"Not good! This is not good!"

Intro: Save our city!

Capcom Studio 8 (developers of the new G'n'G / Maximo games) resurrects the nigh-legendary Final Fight franchise in the form of the semi-free-roaming bare-knuckle brawler Final Fight: Streetwise for the PS2 and XBX. Good news for Capcom fans, right?

Lex Luthor: WRONG!

Story: Players assume the role of Kyle Travers, younger sibling of Cody Travers, one of the heros who helped defeat the crime lord Horace Belger during the events of the original Final Fight. One night at the local bar, the two brothers are jumped by some suits who claim to have unfinished business with Cody. The resulting fray takes a turn for the worse, and you wake up to find that Cody's missing. And that's the good part. From thereon in, the plot de-evolves into a rejected Resident Evil script complete with zombie-like enemies and misrepresented characters. Guy is a Yakuza boss? Who wrote this crap?!
Score: 5/10

Gameplay: What do you expect? It's Final Fight. You've got your standard light and heavy punches, grapples, blocks. Oddly, they neglected to put in a jump button in both Story and Arcade mode. New to the system is the Instinct Bar, which allows you to straight-up counter an opponent's blows before they come anywhere near you or parry and retaliate with a brutal slow-motion enhanced beatdown. you won't be doing this very much, though, because the enemy A.I. is about as smart as a brick and directly proportional to the variety of foes you'll fight (which I could count on my fingers). As you progress, you can use money you collect to buy more moves at various gyms scattered around Metro City. The only problem is that earning money requires you to participate in sometimes bizarre, poorly-designed mini-games and half-baked side quests. Honestly, it just feels unpolished. The Arcade feels rushed and lacking. Hell, they couldn't even get the original Final Fight emulated properly. Unacceptably shoddy programming on the part of Capcom Studio 8.
Score: 4/10

Graphics/Presentation: Screams "mediocre." At first I thought the dated look on the GameSpot videos was just due to the low-quality recording. A first-hand look cleared that misconception right up. I swear, sometimes I thought the in-game footage looked better than the "cut-scenes." They were obviously trying to go for the "gritty, urban" feel of titles like Grand Theft Auto and their ilk, but they ended up just making Metro City look washed-out and dated (PlayStation-era, anyone?). Graphically, I was completely underwhelmed.
Score: 4/10

Audio: The game really gets my goat in this department. In their infinite knowledge, Capcom Studio 8 opted for licensed music from an on-line distributor to enhance the "gritty, urban" atmosphere. The soundtrack is comprised mainly of top 40 rap (black guys yelling) and death metal (white dudes screaming). Yuck. The only decent tracks are the instrumentals that come from NUMBS, Supertweeker, and DJ 2-Ill. There's also a couple remixes of songs from the earlier Final Fight games, which rock. Also on the downside is the dialogue. Every other word is either **** or ****. Which is cool and hardcore if you're in like fifth grade.
Score: 5/10

Conclusion: This game is basically Beatdown: Fists of Vengeance with characters that people actually care about. I felt dirty after completing this game.
Final Score: 4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/07