Being a huge Streets of Rage fan in the 90s, I was super-excited to play the 4th entry into the series, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. The vibrant hand drawn anime art-style that they went with was a great choice. Everything looks absolutely stunning, from the character models to the environments -- I was enthralled by the visuals throughout my entire playthrough. Also, It was so incredible to see most of the classic SoR cast, along with all of the classic enemy-types get this visual upgrade, with many cool new enemy-types as well.
Another high expectation I had was for the music, and it did not disappoint. The bar was set high because of how amazing the music of Streets of Rage 2 was, but they really knocked this soundtrack out of the park as well. It was so awesome to hear that Yuzo Koshiro -- the original SoR composer -- came back to do a few tracks for the game. I would have loved to have heard a whole new soundtrack from him, but Olivier Deriviere -- who took over as the primary artist featured on this soundtrack -- did a wonderful job, and I still loved nearly every single track. I'm actually listening to the soundtrack as I'm typing this review, and I'm adoring the hell out of it! It really sounds like Deriviere paid a ton of homage and respect to Koshiro's style, which I can severely appreciate.
The game plays just like I remember Streets of Rage playing on the Genesis, and that is not a bad thing. I wouldn't say that the game did anything mechanically innovative to move the genre forward -- it really is just your classic 90s-era BEU with a few extra move sets -- but it feels timeless to play, and it's hard to not have a good time.
I guess my only complaint is that the game is a bit short. I'm not expecting some 40-hour banger from my BEU titles, but I was able to get through the entire game on normal mode in roughly 3-4 hours. At the end, I felt like I would have appreciated at least a few more stages. But still, I had a great time in those few hours, and these games are always fun to play back through on higher difficulties with different characters, or with friends, so there's plenty of reason to go back for more. If you're a Streets of Rage fan, you owe it to yourself to play this entry. As long as you're not looking for something revolutionary, I can't see how you could be disappointed.
Another high expectation I had was for the music, and it did not disappoint. The bar was set high because of how amazing the music of Streets of Rage 2 was, but they really knocked this soundtrack out of the park as well. It was so awesome to hear that Yuzo Koshiro -- the original SoR composer -- came back to do a few tracks for the game. I would have loved to have heard a whole new soundtrack from him, but Olivier Deriviere -- who took over as the primary artist featured on this soundtrack -- did a wonderful job, and I still loved nearly every single track. I'm actually listening to the soundtrack as I'm typing this review, and I'm adoring the hell out of it! It really sounds like Deriviere paid a ton of homage and respect to Koshiro's style, which I can severely appreciate.
The game plays just like I remember Streets of Rage playing on the Genesis, and that is not a bad thing. I wouldn't say that the game did anything mechanically innovative to move the genre forward -- it really is just your classic 90s-era BEU with a few extra move sets -- but it feels timeless to play, and it's hard to not have a good time.
I guess my only complaint is that the game is a bit short. I'm not expecting some 40-hour banger from my BEU titles, but I was able to get through the entire game on normal mode in roughly 3-4 hours. At the end, I felt like I would have appreciated at least a few more stages. But still, I had a great time in those few hours, and these games are always fun to play back through on higher difficulties with different characters, or with friends, so there's plenty of reason to go back for more. If you're a Streets of Rage fan, you owe it to yourself to play this entry. As long as you're not looking for something revolutionary, I can't see how you could be disappointed.