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Regardless of your playstyle, there is bound to be someone in Streets of Rage 4 you connect with as a player. Every time I went back to replay a stage with a different character, I uncovered an exciting nuance about their moveset or special abilities. Early on, I gravitated towards the more agile characters, but fell in love with the Incredible Hulk-esque movesets of Floyd and Max the more I played the game. All characters sharing the same button commands makes every single one them is easy to pick up and play, but tricky to truly master.Ĭharacters like Blaze and Cherry prioritize speed and acrobatic combos, while bulkier fighters like Alex and Floyd are slower but pack some serious damage with each hit. I didn't think I'd ever be making this comparison, but experimenting with the different characters of Streets of Rage 4 sort of felt like learning the ropes in Super Smash Bros. While some of these other characters are simply retro throwbacks to Streets of Rage 1-3, each fighter has a distinct set of special moves and combos. The core roster of characters starts off relatively small with a pool of four heroes to choose from, but playing through the story and additional modes allow you to unlock up to 17 playable characters, which is pretty impressive for a Streets of Rage game. A massive roster of characters to master and unlock Playing with friends online (which is frustratingly limited to two players) or 4-player local coop is another excellent way to amplify the combo chaos. Once I understood the importance of scores when it comes to gaining lives and unlocking new content, I became obsessed with trying to keep that combo alive as long as possible. Initially, I found this system fairly unimportant as I was making my way through my first few playthroughs. Learning the subtleties of each enemy type and your own character is critical if you want to rack up a solid combo and boost your score. More forgiving options for using special abilities lend itself perfectly to a genuinely addicting combo system that feels like something straight out of Devil May Cry. One hit from an enemy can cost you a massive amount of health if you're careless. reward for the player where each attack must be carefully calculated. This creates an exhilarating loop of risk vs. Streets of Rage 4 introduces an engaging system that roots itself in this somewhat archaic idea but allows the player to regenerate health by attacking enemies without taking damage after performing a special ability. Historically, the player would be taxed directly from their health pool to execute these flashy moves. One of my biggest complaints about games in this genre is the aggressive punishment applied for using your special abilities. Thankfully, there are some significant quality of life changes that kept combat feeling fresh and fun well into my fifth and sixth playthroughs.
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Initially, this was incredibly satisfying, but I quickly began to worry that the simplicity of these systems would grow repetitive. The World successfully adding modern conventions that drastically improved the overall experience while recapturing some of the nostalgic magic that made side-scrolling beat 'em ups so iconic, it could never come back into popularity. Despite modern titles like Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim vs. Unfortunately, over-saturation and lack of innovation ultimately led to this sub-genre fading into obscurity shortly after the release of Streets of Rage 3. Nearly every major franchise got its own release in this style, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, The Simpsons, and countless more. After getting its start in arcades, the home console craze eventually brought a flood of these games to systems like the SNES and Sega Genesis.
#Streets of rage 4 art windows
Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)įor those unfamiliar with the legacy of side-scrolling beat 'em ups, there was a period in the late '80s to early '90s where this was arguably the biggest and most popular genre in gaming.