"But I want to be Axel!" (Streets of Rage)

Member Name: Mutalisk

Product:	Streets of Rage
Date:	10/04/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent gameplay, diverse attacks, realistic style, diverse levels, many enemies.

Disadvantages: Special attack can easily be used unintentionally, Co-op mode is considerably harder than single.

The definitive beat-em-up, Streets of Rage is best enjoyed on the Sega Mega Drive. The player gets to choose from three players -- Adam - The bruiser, Axel - the all-rounder and Blaze - the agile gymnast.
All are police vigilantes set out to investigate and ultimately destroy the evil crime syndicate masterminded by the aptly named and cliche villain - Mr. X.

Every time I play this game on the two-player co-operative mode, there is always a huge argument over who gets to be Axel!

The gameplay is simplistic, and in keeping with standard beat-em-up theme - Hordes of enemies coming at you from both sides of the screen, - but there are, at the same time many diverse ways to dispatch the gang members and bosses who come after you with knives, baseball bats, fists and smoke grenades! (All of which can also be utilized by the player.) There is also a combo move in which one character jumps off the other's shoulders and delivers a shoulder-slam to the enemy's unsuspecting face, and enemies can be thrown into one another in either direction.

There is also a special move which can only be used once or twice per round(There are eight rounds) in which the player 'calls for backup' so to speak, and a cop car pulls up and fires a heavy-duty industrial rocket-launcher, doing tremendous damage to all enemies on-screen. Although it is easy to accidentally use this ability, due to it only requiring the push of one button.

Like its sequels however, the co-op mode is arguably much more difficult than the single-player, as the amount of enemies on the screen is doubled, but both players still need to avoid accidentally punching each other in the chops!

Whilst Streets of Rage or "Bare Knuckle" in Japan, is only a 16-bit game, unlike its sequels, its minimalist graphics and more realistic environments make it feel a lot more realistic, if a little less visceral than SOR I and II.

If you own an Amiga or a Sega, you simply MUST own this title. It is a classic not to be sniffed at!

Summary: The holy grail of Beat-em-ups.