Game Review: Streets Of Rage 2

Game: Streets Of Rage 2
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega
Release Date: January 1993

The first screen of Streets of Rage 2 explains the somewhat flimsy premise of the game's story, the criminal syndicate from the first game are back (for whatever reason). You're given a choice of 4 characters to play as in this installment, Axel and Blaze from the first game return, and are joined by Skate and Max. All of the playable characters have stats which affect their performance in battle. Max is slow but powerful, Skate is fast but weak, and Blaze and Axel sit somewhere in the middle.

Playing the game with anyone other than Blaze or Axel seems harder, as Skate doesn't do enough damage to make his speed useful and Max isn't fast enough to get away from sticky situations. You play through 8 levels just like the first game, although the enemies now have health bars to give you an indication of their proximity to death. The levels start out similar to the first installment of the series but at times they take unexplained turns, even in the middle of levels.

Other changes from the first game include larger sprites, and the removal of the one-use special attack, in favour of health depleting specials which can be use infinitely. There's also a special combo move for each player which doesn't drain your health. Overall the gameplay remains much the same, although it can feel more cramped than the first game due to the larger sprites. It's still fun to beat up the hordes of oncoming enemies and the health bars are a good addition to the game.

The difficulty of the game is somewhat unbalanced, although it does have an arc which gets more difficult towards the end of the game. The first 5 or so levels are pretty easy and they don't feel particularly challenging, save for some of the bosses (although using your special combo can make them easier), but once you reach stage 6 it's like a switch has been flipped and suddenly it's a far more difficult game. You're often crowded out and unable to fight back due to the sheer number of enemies surrounding you.

With two players the screen feels even smaller and there are sometimes places where enemies aren't quite where you thought they were. Getting mobbed by enemies in cramped conditions can also result in damaging your team-mate inadvertantly. While the original game featured 2 bosses per stage in 2 player mode, there's only 1 per stage in the sequel, meaning that only one of you can really take the fight to them at a time, which is disappointing.

Enemies often retreat to the sides of the screen and have to be lured back out so that you can finish them off. This seems to happen far too often in the game. It's not all bad though, I did enjoy playing parts of the game, and there's some clever bits along the way. What bothers me the most is that the gameplay in the original didn't have a lot of the problems present in this game.

Graphically the game is an improvement on its predecessor, the backgrounds and locations look nice and there's some nice effects with parallax scrolling and other fancy techniques included. The character sprites are also more detailed, for their size. The music of the game is generally good, and there's references to the first game snuck in all over the soundtrack. I'd say the audiovisual aspects of the game are the most pleasing.

Overall, I don't find Streets Of Rage 2 as fun to play as the first game in the series, the issues with difficulty, controls, and two player gameplay are too hard to overlook. It does have fun ideas in places, which weren't featured in the original but it could have been much better. Most people seem to prefer this game to the original from what I can see but I don't know what they see in it. Good graphics and sound, poor gameplay when compared to Streets Of Rage 1 unfortunately.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C

Game Review: Streets Of Rage

Game: Streets Of Rage
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega (AM7)
Release Date: 2nd August 1991 (PAL)

Listen along with the game OST as you read

Streets of Rage is an absolutely classic Beat Em Up, the first game in a series which was designed to compete with other Beat Em Up games of the time such as Final Fight. You can choose from one of three characters (two if you're playing with a friend) and beat the crap outta baddies for 8 levels to face the final boss, the head of a crime syndicate controlling the people of the city.

The first level begins right where you'd think... on the streets, a busy street with flashing signs and advertisements. Almost immediately an opponent squares up to you and you'll only have a few seconds of walking to the right unopposed each level. Graphically I'd say the game scrubs up well; despite its age, it's got good animation of each character's movement, can handle many enemies on screen at once and the backdrops look as vibrant and exciting to the eye as ever.

Moveset wise, there are a fair few moves to pull off, including jump/kick combos and multiplayer moves if you're with a friend. Weapons are abundant, with enemies carrying them and all manner of bottles, bats and knives hidden under bins and mailboxes. There's also a special powerup to help with bossfights and particularly tough baddies in the form of support from your missile toting police buddies. While other games might have more moves, these options give a simplicity to the fighting. Its all about accuracy and timing, and holding onto your weapons.

The game is accompanied by a chiptune soundtrack, which is pretty groovy, and a good accompaniment to the overall feel. Vocally only the screams and grunts from your opponents as you punch them to the floor are heard, which is just how it should be. The level settings are pretty diverse, and you'll encounter different enemies as you progress; beaches, boats, outdoor elevators and hallways are all perfectly acceptable places to fight in this game.

The controls on Streets of Rage are pretty sound, the movement and hit detection is great, no complaints there. The only thing I'd change would be to put the button to summon your special police comrades somewhere where I won't accidentally hit it, because all too often I'll waste it, but I suppose that's rather more my fault than Sega's.

The time limit never really seems to be an issue in the game, I can only recall running out of it once, and that one time, my cartridge failed and stopped spawning enemies for me to hit. The real difficulty here is in learning the opponent's movesets and the distance from which you can hit them. With that memorized, its pretty simple to take on multiple enemy types at once. I do think that this game is easier with two players, as although there are more onscreen enemies, you can look after one another's health bars and use powerups strategically.

This is definitely a game to play with a friend, having played both single and multiplayer, I'd say nothing beats the strategy and teamwork of two player, added to the multiple endings, should you reach the final boss. There's a satisfaction in completing this fairly short game, as although you're given 3 continues and multiple chances to gain extra lives, they're really needed and finishing the game is still an achievement.

Overall then, a classic arcade Beat Em Up, which plays nicely and is better with a friend, but still entertaining alone. There's not too much of a story, but what is has isn't contrived and works well enough to talk you into beating the stuffing out of the bad guys (not that you needed much coercing). Personally I think this game has stood the test of time well and is still fun to play through today. Multiplayer adds replay value and strategy to the equation, and beating up your friend after working together for so long is great.

Rating: 92/100
Grade: A