Urban Reign is a extremely fun 3D brawler that takes quite a learning curve to get used to and feels like it overstayed its welcome a bit. Namco really took a lot of Tekken influences along with other 3D fighters I can't really put my finger on to make a weird but extremely gratifying brawler.

The premise of the plot is barely here but it's not really the reason you're gonna be playing. You literally play as a dude called Brad Hawk as you beat the crap out of everyone in town. The gameplay is where things get a bit crazy. You got basic inputs like striking, grappling, dodging and parrying and so forth but you pick the sections of the body to attack at and pick the direction where you're gonna parry as well. All of this combined with some of the most aggressive enemies I've played in the few beat em ups I've played makes this a hell of a learning experience and you will get walled unless you learn how to handle specific situations. The notion of actually doing this is pretty fun but it's also extremely difficult to the point that it might seem like the enemy itself is cheesing you sometimes but it's also extremely satisfying to pull off perfect play too. The soundtrack is great here as you can hear the guitarist shredding the hell out while you're probably getting beaten the hell out by three enemies since they can legit tag team and combo you in the air.

Namco managed to make a really good and challenging beat em up here that makes doing some flashy shit really fun. Just be ready to get your ass handed to because this game is not forgiving even on the normal difficulty and there's two more difficulties above that.