The are only four buttons – attack, jump, special, and pick up. Not that you need a tutorial for a game this simple. The standout addition has to be the inclusion of juggle combos and I honestly can’t believe how naturally it fits into the established flow of the game – so much that I started doing them without even seeing a tutorial. The new features are very subtle, but they make all the difference. In gameplay terms, Streets of Rage 4 is almost identical to the classic arcade games. You also unlock Adam after beating level 4, not a huge secret, and he’s way cooler than he was in the original game, with a very sharp, fast, martial-artsy fighting style which can produce some impressive aerial combos. Blaze is as stylish as ever, and favours speed slightly more than power, giving her more combo potential.
Axel now looks like someone’s shaggy, jobless old uncle, but he still packs a mighty punch with his balance of speed and power. The returning characters are awesome too. He also has the unique ability to grapple two opponents at once and them smash them together like a rage-filled cymbal monkey. He’s the slow, grapple-oriented character and dishes out more damage than the rest of the crew. She might not deal much damage with her punches and kicks, but she’s fast and pretty good for combos. Cherry is gorgeously animated and fun to play, being more akin in style to Skate from Streets of Rage 2 and 3 than her dad. To combat the threat, old heroes Blaze Fielding and Axel Stone team up with musician Cherry Hunter, daughter of Adam from Streets of Rage 1, and Floyd Iraia, the beefy, cybernetically enhanced apprentice of Dr. X’s children, the Y Twins, who have a dastardly new plans to take over Wood Oak City. X was defeated, but now a new syndicate has arisen, headed by Mr. It’s been ten peaceful years since the crime lord Mr. Not that the story in Streets of Rage was ever noteworthy, being little more than basic justification for a crew of heroes to walk across a dingy city beating the snot out of armies of thugs. It seems that the gods of gaming heard my pleas and saw fit to grant my wish because Streets of Rage 4 is here, after an agonising wait, and it is indeed awesome.Īs the “4” in the title implies, this is a continuation of the story from the end of 1994’s Streets of Rage 3. Eight years ago, I ended my review of Double Dragon Neon with this line “Now I’m just holding thumbs for a Streets of Rage remake, and I implore you – make it awesome!”.