Streets of Rage 4

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

I'd think of Streets of Rage 2 specials more like Desperation Moves. Maybe they're even called something like that? I don't remember. You aren't meant to really use them as an offensive attack, they're a defensive move used to take less damage than you would by getting hit by enemies. Unless you know you've got some health coming your way you don't really use specials to just do more damage. They don't really become an offensive move until SoR3; but even then using it will leave you weaker, making you take more damage until your power meter fills back up, and doing less damage with normals as well.

I do however find this game's extreme reverence for SoR2 somewhat odd though, and the way it seemingly eschews SoR3. I mean, there was a lot of talk about developing this in a way they think Ancient would have or something. Most of that seemed to be in regard to the look of the game, which I really don't think holds much water given what the series promotional art, and like the ending art in SoR3, look like. But there's also this weird lack of stuff that Streets of Rage 3, which was also developed by Ancient, brought to the table. But then again I think it's weird this doesn't pull stuff from other Sega beat 'em ups like Die Hard Arcade and SpikeOut too, or that it doesn't have team up moves...one of the things the unmade Ancient & Overworks Dreamcast Streets of Rage 4 showed is being able to throw an enemy up into the air and another player being able to jump up and do an air throw. That Dreamcast one also looked like it was going to still have running for everyone.

 

[Vorark]

Been playing this game for the last few days and most of the criticism was spot-on.

The excessive use of hyper armor on enemies kills all the momentum by constantly putting you on the defensive, in a genre known for being fast-paced. I have no clue how someone thought it would make for good and engaging enemy design to wait for the armor to wear off, throw a couple of punches and kicks during this brief vulnerability window and then go back to waiting. The issue is further aggravated by low player mobility against enemies who are super agile or do AOE attacks, meaning you cannot dodge roll the incoming attacks or run away. It's comical how there are fatso enemies rolling around like it's Dark Souls III yet your fit character is all sluggish and heavy.

Not a fan of the combo system either, would be better if the counter could only be interrupted by being knocked out or thrown away. In its current implementation you can lose your hits to a random enemy jab you didn't see because there were 4 to 5 mooks circling you or by taking too long to reach another enemy cause the walking speed is so goddamn slow.

There's a balance patch in the works focused on decreasing the hyper armor of certain enemies, letting you special out of a stun and improving character speed (namely SOR4 Axel). Looks promising and at least the developers are listening to the community grievances, but I'm expecting much after they shipped the game with such obvious gameplay flaws. There's a quite decent game hidden here, the devs just need to unleash it.

 

[Durandal]

 

[Ezekiel]

The new moves worry me.

 

[Tweed]

Paying money for a tranny, no thanks.

 

[karoliner]

This game was so nice.

 

[Great Deceiver]

It was a great game, but sadly missing some stuff that has been a staple in beat'em'ups for the longest time - namely, attacks on downed opponents. Wasn't a fan of the art style either, but technically it looks great.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Attacks on downed enemies isn't exactly the norm in 2D beat 'em ups. There are games that have attacks specifically for downed opponents, but it's by no means a staple of the genre; even your normal attacks hitting as on-the-ground attacks I don't think was really ever the norm either...but you do have attacks that can hit OTG with every character.

That update seems interesting. I'd kind of hope the new stages and stuff were way weirder than what they showed since it looks like they're doing The Cell and sending you into the brain of Mr. X. I mean if they wanted to go nuts, doing a Streets of Rage version of The Cell inside the brain of Mr. X seems like a license to go completely fucking crazy.

It seems now you can customize your characters moves, which is where the new moves come in. I kind of wish they just put in move inputs and gave you everything.

 

[Dexter]

Does anyone have any idea why they went with the way they did for CoOp/Online CoOp? You got Online CoOp where you can play with other people that own the game, but you're limited to 2 people that way. If you use "Remote Play" though you can invite and play with up to four people? If they already have Online CoOp in the game and the required Netcode and they allow for 4 players in Couch CoOp/Remote, why didn't they implement it for the Online portion too? Can't even have a Hybrid where 2nd player is Online and 3rd is Local/Remote, because as soon as an Online player joins the other Slots become unusable. Seems kinda baffling.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

 

[Max Damage]

After having beaten story and arcade mode on Normal and Hard (and now getting my ass handed on Hardest), I think this is my favorite Streets of Rage game now. Great gameplay, nice visuals, awesome music, no character feels bad to play.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

 

[RoBoBOBR]

 

[RoBoBOBR]

Release date is July 15th

 

[Ezekiel]

DLC came out an hour ago. How is it?

 

[RoBoBOBR]

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I'm hearing reports that Shiva is godlike.

 

[Terra]

From what I played today; Shiva's really good, Estel's not bad (not used to her playstyle yet) and I haven't gotten around to trying Max yet. The Survival mode is loads of fun in co-op, one player is able to select a buff at the end of each stage (add elemental attacks to particular moves, buff/reduce damage, etc as well as some riskier choices). Things get really hectic beyond stage 15. Seems they have a curated series of stages with fixed layouts & enemy spawns which they intend to update weekly as well as a true random mode where everything is randomised each run through. Seems you have to beat survival mode repeatedly as a character to unlock their alternate moves (which you can assign prior to starting), it's beneficial to play in co-op as the other player's earned XP for their character is also granted to your own (if they're using Blaze, your Blaze gains some XP, even if you aren't using her).

Had a fun couple of hours playing it.

 

[Ezekiel]

I play Survival a lot better on my own. The other players don't even give you a chance to read the ability descriptions before they take them.

 

[Melcar]

Windows only, blah. Hopefully a Linux version follows soon.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

This DLC is great. Survival mode is very fun, new characters are good, additional moves for the whole cast is a great idea (finally Adam can have a good blitz attack), Mania+ difficulty is enjoyable as well. Color palettes are nice, if a bit limited (i wish they gave us customizable ones).

 

[racofer]

The problem is that the game still relies on enemies with invulnerability states and unstoppable attacks. Yes jumping and special attacks can be used to evade most attacks, but it gets tiresome fast. Remember that Max boss fight?

 

[Ezekiel]

I don't know why I keep playing Survival as if I expect an ending. Playing with other people isn't so bad after all. Just realized that roller blade kid (my online partner) is overpowered. Guy was constantly getting like 200 hit combos. Our highest was 513.

 

[wyes gull]

The problem is that the game still relies on enemies with invulnerability states and unstoppable attacks.

A lot of special enemies, especially bosses have had momentary invincibility since the inception of the genre. The game showing you when that happens with the white flash is more of a favour to the player rather than the arsepull it seems to be. Admittedly it's annoying when you walk up to someone and just as you're about to punch them in the face, they flash white and fuck you up, but it's no different from most games in the genre. If you removed them (the invincibility, not the flash), the game would turn into a cakewalk, especially the bosses which are already the easiest part of the game, unless you redesigned the AI so much you'd end up with a different game. There is one instance I'll give you which is the yellow pants Donovan; armor on that banal an enemy is pretty damn ludicrous.

The Max boss fight is pretty annoying as far as I'm concerned but I'm pretty biased as a fan of grabs and throws so not being able to do those is pretty much pissing on my parade.

I'm hearing reports that Shiva is godlike.

I wouldn't call him particularly OP (although the air comboing can get quite ridiculous) but he is just as satisfying to play as in SoRR. Of the 3, Max seems to be the strongest at a glance.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Yeah, I haven't tried much in the way of Mania runs on SoR4 but I imagine it's similar to previous games where the challenge has more to do with certain death segments than bosses being scary. In SoR2 for example, the baseball stadium elevator is a major pain in the ass because you have little room to work with and on higher difficulties the more aggressive AI can overwhelm you. The factory elevator can also be a real cunt and anytime kickboxers are on the screen in general since they have the most annoying AI.