Streets of Rage 4. This game is awesome

Posted on May 15, 2020 by X35 Earthwalker

Streets of Rage 4 is an arcade beat em up game and off course the fourth game in the Streets of Rage series. Many have been waiting for this game. Many. X35 Earthwalker is one of them but off course the greatest and coolest of them. Things are different this time around in Streets of Rage, in multiple ways and for the better. Many have talked or reviews this game (they did alright) but remember… a game hasn’t been reviewed until X35 Earthwalker has reviewed it. Let’s take a look.

Streets of Rage stories have never been complicated. They are always straight forward and simple. In Streets of Rage 4. There’s crime in the city, an evil syndicate is behind it all and the vigilante heroes go in to stop it… beating the crap out of everyone and everything that gets in their way. Simple. This time though Mr X is not the one behind it. He’s dead. It’s his children… the Y twins! Mr and Ms Y. So this time Axel, blaze, Cherry? and Floyd? with rage in their hearts take on the streets of rage. Yep, we got new characters. Cherry hunter (if you couldn’t tell by the name) is the daughter of Adam Hunter. Floyd Iraia is the apprentice and assistant of Dr Gilbert Zan. So no Adam again?…

The rules are the same in Streets of Rage 4. Keep moving to the right and beat up all the bad guys. Reach the end of the level and face a boss. Get enough points and you earn an extra life. Each of the characters have their own stats which can be viewed in the extras menu but you must unlock it first. They each have special attacks with a few like Blaze having an additional. There’s the defensive and offensive special attack. The defensive is like a ‘get off me’ move which during you’re also invincible. Offensive is normally longer range, travels a little and does straight up damage. Each character also has an ultimate attack. These require stars to activate which don’t come easy. For example, Floyd’s ultimate is him firing huge laser like he’s Cyborg from Injustice. Cherry is the fastest of all the fighters and the only one who can sprint. Floyd is the biggest and strongest but slower than slow itself. Axel is a balanced fighter with a powerful offensive special move. Blaze is also balanced, bit weaker than axel but got an additional special attack.

Streets of Rage 4 isn’t a hard game but a fair challenge, unlike Streets of Rage 3. The difficulties are: Easy. normal, hard, hardest and Mania. Mania is as the descriptions says… unfair but it’s only for the masters of Streets of Rage 4. Familliar enemies like Galsia, donavon, yellow signal are all here and ready to fight. Matter of fact, enemies from different Streets of Rage games are all here. They come back as mini bosses, actual end of level boss or just strong enemies. Big Ben, the fat guy in red introduced in Streets of Rage 2, is back and he charges you spiting fire (somehow) just like the good ol days. Barbon who was a boss in streets of Rage 2 is back and also a boss. He still kicks hard. Garnet, the women who jump and kick you from Streets of Rage 3 are here too. The Muay Thai fighters are back too and they are worse in our opinion. There are new enemies too like Honey who we hate the most. Stupid enemies indeed. When there’s multiple of them, expect a rough time. Police officers including one with a futuristic shield called Murphy (robocop anyone?). Goro who really slows down how you play and is dangerous when more than one is present. There’s more.

The old techniques are there in Streets of Rage 4, like landing on your feet when launched or thrown. You can break grabs as well and even juggle enemies with multiple simple hits to lead up with a strong finisher. Let’s dive in a bit more concerning some enemies. Yes enemies have variations of them just like the older Streets of Rage games. Galsia is normally blue and the weakest but then you will come across a green, red and white version who have more health and more aggressive. Donavan has a green and red pants versions of them. We believe the green one is called altet, something like that. Anyways, the red ones can throw weapons at you and even catch weapons throw at them. The last version of them is called ‘z’ and they at times can have armour. Big Ben has variations. There’s Gourmand and Anry. Gourmand will always try to belly flop drop on you while Anry will roll for an attack like Sonic the hedgehog but only vertically. Watch out for these guys. These guys and others aren’t much of a problem really but it becomes a huge problem when you play in hardest difficulty. The character designs are excellent. Amazing. Majority of these characters were designed right. Their design says quite a lot about them. Our favourite enemy design is Diva, hands down. Her design from her clothes, to heels, to hair style all have character. Her movement animations is also excellent. Combine it all together and she’s tough, a boss, dangerous, sexy and got attitude. You need to beat her up first before she complies.

Our second favourite enemy design is Mr Y. This guy has evil crime lord written all over him, from the trendy stylish coat, to his hair and fighting style. He doesn’t back down, regardless and knows he’s powerful. He was meant to be a bad guy. What’s that? He wanted to be a chef, well too bad, crime is his life. He looks good for sure. Our favourite hero design probably has to be Blaze. We feel like this is the best look for her possible. She’s got her jacket back which is a good thing. They went for a beautiful, sexy design but also she would kick your butt in many ways if you even try it on her once. Now some have a problem with her design but we think those people just need to grow up. Yes her skirt is real short but for what she does it’s actually practical. Look at her fighting style over the Streets of Rage games. She kicks… a lot. She does flips and jumping kicks. Jumping was her best stat in the very first game. How are you going to jump kick effective in a long skirt, you can’t unless it has a slit going all the way up to your hip. She can kick high if she needs to and flip. Her shirt makes it possible. It rides up when she does which is very realistic. We get it, some of you dads out there thinking, “young lady, go back upstairs and change. You ain’t fighting crime dressed like that!” We understand but her outfit is good, realistic and practical. This is coming from a martial artists with over 12 years experience. We don’t like Axel’s design. He looks kind of chubby now, like his six pack formed on top of the fat. He was a martial artist so why would he let himself go. Being a wanderer and searching for direction or whatever he’s doing doesn’t mean you stop caring. Wish he was in shape like Adam. Adam looks great but we can think of better designs for him.

Next let’s talk about the music. Streets of Rage games have always been known for their music. The boss music in Streets of Rage 1 is the best. You can bop and jam to it while facing the bosses. Streets of Rage 2 had two levels that we really enjoyed the music off. Also Streets of Rage 2 also has the best character select screen music, hands down. Streets of Rage 3 was the least of all the games in our opinion. Streets of Rage 4 has real nice menu music for chilling. You can get the Streets of Rage 2 character select screen music in the settings. In Streets of Rage 4 the best stage music of them all hands down is part 1 of level 2 the Precinct. Easy. If you say no, we will give you a location, meet us there and we will fight you. We aren’t responsible for all wounds you WILL get. Back to topic. Level 1, 2, 3, 4 and part 2 of level 9 had good to very good music. The others music was alright or not impressive to us sadly. Music in Streets of Rage 4 has build up music as in the music starts with a simple or unimpressive beta but as you go through the level the music builds up and extra beats are added and then it becomes something real good. We like that style. Level three hasn’t got good music at the start but then becomes something you can jam too but if you switch retro music for that level, it’s the boat music level from Streets of Rage 2 which was excellent. Sadly the retro music is better than the modern. We wish the developers did more concerning the music. The variety is definitely there even giving a more oriental music for the china town level.

Let’s now go over what we didn’t like. We don’t like that you had to beat level 4 before you can play as Adam. Adam was missing from both Streets of Rage 2 and 3 in terms of being playable. Then now in Streets of Rage 4 we got to play a bit to get him. Speaking of characters we don’t like that you can’t play as modern Shiva. If you look at the title screen you see Estel, Diva and Shiva on the front screen like they are a part of the cast. They have good looking character designs with their own moves but not unlockable. Maybe they plan to bring them in as DLC but if they at the front then either they are significant or playable. Simple. You might say they are there because they are bosses. Good point but Barbon, Nora, commissioner, DJ K Washi etc aren’t on the front. So yeah it’s not consistent. What we don’t like is hw the biker girls like Honey and the Muay Thai fighters have almost instant reflex hitting moves that can even joggle making certain sections practically unfair. The biker girls slide attack still hits you diagonally and forces you to save yourself by using special moves which drain your health and leave you in a bad state. What’s also disappointing is that besides the first thing levels like 1,2,3,4 the rest of the music isn’t great and the retro audio options aren’t good either. We was expecting the greatest Streets of Rage music of all time. Didn’t happen. The striking window or time for enemies to hit you remains the same regardless of difficulty.

The trick to handling Barbon isn’t clear like the other bosses. When he does his repeated roundhouse 360 kicks you are suppose to jump but it doesn’t look like that’s possible so you don’t try that. Especially someone like mFloyd who can’t jump high at all (sucker has 10cm vertical leap) the kick visually goes through his body but doesn’t hit. Also having the biker girls come out to join Barbon because you smash the bikes isn’t good either as you want the items but when you smash the bikes they come out. If you aren’t careful you will end up fighting Barbon and 6 biker girls at the same time. Adam had practically no relevance in the story besides his reveal which again is just bad. For some reasons Streets of Rage 4 on Xbox One has a shorter combo window than others. We watched some people including CoryxKenshin play Streets of Rage 4 (video below, watch when he hits the car) and we noticed that when they finished fighting someone their combo number in the top left hand corner stays for much longer, flashes and then shrinks showing it’s going to reset soon. That doesn’t happen on our Xbox One version. It resets so fast. Also when you hit the car in stage 1 that counts as hits and raises your combo counter. It doesn’t do that for us. Also if you hit cones, bins, water machines, whatever destructible which normally hide food or whatever under it, it also counts as a hit and even eating the food prevents the combo from ending. This allows you too easily get crazy combos. Very unfair. Where’s the section that allows us to play music from the game? They should have had that.

Let’s finish with more good stuff. What’s cool is that the levels and dialogue make it clear that the Y twins respected their dad. Family love. We like how each characters special attacks are so different from each other. Floyd being technology and pure force, Axel having fire as usual, Cherry having abilities linked to her guitar and music, Blaze having what looks like energy and off course Adam looking like green flames with dragon shapes at least for the offensive special move. The effects look excellent. We like the additional information and stuff you unlock in the extras menu. Those are actually interesting stuff. The ultimates look fantastic and make you want to use them a lot but sadly you get punished for using them by getting a lower score as you get 500 points for each star you hold on to at the end of the level.The fact that you can play as one of the characters from the previous Streets of Rage games is a big brain move. You can literally go through the whole game a streets of rage 1 Axel. That’s big. Players off course loved that they did this. The story is simple and easy to go with including cinematic scenes. It makes sense and you just roll with it. We also truly enjoyed that there are hidden levels where you face old bosses from past Streets of Rage games like Jack and even Mr X. It’s like a blast from the past. See clip below for an example alone with X35 Earthwalker getting an out of this world combo.

Overall Streets of Rage 4 is an excellent game. It’s awesome. We are having so much fun playing it. We have beaten the game multiple times. Gotten the perfect and out of this world combo achievements. We still have quite a bit more stuff to do. Even mania difficulty can’t stop us. If you are a fan of Streets of Rage or new to the series you will most likely enjoy this game. We haven’t tried the multiplayer but it’s clear. Either play online and go through levels with others or battle against over players online in battle mode to see who has more rage in their heart. The developers have done an excellent job but there is room for more. We suggest you get Streets of Rage 4 besides it’s not even expensive like £21. Off course we don’t go over everything but the main stuff. Now Streets of Rage 4 may have great designs, music and animations but those would have been much better if they done… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Streets of Rage 4. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

Posted on April 20, 2020 by X35 Earthwalker

Streets of Rage 4 is the new action beat em up game developed by ‘Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, Dotemu‘ and published by ‘Dotemu and Yooreka Studios’. Streets of Rage 4 is said to be coming out the 30th April 2020 on the Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. We are definitely looking forward to this game. Let’s take a look.

Streets of Rage is one of, if not the best beat em up game and now we are getting Streets of Rage 4. We knew about this game along time ago but didn’t write on it. There’s a lot to say but we keeping this one short.

Firstly we have no information concerning the story. Mr X’s brain was destroyed in Streets of Rage 3 so you can assume he’s actually dead dead this time. So maybe a new face has taken over the area. You know how it is, when the boss it down, other gangs want to take their shot or maybe a relative or child of Mr X. Who knows? What we do know is that there’s lots of bad guy faces to punch in, combo and swing at with a pipe… just like the good ol days.

Firstly we like the Streets of Rage 4 art style as it’s clearly going for a more flowing modern look. The animations are definitely good. Each attack and move looks smoother and clearly than before. Unlike that one move Max had in Streets of Rage 3 where he’s suppose to be punching the head of a barbed enemy but looks and sounds like he’s breaking their necks. The special attacks and abilities have more special effects and flare making all the moves look powerful but off course we have no idea how strong or weak yet. The game is definitely colourful and we like colours. Who doesn’t like colours?… you grandpa.

We got straight into the visuals this time because it’s Streets of Rage, you know what to expect by now. It’s straight up beat em up. Move through the level and trash the enemies that come your way, find, pick up and use weapons to defeat your enemies and off course, work with a friend as it’s always been 2 player co-op. There’s even new characters, as there should be. Yes the main characters Axel, Adam and Blaze are all here (they better be) but we know have two new characters: Floyd Iraia (the big dude with mechanical arms) and Cherry Hunter (the cool black girl with an electric guitar). Both definitely stand out and got their own style and tricks. Something is different though.

There is now a Battlemode. It’s in the name but it’s against each other. Take on your friends and see who is the best fighter or who has the most rage in the streets. It’s four player co-op! Not only can you play as the main characters of Streets of Rage 4 but you can also play as past characters from previous Streets of Rage games and even better the past versions of them. For example you can take control of Axel from Streets of Rage 1 and fight with his moves from that game. You can play as an from Streets of Rage 3 or as Max or Skate from Streets of Rage 2, or Adam from the first game etc. So in a battle mode you can have four friends or family fight against each other but each player is a Blaze from each Streets of Rage game: 1,2,3 and 4 to see which Blaze is the queen of fighting. Now that’s an excellent idea. Smart move by the developers as they knew fans would want to see the past too.

There’s more! The developers of Streets of Rage 4 have not just brought the characters and designs from the past but also the music. Players can play levels and stages to the old music. Remember those banging tunes from Streets of Rage 1 and 2? You can hear them while you play now. We are sure there’s some cool ones from Streets of Rage 3 but we weren’t a big fan of the music from that one. This shows the developers are aware and paid attention to what has been said about the past games and applying that information to this new design. If they play it smart like this all the way through then Streets of Rage 4 will be one of the best games so far easily.

We are so glad they brought Adam Hunter back into the battle. When he wasn’t there for Streets of Rage 2 we were annoyed but we understood as he was captured but there was no excuse for Streets of Rage 3. We missed that character and so did fans. Now he’s back and has real power. There are counters, explosive moves, ultimate like attacks, flashy acrobatic movement and more. Also in case you couldn’t tell from the names Adam Hunter is Cherry Hunter’s dad. Father and daughter fighting side by side and kicking butt. Nothing can make a dad more proud than seeing his little girl drop kick big dudes. That’s better than a graduation any day.

We checked out some gameplay and it’s not what we thought it would be initially but it’s better this way for sure. The combat is looking real good, the levels have variety, the battle mode brings another layer of gameplay and fun, the variety of music including the music from past will get shoulders moving while fighting. The many many chapters you can unlock allowing you to play as the past game versions of these characters is an excellent idea. We haven’t seen anything concerning bosses but we know with all these moves, abilities, characters, help and combos with co-op partners we know the bosses have to be a big threat. They must match the hype. Lastly we aren’t a huge fan of Axel’s design. Why does he look so much older than the others and so out of shape. He’s really broad and looks like he sort of has a tummy. Does he still have his mobility? Wished he looked more in shape like the others. Blaze is looking beautiful and dangerous and she made the smart move to wear a jacket this time as she will need the extra protection from these dangerous thugs.

Overall Streets of Rage 4 is looking like an awesome game so far. We like the visuals, the gameplay, the characters and even the designs. Looks like there is content to last for a good time too. We hope there is no health bar or number of uses for pipes and bats like there was in Streets of Rage 3 (bad mechanic). The developers ‘Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, Dotemu’ have done an amazing job so far.

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Streets of Rage. Nothing but fun

Posted on June 8, 2018June 8, 2018 by X35 Earthwalker

Streets of Rage is one of those games that many played back in the day on the Sega Genesis. X35 Earthwalker himself was one of those who played this legendary game. Quite recently Streets of Rage was made available on the Xbox One. This was the perfect invitation to play the game again. So what do we think about it? Take a look.

Streets of Rage gets straight to the point. The slowly scrolling text explains the whole situation quickly and simply. Basically a city is full of chaos because of a criminal syndicate who controls everything, even the police. The leader is Mr X and he’s caused villains and crime to sky rocket. No one is safe (Will someone please think of the children!). Three cops vowed to work take to the streets, clean it up by romping all the villains trash with their fists and put a stop to all this evil. They will clean up… the Streets of Rage. You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Remember that this game came out in 1991 so you have to accept how simple it is. Players can pick from three characters: Adam, Axel and Blaze. Their stats are displayed simply with a ‘A to B’ ranking system for three categories: Power, Jump and Speed. Power is how much damage they do, Jump is how high they jump and how good their jump attacks are and Speed is how fast their movement is. Now Adam and Axel do the most damage. Adam and Blaze have the best jumping attacks and height. Overall Adam is the strongest character as he excels in the two categories that actually matter. Blaze will there for be the weakest but streets of Rage has been designed in a way that all three characters are still useful, feel different from each other and can beat the game with skill.

Streets of Rage

Adam is a boxer and so his attacks are more simple and rely on his strength. Axel is a martial artist so his attacks are quicker and more technical. Blaze does Judo so her throws rely on those use your opponents weight against them, plus she does some cool flip attacks. Each of the characters can grab and throw enemies or grab and slam the enemy on their head by lifting them completely of the ground. All can grab and land powerful strikes which best to follow up with a throw after two strikes for maximum damage. All have a jumping attack which is useful against rushing enemies or groups of enemies in a line. All also have a rear attack which basically lets your character quickly do a strike behind them to hit whoever is dumb enough to sneak up on you. Lastly all can call in a powerful artillery strike from a fellow police officer which defeats all enemies on the screen but just damages bosses.

There are eight stages to clear and each one is littered with lots of enemies. The enemies are simple but do their job. There are the standard dudes who can hit you with the simple right, right, left jabs. There’s a guy who like to throw you and at times slide into you smoother than M. Bison from Street fighter. Also a woman who thinks it’s funny to whip people. A martial martial artist who specialises in flips and kicks. Lastly a juggler who juggles fire, axes and then throws them at you (what a neat trick). It gets worse. As you progress through the Streets of Rage, you will encounter improved versions of the enemies you have faced so far. So the standard blue jacket dudes then become green and then red. The throwing guys get purple and then green outfits. The whipping women find black and lastly green clothing for the occasion. The martial artists graded up to having red and then a cool black and red uniform. Lastly the jugglers just find some alright black clothes. The improved versions have more health and more aggressive as they attack more frequently.

Streets of Rage

Each stage also has a boss who can be a serious threat. Stage one is where you face the boomerang hunter (we are giving them our own names) who has a lengthy kick and throws his boomerang which of course comes back, so watch out. Stage two is the domain of the claw hands man, basically a wannabe Fredy Kruger who is has a crazy technique to avoid jump attacks. Third stage is where the wrestler is, who does heavy damage with a running single punch. The fat man boss is hanging out in stage four. They breathe fire and forget about throwing this big boy. Stage five just so happens to have the twins who were enjoying their cruise. They are over powered. Stage six the hand claw man makes a return. Stage 7 has no boss but stage 8 has every boss you have encountered already, all ready for the rematch with off course the final boss, Mr X himself waiting and ready.

Bosses are seen by many as too hard and unfair. This is mainly due to the fact that almost all of them almost always hit you first due to their greater range and fast attack speed. It’s true. if you take these bosses head on, they will mostly likely kill you first. The best trick is to approach them from they sides by coming in from higher or lower on the screen. This will allow you to dodge many attacks and even allow a free grab on the boss themselves for big damage. Players should call in their police officer when they are needed. Don’t just save it for the boss at the end because if you die, that police call is wasted and you’ll get a new one. If you get surrounded or having a hard time against mob of enemies then use your police call ability to clear them out. It’s there to help you. Don’t just grab every health item you see. Instead go as far as possible while keeping the food on screen, their may be a fight next, where you take damage and now the food is useful. Also save the meat that at the boss fights until you are low on health. Bats and pipes are useful weapons and should never be passed up. The knife is also good but the bottle, not so much.

Maybe the best thing about Streets of Rage is the music. We are sure that pretty much everyone can agree that the music is amazing. Like seriously, who was the guy working in the studio. He clearly had too much fun. The boss music might just have to be our favourite but the music on level four is too smooth. The music is awesome. The controls are good and work very well allowing for reactions and quick actions. The bosses are creative and difficult without the right knowledge.

We have a few complaints though. The twins however are the most overpowered bosses in the game and even good players struggle tremendously against them. When it comes to stage eight, many players and have fallen to them right outside Mr X’s doors. It’s frustrating, especially when you don’t have the police call ability to help you out. They have no clear weakness at all. They always out grab you, they at times grab you through your attacks or at the start of their jump. Last complaint is why do you still have to face both the sisters even in single player. Everyone other stage sends one boss against the one player but the sisters always come together making it a two on one battle. It should be one on one like with all the others but it’s still a challenge though.

Overall Streets of Rage is an awesome game and certainly worth playing today. You will have lots of fun fighting your way through the streets, trying out different combos. There are some hidden tricks in the Streets of Rage games that players will have to discover. We also heard that their is a secret ending for Blaze but it’s a bad ending. We won’t spoil anything but it’s worth checking out. Now the Streets of Rage needed to be cleaned up but one thing that doesn’t need cleaning up at all is… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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