Streets of Rage 4 Review: Gameplay, Battle Mode Impressions and Speedrun Tips

The classic Streets of Rage series hasn't seen a release in roughly 26 years.  

But the series continues to stand the test of time as an example of the early '90s era. The sidescrolling beat 'em up was well known for its engrossing soundtrack and refreshing gameplay. 

So the task in front of developers Dotemu, Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games with the new Streets of Rage 4 was simple—make it all work more than two decades later. 

If the long-awaited sequel strikes the right balance of staying true to the series but modernizing smartly, everybody wins and a massive resurgence could get underway. Whether it does is one of gaming's bigger questions in the first half of the 2020 calendar. 

Graphics and Gameplay

The first thing onlookers will notice is the smooth, unique visuals Streets of Rage 4 presents. 

Given the power of modern technology, it isn't any surprise that the game looks like a comic book come to life. The art direction is stupendous with flashy, colorful characters who fluidly move throughout detailed environments. 

Besides the basic looks, it is a treat to progress and see how the visuals mesh with the backgrounds. Stages feel bigger in this release, and it isn't long before cars are crashing into walls, characters are ducking into train cars that looked to merely be background fodder and moving up or down as opposed to left to right. 

The level of detail would take a long time to explain. But doing something as silly as punching a trash can to reveal an apple that restores health looks and sounds good. 

And boy does the whole game sound good. 

Not to take away from anything else about the game, but the soundtrack is the star of the show. In a way, the journey through the soundtrack is an adventure all on its own. One minute the bopping techno vibes give an upbeat feel to a stage and the next things settle into a foreboding, quieter feel for a boss fight. 

It's a splendid feast for the ears, and the soundtrack would hold up on its own. But the way it meshes with gameplay is chef's kiss material. General punches and kicks sound great too in the throwback, arcadey sort of way and aren't drowned out by the dominant soundtrack. 

A hint from the above is worth a bit of expansion—the presentation feeds into the superb gameplay quite well. Enemies with wildly different behaviors and actions are dramatically color-coded to somewhat subconsciously help a player learn what to expect, when and why so things don't feel unfair. 

The makers of this sequel could've been content to just mail it in and throw out a button-mashing affair not too dissimilar to prior releases. But instead, new innovations like special moves that have the possibility of restoring health after initially draining it and super moves mix things up to add another layer of strategy. 

Perhaps the biggest point? A side-scrolling beat 'em up can get boring fast. 

But not here. 

The variety of enemies lends itself to a strategic feel as the minutes turn into hours and hours turn into...whatever a player feels like putting into it. While the presentation is a massive boon, the sheer strategy that goes into encounters as things escalate and more baddies get introduced keeps things feeling fresh. 

There is deeper complexity than one might expect to the combat, too. It's easy enough to keep things straightforward and progressing. But the real systems shine when players start juggling enemies into one another and through the air (juggled enemies don't seem to fly off-screen anymore) for massive combos. 

Besides an onslaught of varied enemies in interesting locales, Streets of Rage 4 also mixes in some memorable bosses. These can feel unfair on first encounter, and it's a bummer a loss of lives sends players back to the very beginning of stages. But it also encourages improvement, and there are assists available after failing (to the detriment of final scores) that help players get over the hump. 

Add in a versatile cast of weapons that can be swung or thrown, and this is more than a revival for the series from a gameplay standpoint—it's an evolution. 

Story and More

Streets of Rage 4 returns to the...streets of rage in Wood Oak City for another fitting saga in the series. 

Classic heroes like Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding and Adam Hunter return to the fray, while newcomers Cherry and Floyd Iraia join to provide an assist. 

The story is classic beat 'em up stuff with baddies and even people in positions of power standing between the heroes and the end goal. If nothing else, it's a fun vehicle for the gameplay and throws in some classical artwork between stages to flesh out the narrative. 

On the character front, there are even 12 unlockables who boast their original pixel art style. Throwing these into the fray shows just how far the art direction and graphical firepower has come all these years later. 

Local and online multiplayer thankfully make it in, and it's a good time to hop in and seemingly even the odds a bit in the story mode. Duking it out in the arcade or head-to-head sure doesn't hurt to have as options, either. In an era where some fighting games have had omissions in the online suite of options, it's nice to see a robust offering that performs well.

While online sees the player count limited to two, local multiplayer can add up to four total players. It gets hectic on screen, in a good way, and it's a blast to face the onslaught and coordinate special and super moves for massive damage. 

In Battle Mode specifically, there are a variety of characters to take into the fray. And it's nice to have the option of teaming up or a versus mode over the handful of brilliantly designed stages. It's a little tired to use the "something for everyone!" descriptor, but it fits too well here. 

Technically speaking, it all runs well. And painting with a broader brush, there's a ton of replayability there in large part because a human opponent just isn't as predictable in their actions. 

Streets of Rage 4 also sports plenty of options. Besides accessibility assists, there are a wealth of background options when it comes to presentation and otherwise, including re-mapping buttons and changing the appearance of small and big food items that restore health.

Speedrunning Tips

A rather lengthy campaign means Streets of Rage 4 can likely carve out a healthy streaming following for itself. 

For the early goings of the speedrunning community around this game, simpler rules will apply. Smart usage of special moves given the risk-reward balance of losing or earning back health is a must. Ditto for sheer memorization of how each and every enemy behaves on screen. 

From a technical standpoint, mastering timing to catch thrown weapons and the back attack to fend off adversaries coming from the other direction is a must. Depending on the difficulty of the run, spamming the blitz move is a good way to start stringing big combos together. 

Over time, runners will tear through the game and come up with much more complex strategies for individual encounters. But merely finding a character whose unique skill set meshes well with the player and learning the combos is the way to start runs.

Conclusion

Streets of Rage 4 is a worthwhile return for a legendary franchise, but it's also more than that. The evolution of a franchise is a big deal, undoubtedly. But just as big, if not bigger, is the industry-leading example of how to bring retro games back to life while flexing all of the modern firepower available. 

Streets of Rage 4 looks great, plays just as well and has a whole suite of options from assists and performance features to online and local modes. It's a complete package, and given the number of modes and options, welcomes any sort of player with open arms.

And while sidescrolling beat 'em ups might not be every player's preferred genre, there's so much here done well that it's worth a look and could lead to a genre resurgence, not just an evolution of a singular franchise.