Streets of Rage

"One big mean Mr X has taken over... stop him now!"

This game was one of Sega's earlier efforts brought out to introduce something new to hedgehog weary gamers. Nothing new in its genre, it had to take something special to blow gamers off their feet, and it certainly did just that. After a long time this classic game is still a centerpiece in many gamers’ collections, it most certainly is in mine. True, the storyline is not the most original - Bad guy takes over town, hunt him down and eliminate him – and yet it still has an individuality that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time you whack a thug over the head with a lead pipe…
The storyline is basically the classic revenge/save the day scenario, Mr X, the evil syndicate crime-lord type guy decides he would like to take over a city with his well meaning bully boys. You, as a young police officer have to put a stop to their fun, by diplomatic means (destroying them all) and to complete your mission you have a choice of three characters: Axel, Adam or Blaze. Each character is rated on his/her strength, speed etc., making it easy to decide who to play. Axel is an ideal choice for beginners, namely because of his all-round ability, whereas Blaze and Adam are more skilled in different areas: Adam is stronger but slower, Blaze is weaker and faster ( She has an awesome throw move :) ). The controls are a basic set up, i.e. a for the special attack, b for punch and c for jump, although these are fully configurable, even though i can't think why someone wouldn't have button c as jump... Two player mode is available, and is more fun than solo play, although you get two end of level bosses instead of one, which is annoying as should your partner die, you still have both bosses to fight. You have fight your way through eight diverse (if repetitive) levels, where you can pick up various different weapons, from knives to baseball bats. Pressing A will call a police car that fires a lethal firebomb that instantly kills any smaller bad guys on screen and it also deals out a fair amount of damage on bosses too. Power ups are also there to restore life, in the form of meat and apples, should you get hungry on the job hehe…
Two player co-operative mode provides the most fun, allowing you to smash heads with a friend! In two player mode there are a number of special double team moves to pull off, the best one in my opinion being where you throw you mate at the enemies ( Good one for bosses if you time it right :) )
Graphically, this game by no means stretches the limits of the system, being inferior to the graphics of, say, Sonic 2. Character definition is slightly clumsy, definition of features is very basic, but gets the image across.The backgrounds are fairly detailed, the wave animation on the beach level is particularly good, and so is the wind animation on the second level that blows papers about. The scenery is sometimes interactive, and it is particularly satisfying to throw an enemy down a hole in the industrial level, or to watch them get crushed in the factory level. Enemies are fairly diverse, ranging from your standard thugs to women with whips to kung fu masters than are deadly in packs. In the harder modes, standard bad guys become more challenging, attacking in larger packs with more health. Fire juggling clowns make a random appearance too… why??? The last level is especially good, as it is an all out brawl, with no police help, where you get to fight all the bosses again. It also involves pretty much every enemy you encounter in the game. Some characters, especially bosses, are very entertaining, namely the pink-haired punks and the obese fire-breathing tubs of lard that greet you at the end of stage 4. Bosses are very diverse and are (mildly) challenging, most requiring help from the police in the form of fire bombs and grenades. They are more detailed visually than other enemies, and are more comical to look at; I agree with Golden Vortex in that the wrestler boss at the end of the beach level looks like the ultimate warrior...
The soundtrack in this game is good, although you don’t actually pay that much attention to the music whilst trashing hordes of thugs. It can get repetitive but doesn’t most in game music? The death sound is very amusing, it never fails to bring a smile to my face…
Lately I found an alternative ending to the game, the bad ending. I shall say no more about that…
Although I have completed this game countless times I still get enjoyment from playing it, and this to me is what a truly great game should be like.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/04