Luigi Mario

Streets Of Rage 2

Developer/Publisher: Sega

System: Sega Genesis(duh)

Genre: Beat em' up

Intro:

Ok. So, I guess people are wondering why I chose to review Streets Of Rage 2 first, rather than going in order...

All I can say to that is: Play the first one, THEN you'll see why.

Anyway, as a follow up to it's first, grossly dissapointing, game, Streets Of Rage, Sega came out with the first sequel to it's nevertheless popular Final Fight clone: Streets Of Rage 2. I have to say, THIS was probably the best Streest Of Rage game in the entire series(even better than 3, maybe).

The plot: After the crime boss, Mr. X was defeated a year ago, he mysteriously returns out of the blue, plotting to rule the streets with his gang once again, and to make sure he suceeds, THIS time, he caputres Adam(Playable Character from the first game) and locks him up. Once Axel(Main character) learns of this, he assembles his own gang, once again. Blaze returns to help him in saving their friend, as well as two new characters. Max, Axel's friend, and Skate, Adam's Kid Brother.

Like I said, this game takes a far turn from the frist SOR game. I'll explain what I mean in this review.

Reviewed by: MattDDR

Graphis: A  

Very, VERY nice, especially in comparasion to SOR 1. Everything is colorful, which is a surprise, since usually graphics for the Genesis tend to be a bit grayish. As for the movements, well, they're choppy at some points, and incredibly fluent the next. When they walk, it obviously looks like cut animation, but when they attack, the movement looks full and fluent. I was a bit dissapointed with this, but like I said, it's a MAJOR improvement from the first game. If you compare the two, you'll see that in the first one, the frame rate has taken a DRAMATIC slowdown. That, and just about everything is choppy, no matter HOW fluent the movements are. You'll also notice that the characters don't look nearly as good, OR big as the second game. So, even IF you don't think that SOR 2's graphics aren't as good as they should be, just think, as least is isn't the first one. Lol. However, if it's a flaw I have to call attention to in this version, it's in the scrolling. IT'S TOO SLOW!!!!!If you walk too far to the right of the screen, an enemy could pop up and smack you outta nowhere. But, it's nothing you shouldn't be able to get used to.

Sound: B+

Well, it IS genesis quality, but I did like the sound a lot. It's actually almost the same as SOR 1, but with some Major improvements. The sounds of the punces and kicks sound SO much better than in the first game, and the Music is SO great. It sounds a lot like Dance/Club/House music(which happen to be some of my favorite kinds of Music ^_^). The sounds of the characters when you hit them, or attack with them sound scratchy(Of course), but still, everything else deserves a thumbs up.

Control: A+  

Perfect, Perfect, Perfect. Nothing more to be said. Pulling off everything is no sweat at all. It's about as easy to do as it is in the first game, although in the first game it was slower, so you couldn't really do everything you wanted to do right away. A button is you special move, which you can do 1 of 2 ways, B button attacks, and C button Jumps. And everything is done RIGHT when you push the buttons. The only character who can dash, however, is Skate by tapping forwad twice and holding it. I didn't really get that, but either way, very good control.

Gameplay: A  

Of course, the gameplay is a nice little challenge and is very fun compared to the first game. The first game's challenge was VERY VERY cheap with some of the enemies(Anyone remember the Blaze clones? Headache and a half.) and all you could really do in the ways of offense was attack, jump, jump and attack, and use a special weapon in the form of a cop car which showed up out of nowhere, with a SWAT cop coming out of it and firing like a bazooka, or something. Not only that, you couldn't use it in the last friggin' stage! WTF, Mate? In THIS version, that crap got thrown OUT the window(Thank the Lord). Now, every Character does they're own unique special move with their own body(The way it SHOULD be). You can have them stand still and smack every enemy around them, or you can hold forward and the special button and have them throw out a full-frontal assault on the enemy in front of them, of course, this move drains your energy, but at least you can use it a lot more firggin' time than ONE!!!!!

Every Character is unique in their fighting styleAND their stats. Axel is the Main character with pretty good attack and moderate speed. Blaze(My favorite character) is the most well-rounded character of the four, Skate is pretty much the speed demon of the bunch, meaning he's got the weakest attack, and Max is, of course, the big, strong man with the highest attack power, but fails in the ways of speed. But you should do fine with every character. Another thing I like about it is than when you tap forward twice, and the attack button, each character will do yet another move. It's nice and useful because you dont use up any energy when you use it, so you can do it over, and over, and, oh yes.....OVER again. The challenge of the enemies isn't anything too terribly hard, but the enemies can get cheap at some points. Sometimes, they'll surround you and other times, Galsia, one of the main grunts of the game, will run at you with his knife and hit you(ala SOR 1) while your back is turned. Even though it's a Beat Em' Up, DON'T get cocky. The instant you do, you'll lose all your energy within seconds. In Two-Player mode, all I can say is that you'd BETTER have two people that are SOR EXPERTS! Because Credits are joint, and they're not very many of them.....at all.

Now for the bosses. Every boss to this game is just about as tough and cheap as SOR 1. The first boss will grab and throw you across the screen at times if he gets close enough. Not only that, he'll block some of your moves. I got past this by cornering him and letting loose with Blaze. Boss 2 rides a Gay little Jet-pack and attacks from above. Annoying. Boss 3 is a guy with claws who can back drop you, do a Blanka roll, Street Fighter style, and slide at you. Oh yeah. HE blocks too... Boss 4 is a big wrestler guy you might recognize from the first game. and yep. he's JUST as annoying as he was in the first game. Boss 5 is some Overweight boxer guy who will grab and headbutt you and the only way out is with a special, so you'll loss energy either way...Boss 6? Pretty much Jet-Pack guy and Claw guy all over again. Boss 7 are 2 big hunks of metal who will shock you if you hold them for 2 long. And if you think THOSE guys sound cheap, wait until you face Mr. X.....AGAIN. And THIS time, he's got a right-hand man that even cheaper than HE is. Be warned. This game is NOT as easy as you may think, which makes it worth playing.

Simply Put: A                                

It's a nice little game with a familiar storyline and game style, but even with the negatives, you'll find more positives than negatives. This was a very nice follow-up to SOR 1 in every way form and fashion. If you don't know what I'm talking about int the ways of comparasions, Play the first game and then play this game and you'll see what I mean. To be honest, after I played the first game, I was afraid to play this game, because I thought it would be equally crappy, but after looking over everything, I must say: QUITE IMPRESSIVE. This is one of MANY reasons I've loved Sega for so long. Pick this game up and go whip some thugs. And if, by some small miracle, you liked the first SOR, then you'll LOVE this game. Promise..