Streets of Rage: Syndicate Vengeance

After several months of working on this project (in between real-world obligations), I am pleased to present the update to my very first mod, "Streets of Rage: Syndicate Vengeance."

Originally called simply "Vengeance," the mod underwent a major overhaul and story change, and after careful examination and testing on my part, I present it here for review before putting it in the Completed section of the site.

EDIT ON OCTOBER 2, 2013: "Syndicate Vengeance v.1.1" is now available, with a corrected story plot and modified information. New download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/03qve8uawgfnoon/Syndicate_Vengeance_1.zip

SECOND EDIT ON OCTOBER 2, 2013: Download link for the Enemies folder (back-up your own data before downloading and using this one!) below:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/x9cson4t1x8jyon/enemies.zip

STORYLINE: Set after the events of SoRR, Blaze and Dr. Zan - who have been working together since those events - summon Axel and the others for a meeting when a mysterious informant slips a note under their office door, warning them that the Syndicate has not died despite Mr. X's defeat. Soon afterwards, the heroes meet said informant, who gives them a mysterious medallion and instructions to take out the Syndicate's latest criminal operations. But what is the medallion for? What are the Syndicate's plans this time around? And in whose interest is the informant working?

Below are some screen-shots from the mod:







N.B. No special music is used in this mod apart from the usual SoR music provided for mod-building.

Reviews welcome!

I will test this out, but you provided the wrong file. Savegame is not needed for name/palette.
You need to upload your "enemies" folder in order to permit people see the name of your custom mook.

BigDarsh wrote:I will test this out, but you provided the wrong file. Savegame is not needed for name/palette.
You need to upload your "enemies" folder in order to permit people see the name of your custom mook.

Thanks for the correction. I made the adjustment in the original post.  

Ok, i think this is an average mod. It's not a bad word to me since it's pretty difficult to make an average mod with SoRMaker, but I must admit there is nothing outstanding in this one, but there is nothing that break fun or break game and it's enjoyable.

Now I will make a list of what could be change, but it's just my opinion.
1/ Story
I like the story, it was entertaining. Nostalgia talk since I'm a SoR fan and it's a SoR related story with SoR Universe (layers for scenes/stages)
=> However, i'm not native english speaker and I think that slowing down some text bubble would help a bit since it scroll a bit too fast for me.

2/ Palette
The palette you use for mook is average. Sometime colors for mook does not match up with other and it feel like 'random color pick up' but it's ok: Nothing hurt eyes lol
=> average work here, can be improve but not needed.

3/ Enemy placement
some mooks jump down or appears from nowhere and shadow intros is not well used (ie: road)
=> That combine with palette scheme break the ambient of the mod from time to time, but once again no game breaker here.

4/ Battle Design
The cons:
-Many ninja2/ninjos/trucker beer (can be tedious)
-Biker with ton of life but alone (really don't understand, not hard, just boring)
The pros:
-Souther as a sub boss (good idea)
-Twins as higher tiers mooks (excellent idea)
=> You break some "battle design" rules here, and as my breakdown explain it, it can be for the good or for the worst. Another "rule breaking" is using tough Boss for 1st stage, and weakers Bosses later.
Some very difficult battle are put here and there that come to break the flow.

Conclusion: The battles get tougher and tougher as the stages goes on, but some inconsistancy here and there

5/ Difficulty
- quite long mode. It's hard to keep focusing for long playthrough but it's doable.
- some battle could be tough but police counter act. You definitly insist to make player use police (dialog + police pick up here and there) so I must say that I use police a bit more than usual to clear some battle effeciently but also to speed up the flow since the mod is pretty long.
- food is ok, but can be adjusted (more here less there), but no real problem here
- lots of cody and extra life. I do not know if it was intended but you put a lot of "Cody Default" that give you extra lives. I think that this combine with police pick up reduce the challenge a lot. On the other hand, I don't know if I could beat your mod without those.



6/ theme
- some trouble with random overuse stage (punisher/pretty soldier sailor moon/boat)
You choose a SoR Universe theme which I like but it seems a bit ruined by those "out of universe stage" that are not original since we see them in many other mods. I think stick to the SoR Layers would give more identity to your mod.
Exception: last stage is great, I really like the work you put in this one.


About Biker Note:
For biker that cross the screen only one time with very low life, you should put the value : 8HP.
Why?
Because every character can kill them with one jump kick
Most modders put them the 12HP value (Axel2/Blaze2/Skate2 can't one jump kick kill them but every other can) but it is not very fair to me.

Give them more than 16HP if you want people can't  1 jump kick kill
Give them 8HP if you want people to 1 jump kick kill
Every in-between value just feel unfair IMO.

Conclusion:
Lots of critism here since you ask for a way to improve your work, but it is ok, the story and the theme are really cool, adjustement is needed only to add identity and consistancy, but the mod work.
6 out of 10

Thanks for your input, BigDarsh. I'll also wait for what other players have to say about this one, look at all the responses together, and make whatever changes are needed accordingly. What say the rest of you?

Well, I finished your mod.

Firts of all, it's a good idea to put the story in the SoR universe.  However, you could change colours, with evening instead of night, etc. Some stages have a "jpeg" style, what happened?  
You could make more animated backgrounds. For exemple, the final one from Art of Fighting 3.

Swapping musics, why not. It's difficult for me but for another person, it could be ok. I should personnaly put other remixes from SoR Remake soundtrack, but in the "right" stages.
The boss theme (from SoR Remake 4.0) is great, I love it!  

The difficult is hard for me, I often used the Police button.  I saw you didn't consider the differents levels (ennemies wich appear from Hard level, or bosses more resistant as the difficulty increases). I think you should.

Ok, when I read my post, I think I only say cons. I enjoyed your mod, that's the reason why I think you can improve it.

Okay, first of all, thank you for your review. And I think I'll take the opportunity to address some of the points you've raised in your write-up.

Tarma wrote:However, you could change colours, with evening instead of night, etc.

Many of the stage scenes that were used, did not have separate layers; so, those stages that had set times of day attached to them, a couple of them just came that way. I do not have the skill or the tools to rip stages or stage scenes for myself to do a mix-and-mash, nor would I have the time to do so anyway, given my own real-life situation.

Tarma wrote:Some stages have a "jpeg" style, what happened?

That's how some of the stage pictures were saved. I personally don't see the big difference or big deal.

Tarma wrote:You could make more animated backgrounds. For exemple, the final one from Art of Fighting 3.

See my first response, re my lack of equipment, skill or time to make such stuff. Also, places like VgMaps, where I got a lot of my stage scenes from, don't have multiple layers to provide the option for animated scenes.

Tarma wrote:The boss theme (from SoR Remake 4.0) is great, I love it!  

Yeah, I think it's very cool too. ^_^

Tarma wrote:The difficult is hard for me, I often used the Police button.  I saw you didn't consider the differents levels (ennemies wich appear from Hard level, or bosses more resistant as the difficulty increases). I think you should.

I didn't set any of the enemies to any particular difficulty level when I was putting them in; I just picked enemies and put them where I thought they would fit in best.

Once again, thanks for the review!

Shadow Fist King wrote:Many of the stage scenes that were used, did not have separate layers; so, those stages that had set times of day attached to them, a couple of them just came that way. I do not have the skill or the tools to rip stages or stage scenes for myself to do a mix-and-mash, nor would I have the time to do so anyway, given my own real-life situation.

Ok, I understand. If you want, here is a small present, the final stage with animation (and the armchair perfectly centered, when the screen goes on):


The background (layer value: 1)


The armchair (layer value: 10)


Animation
(layer value: 20)

(layer value: 21 and 29)

(layer value: 22 and 28)

(layer value: 23 and 27)

(layer value: 24 and 26)

(layer value: 25)


I tried it, it works perfectly. I hope this will help you.

Much appreciated. I'll try it out later. Although, to be perfectly honest, I wish I had the tools, skill and time to make animated backgrounds as the more experienced modders here are able to do, but the plain and simple is, I don't have them, plus I have to prioritize things that are more important in life than SoRR (and yes, there are such things). So, when I find a stage scene or map that seems to mesh with what I want, whether it's got layers for animation or the whole map is present in one solid-frozen package, I just use what I can use, and don't see the big deal. Whether animated or not, isn't the completion of the mod the most important thing?

You are welcome.

Hmmm, I personnaly think the two are equal. But it's only my mind, I don't know very well the modders "scene" (I was surprised about the Sailor Moon stages, for example).

Morning, all. I played the mod through last night, and in doing so I noticed a very glaring continuity error within the mod's story itself. So sorry!  Now I'll have to go back, revise the script, possibly change the ending, and make sure everything's tightened up - as well as make some of the shots for the pre-stage dialogues look even a little bit neater, while I'm at it. Look out for an updated version of "Syndicate Vengeance" coming very soon!

EDIT: As promised, "Syndicate Vengeance 1.1" is now here! The download link is provided above in the first post, but here it is again for your convenience:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/03qve8uawgfnoon/Syndicate_Vengeance_1.zip

And the "Enemies" folder for the mod:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/x9cson4t1x8jyon/enemies.zip

Shadow Fist King wrote:EDIT: As promised, "Syndicate Vengeance 1.1" is now here!

I played the 1.1 version.

I enjoyed it, but it is a bit difficult for me.  
You have improved the last scene with pictures I gave you, good. But be careful, you applied a positive value, we can't see it! Applie -20 to the armchair and -10 to the window and it will work.

Is it a Rage Fighter parody?

Shiva wrote:Is it a Rage Fighter parody?

No, it's not. I will acknowledge that I don't even know what Rage Fighter is.

Shadow Fist King wrote:I will acknowledge that I don't even know what Rage Fighter is.

It is a mod by maruf1001, parody of Street Fighter. If you don't know, check out.

Update to everyone: I'm adding a few new intricacies to the mod for a wider playing experience and deeper plot digging...hopefully I will soon be finished! Keep an eye open for when I finish; I'll let you know how soon and when!

OK, I'm waiting! Good Luck!

One thing I will say about the newest updates to the mod, without giving away spoilers: I've begun incorporating alternate paths into certain segments of the stages, both for greater diversity and because I think it'll allow for bigger surprises along the way. I just need to flesh out how some of those stages will go, and then... ^_^

EDIT: OKAY! Updating done! Below is the download link for the updated 1.2 edition of this mod.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/fubxbbuwhh9pt3l/Syndicate_Vengeance_1.2.zip

And the enemies folder for this:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/2jhqhftb9gcjc4d/enemies.zip