MEGADRIVE REVIEW
STREETS OF RAGE, 1991
Streets of Rage is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up with a
plot like a bad ‘80s action movie. Luckily, mindless action movies make for
great fun in videogame form when done right. This game’s simple plot involves
three ex-cops taking the law into their own hands in an attempt to rid their
city of a “secret criminal syndicate”. While Streets of Rage has a lot in common with several other beat ‘em ups
of the time, there are numerous elements that make it stand out as one of the
best.
The three heroes of the story are Adam Hunter (in a yellow wife beater), Axel Stone (in a white wife beater) and Blaze Fielding (disguised as a hooker?). A long text prologue explains that the crime syndicate had managed to control the government and police force, which really annoyed our three do-gooders. As a result they decided to quit the force and form a vigilante team, in order to “battle the most dangerous wave of bad dudes and chicks ever assembled” and “make the city a place where people no longer have to walk the Streets of Rage!” With wordplay like that, how could this game fail??
Looking back at the seemingly-standard box art for the game, you notice a few things. Firstly, Blaze never wears that white power suit in the game – she prefers her red hooker garb. Secondly, all the thugs have guns; some are even firing at our heroes from windows. In the game, only the end boss has a gun. Thirdly, where’s Adam?? There’s enough room in this picture to at least have him in the background. Makes me wonder if they only included his character at the last minute to try and capture another demographic. But the best observation requires a close look at the artwork – Axel is wearing Sega trainers.
The three heroes of the story are Adam Hunter (in a yellow wife beater), Axel Stone (in a white wife beater) and Blaze Fielding (disguised as a hooker?). A long text prologue explains that the crime syndicate had managed to control the government and police force, which really annoyed our three do-gooders. As a result they decided to quit the force and form a vigilante team, in order to “battle the most dangerous wave of bad dudes and chicks ever assembled” and “make the city a place where people no longer have to walk the Streets of Rage!” With wordplay like that, how could this game fail??
Looking back at the seemingly-standard box art for the game, you notice a few things. Firstly, Blaze never wears that white power suit in the game – she prefers her red hooker garb. Secondly, all the thugs have guns; some are even firing at our heroes from windows. In the game, only the end boss has a gun. Thirdly, where’s Adam?? There’s enough room in this picture to at least have him in the background. Makes me wonder if they only included his character at the last minute to try and capture another demographic. But the best observation requires a close look at the artwork – Axel is wearing Sega trainers.
FIGHT SHOES: Surprisingly clean
Yes, Axel was
the model for Sega’s prototype sneakers, that seemingly never made it into
production. I guess selling footwear by having it kick people repeatedly in the
face didn’t work out for them. Had they put them on Sonic the Hedgehog, things
might have turned out differently for Sega Shoes.
This game could be considered to be in the “Golden Age” of scrolling fighters of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. It appeared around the same time as other classic series such as Double Dragon, Golden Axe and Final Fight, and measured up very well to all of those games. Final Fight had the best graphics of the four, but lacked a 2 player option in the SNES version. Double Dragon had a 2 player option but the characters were virtually identical. Streets of Rage has a 2 player option, each character has different strengths and weaknesses, and a special attack can also be utilised once per level. Streets of Rage was the most recently released game of this group, and it is clear that Sega had been taking notes on how to make a brilliant scrolling beat ‘em up.
As is usually the case with retro games, the controls are simple. The Megadrive’s buttons are utilised efficiently: A calls for backup, B is for punching and picking up items and C is for jumping. Jumping kicks are very useful, and the different grapples and throws are hugely satisfying to pull off.
You can’t beat the feeling you get after you’ve kneed a thug in the chest a couple of times and then suplexed him into the concrete! The only occasionally annoying aspect of the controls occurs when you are trying to attack while standing by a weapon on the ground. If you are too close to the weapon your character will try to pick up the weapon, often leading you to getting smacked if surrounded by enemies. This can get really frustrating after a while. Another problem can occur in 2 player mode when you get too close to your teammate. If you walk into them you will both grapple and it can be tricky to get out of it without hurting each other!
This game could be considered to be in the “Golden Age” of scrolling fighters of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. It appeared around the same time as other classic series such as Double Dragon, Golden Axe and Final Fight, and measured up very well to all of those games. Final Fight had the best graphics of the four, but lacked a 2 player option in the SNES version. Double Dragon had a 2 player option but the characters were virtually identical. Streets of Rage has a 2 player option, each character has different strengths and weaknesses, and a special attack can also be utilised once per level. Streets of Rage was the most recently released game of this group, and it is clear that Sega had been taking notes on how to make a brilliant scrolling beat ‘em up.
As is usually the case with retro games, the controls are simple. The Megadrive’s buttons are utilised efficiently: A calls for backup, B is for punching and picking up items and C is for jumping. Jumping kicks are very useful, and the different grapples and throws are hugely satisfying to pull off.
You can’t beat the feeling you get after you’ve kneed a thug in the chest a couple of times and then suplexed him into the concrete! The only occasionally annoying aspect of the controls occurs when you are trying to attack while standing by a weapon on the ground. If you are too close to the weapon your character will try to pick up the weapon, often leading you to getting smacked if surrounded by enemies. This can get really frustrating after a while. Another problem can occur in 2 player mode when you get too close to your teammate. If you walk into them you will both grapple and it can be tricky to get out of it without hurting each other!
I'd like to do this to my boss
Droppin' fist-bombs on gingers since 1991
Each
character has one special attack available to them each level. This comes in
the form of police backup (from the only 2 police officers still upholding the
law, it seems), and is best saved for the end-of-level bosses. When you call
for back up, a police car will pull up at the start of the level and fire
napalm or a shower of grenades onto your location. While this will damage your
enemies, luckily our heroes are wearing invisible napalm- and grenade-proof armour,
so they will remain unhurt. This is a hugely helpful feature, as some of the
bosses later in the game can prove quite tricky.
The bosses are twice the size of all other characters and start off easy (such as the boomerang guy) and get harder (the guy with the Freddy Krueger claws). As with most games of this type, the bosses have their own attack patterns and these must be learned in order to defeat them. I’ll give you one tip though – don’t try and throw the fat fire-breathing guys… or you’ll end up flattened!
The graphics are pretty good for the time, and the backgrounds also look pretty good. The enemies on the whole are fairly repetitive to be honest. I’ve mentioned this problem before in previous reviews, and it’s just something gamers have to accept if they’re playing scrolling fighters from this era. The number of enemies is huge, and I guess it would have been too costly or difficult to program a large variety of enemies. Most of the male enemies are bog standard thugs, with a few ninjas thrown in here and there, and the females are either dominatrix types with whips, or Blaze clones (with different coloured hooker outfits of course).
Like all good beat ‘em ups, weapons are available to be picked up. They’re either left in destroyable objects, or wielded by enemies. There is plenty of excessive violence in this game: you can knife people, bottle them, hit them with baseball bats or pipes; but the beauty of it is that there is no blood in the game so it’s perfectly acceptable! My personal favourite is the metal pipe – it has a great range for whacking scumbags. Other objects to be picked up are food and extra lives, although I’ll never understand how eating food that’s been lying on the street will replenish your health!
The music in this game is outstanding. Each level has a pumping tune playing, and you know when the boss is about to appear as the music will change. The opening beats of the boss music will send a tingle of excitement down the spine of any Sega gamer from the ‘90s! I’m not exaggerating about the soundtrack quality – it was even released on CD in Japan. It’s on my Christmas list if anyone has it by the way!
Overall, I’d recommend this game if you enjoy beat ‘em ups. There were also versions released for the Master System and Game Gear, but – understandably, due to the limited hardware - these featured inferior graphics and fewer moves and levels. The Megadrive version is one of the best of the genre, and spawned 2 sequels. The game is available fairly cheaply on eBay, and also available to download on Virtual Console.
The bosses are twice the size of all other characters and start off easy (such as the boomerang guy) and get harder (the guy with the Freddy Krueger claws). As with most games of this type, the bosses have their own attack patterns and these must be learned in order to defeat them. I’ll give you one tip though – don’t try and throw the fat fire-breathing guys… or you’ll end up flattened!
The graphics are pretty good for the time, and the backgrounds also look pretty good. The enemies on the whole are fairly repetitive to be honest. I’ve mentioned this problem before in previous reviews, and it’s just something gamers have to accept if they’re playing scrolling fighters from this era. The number of enemies is huge, and I guess it would have been too costly or difficult to program a large variety of enemies. Most of the male enemies are bog standard thugs, with a few ninjas thrown in here and there, and the females are either dominatrix types with whips, or Blaze clones (with different coloured hooker outfits of course).
Like all good beat ‘em ups, weapons are available to be picked up. They’re either left in destroyable objects, or wielded by enemies. There is plenty of excessive violence in this game: you can knife people, bottle them, hit them with baseball bats or pipes; but the beauty of it is that there is no blood in the game so it’s perfectly acceptable! My personal favourite is the metal pipe – it has a great range for whacking scumbags. Other objects to be picked up are food and extra lives, although I’ll never understand how eating food that’s been lying on the street will replenish your health!
The music in this game is outstanding. Each level has a pumping tune playing, and you know when the boss is about to appear as the music will change. The opening beats of the boss music will send a tingle of excitement down the spine of any Sega gamer from the ‘90s! I’m not exaggerating about the soundtrack quality – it was even released on CD in Japan. It’s on my Christmas list if anyone has it by the way!
Overall, I’d recommend this game if you enjoy beat ‘em ups. There were also versions released for the Master System and Game Gear, but – understandably, due to the limited hardware - these featured inferior graphics and fewer moves and levels. The Megadrive version is one of the best of the genre, and spawned 2 sequels. The game is available fairly cheaply on eBay, and also available to download on Virtual Console.