical interface, and play style but retained the basic elements that made Streets of Rage a classic. It also offered us more baddies and different playable characters. It was another instant hit for the series. I actually prefer the sequel to the original.

A further sequel was made, Streets of Rage 3. The less said about that the better. This game lost all the elements that made Streets of Rage fun, and kind of ruined the series for me a bit. I guess this was inevitable, as it had both alot to live up to and was trying to capitalise on an already very successful genre.

All in all, streets of rage came along at a time when the Mega Drive needed a good, beat-em-up platformer. The ability to play alongside friends and fight for the good of an entire city had a really good message behind it. Although press at the time critised it for it's violent content, no one could deny the message behind it and lets face it fun-factor of the game. I wasted many hours as a child playing this with friends, and then many more hours on the sequel.

Streets of Rage is a classic in it's own right and if you haven't played it already, you've missed out on a piece of gaming History. Go buy a Mega Drive, search on ebay for an original Streets of Rage cartridge, and prepare to be amazed.

Summary: Streets of Rage is a classic in it's own right. Platform Beat-em-up done right.