Review for Streets of Rage 4. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch,
It's been ten years in the Streets of Rage universe since Axel and Blaze defeated Mr. X's plans for the umpteenth time. Axel Stone grew a thick beard and silver threads appeared in his hair. Max Hatchett. Time has also passed in the real world: twenty-six years. In the great hourglass, several videogame generations took turns, and after a quarter of a century, more hands have resurrected a saga that had disappeared, but which has remained indelible in history.
Wood Oak City needs us once again. We must tread once again… the Streets of Rage.
Double Trouble
This time the crime lord known as Mr. X is not part of the game. The throne on which he bravely sat is now split in two, occupied by his children: the twins Y. They have re-established a crime empire aimed at controlling the city, and it's a more than valid reason for Axel to put on his red gloves again and clean up the streets with his friends in tow.
Streets of Rage 4 stays true to the saga played on Sega Mega Drive with a premise that the inhabitants of Wood Oak City will not sleep peacefully. Axel is not alone, of course: in the cast chosen by Lizardcube, Guard Crush and DotEmu join the inevitable Blaze Fielding and two new characters, Cherry Hunter, daughter of the most famous Adam, and Floyd Iraia, the apprentice of Dr. Zan, plus a little surprise that will be added during the "phases" and that will certainly make the fans happy.
In this chapter-homage to the fighting series, Cherry not only has the merit of being the second playable female character on Streets of Rage after years of Blaze, but also the fastest of the bunch. Floyd, on the other hand, is a devastating big man who, following in Max's footsteps, makes grabs and crowd control winning weapons. Axel and Blaze, unfortunately, have lost the ability to run thus regressing to the first Streets of Rage - and if for Floyd it is all in all understandable, we have not been able to figure out why the development team has decided to impair the protagonists of Streets of Rage, denying them alternative mechanics such as a roll for Blaze and a parade for Axel in order to diversify the game offer even more.
The lack, however, soon makes room for habit: we played both single and co-op (up to a maximum of 4 players offline, 2 online) especially with newcomers, both for the novelty factor but also to be able to have some freedom in the various levels that make up Streets of Rage 4, and after completing the game in hard mode we feel we can elect Cherry and Floyd to the best of the roster.
The reason is obvious: in addition to the most classic moves - punches, jump attacks, combos - the characters beat the streets full of enemies with new features, which are very useful when you find yourself bottled. The first is a special move perfect for crowd control that absorbs a certain amount of life from the character, which turns green. At this point a sort of mini-game starts, which we really appreciated: there is the possibility to take back the lost life, just don't be hit and hammer the enemies. Each of the characters can have their say on this aspect: Cherry, for example, will use the guitar she carries on her back, crashing it into enemies, Axel will unleash a punch combo worthy of Street Fighter's Ken, Floyd will stretch his cybernetic arms to grab a enemy and throw it as if it were a stick and so on.
The second novelty is represented by the star move, which in practical terms is the strongest attack available to our fighter. In this case Blaze will prove his mystical abilities, while Floyd… we let you discover, but it has devastating results. The stars that are used to activate these peculiar abilities are scattered around the level as a pick up, like the classic chicken that regenerates life, which certainly could not be missing (plus in each level you start with a star in your pocket ).
There's something rotten in Wood Oak City
Streets of Rage 4 offers various difficulties for the story mode, starting with the easy with six lives available, passing through the difficult and arriving at that "mania". At the end of the level you are then rewarded with points through a scoring system which we struggled to understand at the beginning, especially in 2 players. The score takes into account various factors such as time, stars and health remaining, then applying a penalty if, after a failure, it is decided to choose one or more extra lives at the cost of a final lower score. An extra life, for example, cuts the score by 50%, and the points then add up in a bar that has the purpose of unlocking new characters.
The rank and the "final" total score already subtracted appear in the post-level screen. To give an idea of the confusion (perhaps only personal) we use the following image: our “real” total of the level amounts to 16.000, which is divided by the 50% penalty for the extra life. As it is written, it appears that the number gained is zero; a line would have been enough to make everything much clearer.
Let's open a quick parenthesis always on lives. The stages of the game do not always take into account the presence of several players: the score and the combo counter are in common, but the objects that can be found never increase to meet the double (or quadruple!) Need. You end up, therefore, always giving up something in favor of the other player with greater difficulty in accumulating points and having extra lives - if alone having one is almost always guaranteed, good luck from 2 players up: they share food, stars and money.
The story of Streets of Rage 4 comes to its conclusion in 4-5 hours of gameplay. If it is true that it is in line with the subgenre, it must also be admitted that a little more might have been expected after twenty-six years. The fact that it carries on the tradition of scrolling fighting does not take away from the possibility of renewing itself and offering a more complete campaign with more stages. Let's not get it wrong, the formula is always a hit: Streets of Rage 4 is fun, seems to never be enough and lends itself to being faced several times to unlock the other characters, but the levels (disposition of enemies and objects included) never change. Between replayability and repetitiveness the step is short: we would have liked a greater focus on the key mode of the title.
From the story you unlock everything else that Streets of Rage 4 has to diversify its nostalgic offering. Besides the main campaign, the development teams delivers many possibilities: select a specific level, the boss rush, an unsuccessful versus mode and an arcade mode that is not for the faint of heart. The latter mimics the old games and the symbolic token of the cabinets, which must be inserted to replay the campaign from start to finish without dying. Finally there is online, which allows you to join another player's game. The offer on paper is rich, but soon the stages present in Streets of Rage 4 will know each other by heart and they will have no more surprises on the gameplay side - apart from the retro stages.
The plot of this fourth chapter is characterized by a decreasing quality and a rather sudden ending. It fulfills its role as an orb barrel contour and tries to characterize the characters in a few lines with the help of comic slides, especially the antagonists, the Y twins, who try to hold up their father's flag with sporadic appearances and some lightness. Some historical characters in the saga limit themselves to short cameos, leaving a bad taste in their mouths when they don't join the team despite having a reason. There could have been more generous work on the roster, perhaps looking with admiration at the amateur Streets of Rage Remake.
New roads, old roads
With Streets of Rage 4 the developers wink at the fans of the saga, and it could not be otherwise: the levels are full of details and references to past games (such as Mr. X's windows, various posters), for newcomers instead the immersion may be more difficult, as there is no summary of Streets of Rage proposed so far but only a light indirect smattering through the bio of the characters.
The new graphic style denotes the great care skimping elsewhere: everything is drawn by hand and then implemented in the game at a later time, from the backgrounds to the characters, which returns a more alive urban world, complete with signs and graffiti everywhere. The design of old and new protagonists is convincing and never out of place: the former detectives thus have a more defined identity than their counterparts; Axel looks like a true brawler, Blaze rejuvenates from the pixels (but maybe it's a bit too… irrepressible), and in a few moments you end up loving Cherry Hunter and Floyd Iraia as if they were historical characters of the series. The various sketches return the idea of how the game has evolved over the months and what has been discarded, but the feeling on the graphic side is that the path taken is the right one, to be followed and encouraged. Axel and associates therefore move not only in a first stage that refers to the old glories, but in a dozen others characterized by enemies on the screen, divided by color and rank, a curve of greater difficulty and environments that range between sewers and museums. to thwart the terrible plans of the serpent twins.
Another key element when it comes to Streets of Rage is the colonna sonora. Streets of Rage is considered a training ship from this point of view, with Yuzo Koshiro as its captain, who at the time managed to make the Sega Mega Drive and Genesis sound chips shine with wide-ranging techno / funk / dance melodies. Koshiro returns to the recording room for the fourth chapter to help the main composer, Olivier Deriviere (Vampyr and A Plague Tale: Innocence among his latest works) and guest stars such as Motohiro Yamashima, Yoko Shimomura and others who sign some tracks.
The result is a respectable soundtrack both taken by itself and against the originals, varied between techno, funk, rock, 80s vibes and a cocktail of other sounds. Deriviere proves to know how to deal with some tracks that are among the best of the title (listen to Call the Cops or Rising Up and try to say the opposite), but there is also the possibility to switch to the retro soundtrack of the first Streets of Rage, for listen to the award-winning company Koshiro-Yamashima grappling with new levels.
Streets of Rage 4 doesn't differ much from the originals, and for many it might be fine. It might be enough for the series to reappear on consoles and PCs after twenty-six years of suspension with new, modern and refined graphics and a soundtrack in full Bare Knuckle style, but sometimes you have to ask for an extra effort. We could have been daring with other unlockable characters, a more curated story and a mode that changed the cards on the table, rather than stirring them in a similar sauce. Nonetheless, Streets of Rage 4 is a valid, fun and respectful title towards the saga, with references and few but good changes. The 90s scrolling fighting games can still have their say, but we hope that in the future Streets of Rage will offer an even more multifaceted offer that will make amateur projects pale.
► Streets of Rage 4 is a scrolling fighting game published by DotEmu for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch,
