3RRSG SoR

It's time to hit the seedy and violent Streets of Rage, and this is where
it all began! Back in the early 1990s, 2D side scrolling beat 'em ups
from the arcade were golden and the genre was highly respected.
Unfortunately, the emphasis on fun game play has shifted to flashy
graphics and other miscellaneous qualities (sex appeal, internet
access, big name franchises, etc.). But let's go back to a time when
these games were king, and the Streets of Rage series was the king of
the genre on the Genesis. Find out why so many die hard Sega fans
wished every night that a 3D incarnation would have hit the
Dreamcast.

The game takes place in a big city that is overrun with crime. A
mysterious syndicate is taking over, and the cops are powerless.
Violence rages on the streets and the city is a complete war zone.
That's when you decide to take matters into your own hands. You play
as 1 of 3 ex-cops on a trail to find the gang lord of the syndicate and
put a stop to the violence (through violence of course). And that's the
concept and the law by which this games run by. No surprising plot
twists, no cut scenes between levels, no long drawn out story telling, it
all seems like a simple action movie, and the action definitely comes
first here. Given, that the story is told in the opening cutscene, and
there is text at the end of the game with the boss, the story here is
good enough, I mean this was the time Sonic was hitting the scene and
there wasn't a lick of dialogue in that classic game.

It's a 2D side scrolling beat 'em up, so hopefully you've played one of
them in your life once. If you have, then you know how to work this bad
boy. Go from left to right (usually) and beat up bad guys, find food to
replenish health, find money for points, and fight the boss at the end of
the level. This goes on for a total of eight levels, and there are multiple
difficulty levels to play thorough. The controls are easy enough to
learn. They are initially set to "A" button does the special attack, "B"
button punches, and ''C" button jumps. They can be changed in
options though. The special attack calls on a police car off screen to
shoot a missile on screen that hurts all the enemies. But you only get
one of them and you have to find power ups to gain more. The fighting
system is mostly punches, but you can jump and punch, grab on to
people and throw them, or back hand people. Looks simple at first, but
there is a little more then you think.

Also you can find weapons spread across the levels to beat your
enemies with. From metal pipes, to knives (which you can stab or
throw) to beer bottles you can break over some one's head and then
cut them with the jagged aftermath. This adds a little fun to the
fighting, which admittedly gets a little repetitive too fast. Also even on
the easiest difficulty some of the enemies and bosses are too hard, but
at least you get a few continues.

It was 1991 so the graphics aren't nearly as good as latter Streets of
Rage games, but what's here is still good. The sprites are nice and
colorful (as are all the enemies) and the backgrounds are varied. You
start off on the mean streets, go through alleys, on to the beach, on a
boat, through factories, and finally to the giant sky scraper battle. So a
nice selection there. The enemies come as random thugs, domination
queens with whips, old people, and karate men. They come in different
colors as you move through the game. The bosses are a bit more
interesting-from the fat man who breathes fire to the Freddy Kruger
wannabe with his long legs and claws. The three main characters are
the white guy with his tight blue jeans and white shirt, the black guy
with his more hip-hop style clothes, and the chick with her little skirt.
Stereotypes be damned.

The graphics also have little nice touches here and there that I should
mention. There are just many things that happen that add a little flare
to the game. For one, there are parts in the levels where paper will
blow off the streets, posters will flap on the wall, and other cool stuff
as it's all set against a neon metropolis of bright lights. The beach level
has a part where it starts to rain. The elevator level has cool scaling
against the building. These little things add up to give it some very nice
touches.

The sound of the series is something that has been noted by many to
be excellent, even today people are still praising the soundtrack, and
I'll continue in saying the good words. The soundtrack starts off kinda
techno, but moves on to tropical, and then more industrial and back.
The music fits the moods of the levels, and overall it is great. The
voices are all little screams and grunts that are far too high pitched,
but you gotta remember the times. Throw in the standard punch noises
and the sound is well balanced. Great soundtrack, and it can be heard
on the sound test in options, so thanks for that.

Three characters, two-player mode, and multiple difficulties make this
one that you can pull out and play for a few minutes. It doesn't take
too much more then a half hour to beat, although some of the later
levels do seem to get rather long. Near the end you end up fighting the
same bosses over and over again, and that kinda sucked.

SPOILER ALERT!

Also when you get to the final boss, he asks you if you want to be his
right hand man. You can choose yes or no, choosing yes will make him
say that you have good potential and he says here is you reward, then
the floor below you turns into a hole and you are sent back to the
beginning of level six. I kid you not, I threw my controller in anger when
it happened.

END SPOILER.

If you haven't experienced the violence on the streets, now is as good
as a time as ever to take the gloves off and play. Spanning consoles
like the Genesis, Game Gear, and ported to the Dreamcast, it's too bad
that a new update to the series never came in the next generation of
consoles. The beat 'em up is a dying breed, along with the 2D shooter,
but there are still those of us out there who respect and still play these
genres. This is a game that came out when Sega was first starting to
get really big, I mean really big! So do your self a favor and see what all
the talking was about will ya?

Review by: Orochi Sonic