Streets of Rage 4

Played this local coop with a buddy and we had a great time. It can be as difficult or as easy as you'd like to set it. We just blasted through it for a good time, but the mechanics are smooth when it comes to hitboxes, AI, and weapons. I recommend for anyone going for a fun beat-em-up. 7.5/10

Imagine a sequel to a 30 year old game, where they improved all of the mechanics and fixed all the problems of its era, while maintaining it's spirit and legacy. This is the peak of side scrolling brawlers.

Streets of Rage 4 is a cool beat em' up with music and gameplay reminiscent of the original. I haven't played 2 and 3, but I've played the first one several times both on Sega Genesis, and later on the Sega classics re-release here on Steam. The game looks, runs and sounds great and is fun to play. It has a charmingly cheesy/campy storyline about the children of Mr. X trying to take over the city. If I could levy one complaint against it, it's that the story mode is rather short, which to be fair, is kind of expected given what kind of game it is. This game is less about powerful narrative than it is about having fun. My brother and I sat down completely new to the game and finished story mode on "Normal" difficulty in 2 player mode in just shy of 2 hours. But, the story mode isn't the only thing on offer here. There's online multiplayer, boss rush mode, a versus multiplayer mode where you fight each other instead of the bad guys, etc. all of which should serve to keep the game fresh and fun to play, especially in a weekend party/get-together type setting. You can also get Steam achievements, unlock skins and characters, etc. If you're intimidated by the new combat, characters, etc., there's also training missions to teach you how to play the game. One positive change they made, at least on the "Normal" difficulty, is that your life counter resets at the beginning of each level. So unlike the original game where losing all your lives might mean starting the game over back at level 1, or at the very least, using a continue and resetting your score to 0, in this game it allows you to save your progress and as long as you finish a level "at all" you get reset to 2 lives at the beginning of the next level. The music is a bit more modern, but it is reminiscent of the original game. There are also a lot of familiar level design tropes that call back to the older games, such as an elevator level where you can throw enemies off the side, and some new ones as well. There are some classic weapons like the steel pipe, and some new ones like the taser. Each character has a full compliment of new moves and special abilities too. Where the original game had you calling in police with your "S" move, this game has special fighting moves that require a star item and actually drain health to use, but do a lot more damage and are unique to each character. And that's in addition to a range of combo abilities that are also unique to each character. Knocking enemies into the air and juggling them back and forth with my brother, or off the wall, was really quite satisfying. Overall I've thoroughly enjoyed what time I've played of it. It's a beautiful and well made classic beat em' up style game that's especially fun for couch co-op when you have friends or family over.