I finished on Normal. It’s four stars out of five for me but if you aren’t as attached to the original three games as I am, then give it another half star.
It feels like French fan fiction sometimes but the beatings are on point and have the hard hitting feel of the second game specifically. Lots of callbacks to the originals that resonate. Original designs not as strong IMO.
The music is legendary at times though, thanks largely to the brilliance of Yuzo Koshiro and Motohito Kawashima, the OG composers. If the people making this hadn’t gotten them on board it would not have quite the impact it does.
I realize the likelihood of Sega ever making one of these in Japan ever again is near zero, but there is something about the way games are designed there that avoids some of the small things that jarred me at times.
That said, the developers exceeded my expectations at times and that soundtrack specifically ramping during certain stages (especially right before the elevator in the Y Corporation) is incredible and raises the action often. The difficulty is kinda all over the place on Normal, but most boss fights were fair enough. Shiva was tough because the stage wears you down so much. That probably took me the longest to beat. My favorite is probably the brawl with The Commissioner in his office. That was inspired! I think that’s the one you guys struggled with. I had no issues on Normal but it’s tougher on Hard.
I really liked the game. I didn’t really have any expectations, so I was happily surprised this game was more than decent in the end. Killer soundtrack by Olivier Deriviere and the Japanese composers as well. Good enough for me to get it on Bandcamp.
I really like how it looks, bright and colorful and a great modern take on the older games. The combo system is great. Bouncing enemies against the wall to extend combo’s is a great addition. So are the new star moves and I also really like you can do the special moves while jumping.
One small thing I disliked is the fact that Axel feels kind of slow and not as powerful as the others. He was always the Ryu/Ken of Streets of Rage and now he isn’t anymore. Another thing I disliked is that they removed running/dashing. It’s one of the things I really miss from SoR3 and without it makes the game feel a little slow sometimes. It’s one of the reasons I like to use Adam (he can kind of dash a bit) or the guitar wielding kid.
I hope they will add running in a future update. Also hoping for more original characters to join the cast as DLC or an update.
Yeah I put a lot of time into this game. Also I just did an Arcade run with Floyd since it’s my 1st time using him and yet another unexpected no death run happened, lol. I got to do Hardest and Mania for Arcade later on.
