STREETS OF RAGE 4 / DEVELOPER: DOTEMU, LIZARDCUBE, GUARD CRUSH GAMES / PUBLISHER: DOTEMU / PLATFORM: PC, PS4, SWITCH, XBOX ONE (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
If you were a gamer during the early 90s, chances are you came across the Streets of Rage franchise. Completely revitalising the beat ‘em up genre and further raising the profile of Sega’s 16-bit Megadrive / Genesis console, the SOR trilogy was a huge mainstream success and undoubtedly one of the most recognisable videogame series of the era. Now, after much fan demand and an almost 26-year wait, the franchise is finally getting a new iteration on modern consoles in the form of Streets of Rage 4!
Development was split between Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games (with Dotemu handling publishing duties) after Lizardcube had initially approached Sega with the idea. The combination of Lizardcube and Dotemu had proved to be a potent mix after their highly praised remake of Wonder Boy 3 (which we can’t recommend enough!), so Sega were keen to greenlight the project and, with the addition of a modified version of Guard Crush Games’ Streets Of Fury engine, SOR4 was born.
Gameplay doesn’t deviate too far from the original formula, but with a few welcome additions that help bring the game into the modern era. You’re still playing a traditional, belt scrolling, arcade button-masher, but there are far more combos, special moves, hidden areas, weapons and general tactics to deploy. For the first time in a SOR title, players can now enjoy simultaneous four-player multiplayer co-op action, both locally or online. This is where the lion’s share of your enjoyment is going to come from. Things get pretty frantic in multiplayer and stringing together chains of combos and joint attacks is extremely satisfying. Back is the health-depleting special move from almost all beat ‘em ups, but now you have the opportunity to regain the health lost from performing the move by executing a perfectly timed combo.
Presentation is top notch right across the board, from the menus, to the soundtrack, to the graphical style. The music in particular really captures the vibe of the original (which is none too surprising given that Yuzo Kushiro was one of the composers), but the whole package really is what SOR fans have been clamouring for. There’s also a huge amount of replayability with such a vast amount of things to unlock and so many things to customise. SOR4 is a beat ‘em up fan’s dream.
