(AfroGamers.com) When my youngest brother sent me a text with a video link of the upcoming beat-em-up game Streets Of Rage 4, I was absolutely ecstatic for a new Streets Of Rage game because the last Streets Of Rage game that came out was Streets Of Rage 3 about 25 years ago when Sega was at its peak back in the day.
I have a very long history with The Streets Of Rage series since I was about 10 years old, I remember playing the very first Streets Of Rage game that was on a compilation 6-Pak game cartridge for The Sega Genesis.
When I played SOR the first few times, I often struggled in terms of trying to preserve my life as well as trying to avoid losing a life at the hands of either a regular enemy or the boss of each stage. But however, knowing the video game genius that I was at such a young age, I quickly adapted to the tone and the speed of the game by playing as my favorite character from that game in Adam Hunter (whose character design was based on Mike Tyson). And while playing as Adam, I would often lay the smackdown by throwing a sick heymaker uppercut on enemies and bosses alike.
The 1st Streets Of Rage video game soundtrack is my favorite all-time video game soundtrack because every track sounded like a thrilla track that was most fitting to be played in a nightclub setting. My favorite tracks from that game are Stage 1, 3, 7, 8, Boss, Last Boss, and Bad Ending tracks.
When I played Streets Of Rage 2, I was immediately blown away by the superior graphics and gameplay because there were four characters to choose from in the game from returning characters Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding to two new characters in Max and my favorite character from that game in Adam’s younger brother Skate that I would use sometimes to beat down the baddies with one of my favorite moves when Skate jumps on top of them and then punches them in the head repeatedly until they’re defeated and I absolutely enjoyed doing that. The special moves for the four characters were much better in this game than the first one with Axel’s being my favorite. This game will always be one of my favorite beat-em-up games of all-time.
I remember playing Streets Of Rage 3 and I understood why a lot of people didn’t like this game and I actually agreed with them because the main reasons as to why I didn’t like this game very much because the graphics and gameplay were not as smooth as they were in Streets Of Rage 2 and what’s even worse about Streets Of Rage 3 was that the weapon and special move usage was completely watered down to the point of taking away the fun from this game.
When I saw a video of Streets Of Rage 4 from a link my youngest brother texted me, I felt extremely ecstatic about beat-em-up games for the first time in many years because I grew up during the peak years of the beat-em-up genre in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, there were many great beat-em-up games from the arcades and home consoles like Streets Of Rage 1 & 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, Final Fight, & Battletoads. I really enjoyed playing those beat-em-up games because they had different characters including some black characters like Adam Hunter and Skate from the Streets Of Rage Series as well as different fighting styles and special moves.
The beat-em-up genre has always been one of my favorite genres of video games and the genre has been dormant for such a very long time now. Sure beat-em-up games like Double Dragon 4 and Beat Street did well financially, but neither one of them could revive the spirit of the beat-em-up genre.
When I saw the official Streets Of Rage 4 trailer, it really gave me hope that this game could definitely revive the spirit of the beat-em-up genre that has been in hibernation for so many years now.
In Streets Of Rage 4, Axel Stone is now in his 30s sporting a mustache and a beard while Blaze Fielding still looks young and attractive despite being in her 30s also.
For the first time Streets Of Rage 4, players can actually earn some of their health that they lost back from either getting knocked down by enemies or bosses especially using a special move. I feel that this feature is definitely much needed because it can help you last longer in tougher stages in the game.
Another gameplay mechanic about Streets Of Rage 4 that I like is that players can now work together to juggle enemies in mid-air and keeping combos going longer, but beware, enemies and especially bosses can also juggle players in mid-air and that’s not a very good place to be trust me.
The Conclusion – Even though the beat-em-up genre’s far removed from its glory days, but I personally believe that Streets Of Rage 4 could definitely be the beat-em-up game that could restore some of that lost glory.
Staff Writer; Kwame Shakir (aka Joe D.)