Streets of Rage is one of those games that many played back in the day on the Sega Genesis. X35 Earthwalker himself was one of those who played this legendary game. Quite recently Streets of Rage was made available on the Xbox One. This was the perfect invitation to play the game again. So what do we think about it? Take a look.
Streets of Rage gets straight to the point. The slowly scrolling text explains the whole situation quickly and simply. Basically a city is full of chaos because of a criminal syndicate who controls everything, even the police. The leader is Mr X and he’s caused villains and crime to sky rocket. No one is safe (Will someone please think of the children!). Three cops vowed to work take to the streets, clean it up by romping all the villains trash with their fists and put a stop to all this evil. They will clean up… the Streets of Rage. You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Remember that this game came out in 1991 so you have to accept how simple it is. Players can pick from three characters: Adam, Axel and Blaze. Their stats are displayed simply with a ‘A to B’ ranking system for three categories: Power, Jump and Speed. Power is how much damage they do, Jump is how high they jump and how good their jump attacks are and Speed is how fast their movement is. Now Adam and Axel do the most damage. Adam and Blaze have the best jumping attacks and height. Overall Adam is the strongest character as he excels in the two categories that actually matter. Blaze will there for be the weakest but streets of Rage has been designed in a way that all three characters are still useful, feel different from each other and can beat the game with skill.
Adam is a boxer and so his attacks are more simple and rely on his strength. Axel is a martial artist so his attacks are quicker and more technical. Blaze does Judo so her throws rely on those use your opponents weight against them, plus she does some cool flip attacks. Each of the characters can grab and throw enemies or grab and slam the enemy on their head by lifting them completely of the ground. All can grab and land powerful strikes which best to follow up with a throw after two strikes for maximum damage. All have a jumping attack which is useful against rushing enemies or groups of enemies in a line. All also have a rear attack which basically lets your character quickly do a strike behind them to hit whoever is dumb enough to sneak up on you. Lastly all can call in a powerful artillery strike from a fellow police officer which defeats all enemies on the screen but just damages bosses.
There are eight stages to clear and each one is littered with lots of enemies. The enemies are simple but do their job. There are the standard dudes who can hit you with the simple right, right, left jabs. There’s a guy who like to throw you and at times slide into you smoother than M. Bison from Street fighter. Also a woman who thinks it’s funny to whip people. A martial martial artist who specialises in flips and kicks. Lastly a juggler who juggles fire, axes and then throws them at you (what a neat trick). It gets worse. As you progress through the Streets of Rage, you will encounter improved versions of the enemies you have faced so far. So the standard blue jacket dudes then become green and then red. The throwing guys get purple and then green outfits. The whipping women find black and lastly green clothing for the occasion. The martial artists graded up to having red and then a cool black and red uniform. Lastly the jugglers just find some alright black clothes. The improved versions have more health and more aggressive as they attack more frequently.
Each stage also has a boss who can be a serious threat. Stage one is where you face the boomerang hunter (we are giving them our own names) who has a lengthy kick and throws his boomerang which of course comes back, so watch out. Stage two is the domain of the claw hands man, basically a wannabe Fredy Kruger who is has a crazy technique to avoid jump attacks. Third stage is where the wrestler is, who does heavy damage with a running single punch. The fat man boss is hanging out in stage four. They breathe fire and forget about throwing this big boy. Stage five just so happens to have the twins who were enjoying their cruise. They are over powered. Stage six the hand claw man makes a return. Stage 7 has no boss but stage 8 has every boss you have encountered already, all ready for the rematch with off course the final boss, Mr X himself waiting and ready.
Bosses are seen by many as too hard and unfair. This is mainly due to the fact that almost all of them almost always hit you first due to their greater range and fast attack speed. It’s true. if you take these bosses head on, they will mostly likely kill you first. The best trick is to approach them from they sides by coming in from higher or lower on the screen. This will allow you to dodge many attacks and even allow a free grab on the boss themselves for big damage. Players should call in their police officer when they are needed. Don’t just save it for the boss at the end because if you die, that police call is wasted and you’ll get a new one. If you get surrounded or having a hard time against mob of enemies then use your police call ability to clear them out. It’s there to help you. Don’t just grab every health item you see. Instead go as far as possible while keeping the food on screen, their may be a fight next, where you take damage and now the food is useful. Also save the meat that at the boss fights until you are low on health. Bats and pipes are useful weapons and should never be passed up. The knife is also good but the bottle, not so much.
Maybe the best thing about Streets of Rage is the music. We are sure that pretty much everyone can agree that the music is amazing. Like seriously, who was the guy working in the studio. He clearly had too much fun. The boss music might just have to be our favourite but the music on level four is too smooth. The music is awesome. The controls are good and work very well allowing for reactions and quick actions. The bosses are creative and difficult without the right knowledge.
We have a few complaints though. The twins however are the most overpowered bosses in the game and even good players struggle tremendously against them. When it comes to stage eight, many players and have fallen to them right outside Mr X’s doors. It’s frustrating, especially when you don’t have the police call ability to help you out. They have no clear weakness at all. They always out grab you, they at times grab you through your attacks or at the start of their jump. Last complaint is why do you still have to face both the sisters even in single player. Everyone other stage sends one boss against the one player but the sisters always come together making it a two on one battle. It should be one on one like with all the others but it’s still a challenge though.
Overall Streets of Rage is an awesome game and certainly worth playing today. You will have lots of fun fighting your way through the streets, trying out different combos. There are some hidden tricks in the Streets of Rage games that players will have to discover. We also heard that their is a secret ending for Blaze but it’s a bad ending. We won’t spoil anything but it’s worth checking out. Now the Streets of Rage needed to be cleaned up but one thing that doesn’t need cleaning up at all is… the ‘Earth Walk!’
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