What is your honest opinion on Streets of Rage 4?

a) Did you like it? And why?

b) Did you hate it? And what led you to it?

c) Is it just "another game"? You simply don't care?

And do you prefer:

1) Streets of Rage Remake?
2) Streets of Rage 4?
3) Both are okay?
4) None is special?

I like it. It's genuinely hard for me to find a beat em up to get invested into since many of them fail at making the enemies interesting to fight against, but this one does it fairly well. Every enemy and variant has a different set of abilities and behaviors. Every fight is one I feel I can't just mindless mash against. Love the combos and wall bounces in the game too. My only real complaint is the amount of armor some enemies have, it's a bit much and it takes away your ability to punish and often lets enemies just get in attacks for free. That's my biggest issue with the game, I've never liked armor at all and I think it's sprinkled on way too often in this game.

Both are good but when it comes to content then SORR is better of course, it's free, has remixes of all 3 soundtracks and original, and you get 12 characters with a bunch of levels in 4 paths that branch into each other. SOR4 obviously can't reach that due to development times and costs but it is hard to not compare. SOR4 is a game I definitely prefer when it comes to combat due to the additions of combo systems and tools for it but it is harder to want to start a new run since it's going to be the same no matter what. So yeah I guess I do like it and I much prefer the gameplay but deep down I think SORR will always be my favorite. More content, more years playing it, more replay value, and SOR is a game I play for its neutral game and grounded nature, it not having combos isn't a deal breaker.

After putting in over 25 hours in this game, unlocking every character, playing every character, and beating all of the game modes on Hard/Hardest, here are my thoughts.

I love this game, and I feel that there are design choices and mechanics that have had some thought put into them. Mechanically this game feels like SOR to its core, and that coming from someone who owns SOR 2 & 3 and plays them since 1996 (when I first played them). I've also been a huge fan of SORR since 2008 and put countless hours playing and beating it during the beta versions up until its final release in 2013.

Back to SOR4, I had some concerns with the mobility going back to SOR2 with not be able to run/roll, but after some time, it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, however, having those abilities is what would make this game even better, a little more about that in a bit. But overall I don't hate the mobility options, since the game is not so challenging that you need them.

Let's talk about the good stuff that SOR is known for

Combat Mechanics: By far the best SOR combat experience I have played so far. Everything about this game is as SOR as it can get, but with new additions to combat mechanics such as wall bounce, ground bounce, air juggling, and OTG's (Off The Ground). These mechanics open up vast combo potentials for every SOR4 character, examples such as Blaze (my main) is that her attacks focus on OTG's meaning that no enemy is safe laying on the ground, while Adam's combo potential focus on wall bouncing. Combat in this game is so satisfying that I keep playing and experimenting with different characters or even experiment synergies with other players and how we can string or extend combos, its absolutely crazy!

Now all of the new mechanics are not necessary to know and exploit in order to play this game properly, like I said it still is very much SOR in its base mechanics. And the reason why I bring that up is to talk about the retro characters.

How SORR treated the characters' variable counterparts is to add sprites to give SOR1 Axel the same base moves as SOR2 or 3 Axel, same goes for Blaze and Skate. This is to keep consistency to the move set but with small differences when you switch different variants. How Dotemu/ GuardCrush handled retro characters is to keep the variants untouched in their move sets, which seems lazy, until you play them and realize that their own combat mechanics from their respective game is also there as well. SOR1 characters have no special moves but their basic attacks hit like a truck, SOR2 characters have their heavy stun jab locks, and SOR3 characters have their running and dodging. Combine those with the game's juggle and wall bouncing and you got yourself a new way to play these characters. I never used skate in 2 or 3, but in this game, Skate is a monster with juggling! Almost damn near broken!

Enemies in this game are really good. Pallet swap enemies have a specific pattern once you learn what they are and they never break from that pattern, which makes for good strategy while fighting in real time, it keeps you on your toes. Its similar to previous SOR games but with more actions and capabilities as the game progresses. Donivan goes from just jabbing at you at stage 1 to catching and throwing weapons back at you by stage 12, That kind of enemy progression.

However there is one enemy mechanic I do not approve of, and that is the horrendous use of Armor Frames they have. 3 bosses abuse them and they are inconsistent on when it wears off so memorizing patterns can only get you so far. It's what turns a simple co-op boss rush into a 3 hour endeavor.

Now I said running and dodging is not needed because the game is not hard enough to require it, but when you unlock SOR3 characters you start to realize how much of a difference a campaign run can be when you have the ability to roll. I tried out SOR3 Axel for the first time in this game and ended up a deathless run by the end, didn't lose a single life! There are some enemy obstacles that be easily overcome by rolling, which trivializes the difficulty of this game even on mania. In other words SOR3 characters are busted here, especially Skate. They could make the game harder so that everybody can dodge and roll, but whatever.

I love a game that has dynamic music changes, so to have that here is very appreciated. However it was not used as effectively as it should. It works well in 3 or so stages, but falls flat everywhere else. I always keep SORR's OST on my phone(s) music playlist over the years because the guys doing the music did a great job at giving a classic ost a slight boost to enhance the experience.

I love SORR, and I don't consider SOR4 a replacement. What SORR and SOR4 are completely different types of games:

-SOR4 is a low budget sequel of a forgotten IP developed by young 3rd party developers who respect the legacy and want to do it justice. The fact that this game exists means a lot to not only Streets of Rage, but other forgotten beat em ups in general.

-SORR is a passion project made by dedicated fans who never gave up since 2004 to make a game that was a love letter and a celebration to the series. While everyone is sore from what sega did, I believe that this game's existence and continued support is what made SOR4 even possible.

SOR4 is amazing for its combat, but everything else is far inferior to SORR. But both deserve to be acknowledged.

ps. Did you know the only game GuardCrush made before this was Streets of Fury? That game was absolutely bonkers, but surprising had a satisfying combat mechanics!

tuggieman wrote:...but when you unlock SOR3 characters you start to realize how much of a difference a campaign run can be when you have the ability to roll

YES! This is one of the main reasons I liked playing with Cherry most and after unlocking the retro characters, it felt amazing playing with SOR3 Shiva, Zan and Axel. Even the experience with SOR2 Max and Axel was so much better than playing with SOR4 Axel.

Security wrote:a) Did you like it? And why?

IMO the game is far from perfect, it is a mixed bag. It comes with some brilliantly designed stages with great music (like 07 Skytrain, which seems inspired by the SORR train stage) and some horrible ones like the final one (12 - Y Island). Stages 2 to 6 are suboptimal, but the game REALLY SHINES from stage 7 to 11, these ones really feel like Streets of Rage! There is no climax, because stage 12 ruins everything

Important things missing:
- Bikers in moving bikes, not parked bikes! And jets!
- Real robots
- SOR2 and SOR3-style ninjas and samurais (at some point they painted a cop in black and gave him shurikens but it really didn´t help)
- Not being able to play with Estel
- Proper final boss and stage (I hated the Y family, so unoriginal)
- Proper ending

For me, weak story, boss repetition, lack of Storm and ninjas make this is a rushed incomplete release. If a SOR5 would to happen, I would like to see more team members from the original Genesis SOR team involved and in control- they surely would know how to make a better release.

For those not liking to play with the new SOR4 characters, make sure you make the points to unlock (or cheat to unlock) and try the retro ones! They make a big difference!

My honest opinion is that the programmers from Guard Crush need to be sat down, handed a Megadrive controller and shown how the bosses in SoR2 and BK3 work.

And what happens when you lose your final life.

Because if they sorted both those things about it would raise my 7.5 to a 9.

After first playthrough I was thinking about refunding this game, because I was irritated about enemies and thier cheap moves with iframes, also the delay after each punch is too long, I know it's similar to combat type of sor2, but sor4 is a new game and combat should be fluent, not rusty as in almost 30 years old game, at last they should give us an option to choose between combat type of sor2 or sor3, in the same way as in sorr.
Also I am disappointed with the lack of content, characters of sor1 don't have any new moves, no way to unlock (besides hacks) sor4 Max, Shiva or Estell.
Online playing is horrible, I had only 2 perfect online games without any lags or slowdowns, that's ridiculous.

As pluses I count combos and juggling with enemies, some soundtracks and ... good material for a great mod for sorr, that's all. Anyway it's a quite good game, but mediocre sor.

I didn't return the game because after some time I got used to its flaws and still from time to time I play one or two stages, but I would prefer to pay even 40$ for having sorr on steam. Bombergames team did a great job, sega should support them back then, too bad that it ended this way.

Security wrote:a) Did you like it? And why?

b) Did you hate it? And what led you to it?

c) Is it just "another game"? You simply don't care?

And do you prefer:

1) Streets of Rage Remake?
2) Streets of Rage 4?
3) Both are okay?
4) None is special?

I like SOR 4 a lot. I've not been able to put it down the past week. When compare to SORR it's a tough comparison. SOR4 is like getting the hot new game system but only get 1 game and SORR is like getting last generations game system but 10 games with it, if that make sense.

In other words SORR is loaded with content that spans 3 games with unique twists. SOR4 is 1 new game with the classic characters making their appearance.

That said both are great in their own way.

Things I like about SOR 4

-Awesome music

-Awesome art/backgrounds

-12 short levels rather than the 8 or so from previous games

-Unique combo system

What I don't like -

-Bosses/enemies with too much super armor - I wouldn't mind this if some moves maybe had armor break properties. I just think it needs to be toned down because it seems they did this so bosses and enemies can't be cheesed out like in the old games which I think is cool.

-Poor quality checking - I have the game on Xbox one and there are issues with Online play, the combo meter and visual options. That is not cool and a week later not fixed.

- Special Moves - I have a love hate relationship with this. I really like the meter in SOR3 but realize even this would be abused in SOR4. I however think doing a special in SOR4 is so risky given the pay off, even if you can recover your health. If an enemy sneaks in a jab you can lose over 25% of your health

I could go on more about SOR 4 and my feelings about SORR as well but I enjoy both and will SOR4 more if they patch it.

After replaying it 3 times, I've come to a conclusion that I'm overall disappointed. I don't hate it, it's a fine beat'em up, but it does not earn its number 4 in the title, it should've been called Streets of Rage 2-2 or something.

The game borrows heavily from 2 to the point that almost not a single good feature present in 3 makes an appearance. Only one character can run, and none of them can roll, there's no Star system from 3, there's no stage callbacks, all secret flashback battles are from 2, the game doesn't have a single piece of music from 3 when you turn the old soundtrack on. Unlockable SoR3 characters take forever to get, and they play worse than they did in 3. Somebody in the office REALLY hates 3, and it shows.

Juggling is a fine addition I guess. I dunno, I just have nothing to say about SoR4, it's just okay, but this SoR3 hate is just... I can't ignore it while playing. Why is it that SoRR can give me plenty of options to play however I want, but not this new numbered title? The blueprint in the form of a fan remake is right there, just copy it and call it a day, but no, we have to appeal to SoR2 fans, and SoR2 fans only. You look at Devil May Cry 5, a game that the fans have been waiting for 11 years, and it pays respect to every single corner of the franchise, even to a VERY bad game like DMC2 and a controversial one like DmC. Why can't SoR get the same treatment?

a) Did you like it? And why?

Despite the numerous flaws I've found, yeah, I like it cuz the game has potential to be even better. It has its own vibe and its own style and I dig it... or more like it, kinda grew on me. The art direction still doesn't really appeal me so much but I like the sprites or the characters and enemies.

In the music department I'm overall impressed by the quality of the songs. I'm a sucker for Funky HQ, An Exhibition, Rising Up and the two songs of the Y Twins. Also love the work of Motohiro Kawashima in the sound.

I do like the combo system, how dynamic this can be  in an overall slow and clunky gameplay (more of that below) but people still can be creative on creating good combos.

b) Did you hate it? And what led you to it?

The things I hate: slow gameplay. I'm too used to fast, dynamic gameplay that SOR3 and SORR brought on the table. As someone said above: it borrowed so much from SOR2, most features that made BK3 (and by proxy SORR) are gone. Adding that fucking annoying super armor that I believe fits in certain bosses... BUT NOT IN MOOKS~! Jesus fucken Christ, Bongos with super armor in EVERYTHING THEY FUCKING DO!?

The weapon system is a love/hate thing. In SOR2/3/SORR, you know some enemies are dangerous with certain weapons, we usually take them from them and throw them off the screen so they don't become a threat. The bounce system to the weapons could work wonderfully where there's walls, but now that everything and everyone bounces even if right behind there's a fucking pit makes no sense and I don't like it so much
.
The thing that would make me love this game more would be a fast paced, highly maneuverable gameplay that allows armor/guard break and that wouldn't be so long, lineal and repetitive (yup, SOR3 developed the multi path that according to how you solved a puzzle, you'd get a different outcome, unlocking secret characters, etc.), I do believe the game would have been great, with highly replayability if those 12 stages would have been divided into two different paths that could lead to a different outcome... and a better ending. The ending was balls.

And do you prefer:

1) Streets of Rage Remake?
2) Streets of Rage 4?
3) Both are okay?
4) None is special?

As much I enjoyed parts of SOR4, until this day I still prefer SORR. the so many options from the core game, plus the endless options and creativity we can do in SORmaker still makes me play it even after 9 since its release. I simply can't get enough of such a fantastic game. In fact, SOR4 provided more inspiration to create new stuff for SORmaker. That much I know.

a) Did you like it? And why?

Not just like it, I love it despite having a number of grievances

I was saddened by the departure of a sprite style aesthetics and was not feeling the main composer of the music much, plus the initial gameplay gave me the impression wouldn't play anything close to SoR 2 and 3 so I was worried. After playing it tho? Love the artstyle they went with and the presentation is really good, not perfect but still great. The music while not all of them are worth looking on youtube, the good stuff is really really good so overall I've enjoyed it, fav tracks are Shiva, Barbon, It's Extra, They're Back, Mr. Y among a few others. 4/5

The gameplay, imo, does feel like what you expect of Streets of Rage, combos chainable with specials and enemy AI feels pretty familiar but as many point out the biggest disappointment comes at the lack of speed that Streets of Rage 3 introduced so this game kinda feels like a different evolution from 2 rather than picking it up from 3 or even Remake. It feels particularly irksome now that some enemies have armor and it's a little hard to get away from enemies that have some kind of charge attack that requires you to get out of the way. Now I dunno if it's cause I play Adam but as I kept playing I've learned how to manage these situations so it doesn't feel completely unfair to me anymore but just a little bit more dashing options would be neat or any sort of adjustments, which the game still has time to tweak. 3.5/5

In regards to the retro content though it's a lot of fun! Playing as SoR1 characters have that simplicity of the original that only requires you to punch your way through enemies without special and surprisingly it doesn't feel like you're at disadvantage! In fact I'd argue Axel and Adam are a little broken, I made Hard my bitch with them xD SoR2 chars feel relatively similar to the SoR4 characters and I may say they are probably the hardest cast to get accustomed  to play against this game's enemies but idk, didn't play them much funny enough but then unlocking the SoR3 chars feel glorious! They play just like SoR3 and they can run diagonally like Remake so it's kinda fixes my grievance with the lack of dodging options... sort of, this just proves to me they could implement it to the SoR4 characters but I suppose they just chose the slow pace to be the intended way to play... I guess to appease the SoR2 fans which to be fair are a big majority? Well, Im glad the option is there in some way at least but I hope they consider adapting it into the SoR4 chars or else Adam will remain my main xD 4/5

The retro soundtrack tho? Sucks ass!!
*gaaaaasp*
Well, not the music in particular (kinda) but the odd music placement during the stages. It starts good with Go Straight on Stage 1, mmkay, nostalgic, I dig it, but then you fight the first boss and fucking Mr.X Boss theme plays, lol what??? Stage 2 begins with Boss Music? Excuse me? And then they play the Game Gear? Master System? soundtrack of SoR1 which is really really lame. Now they clarified on Twitter they had licensing issues? So I guess I understand but even so, doesn't excuse the lame placement and they fact they skipped 3's music sucks more. But hey, it's an optional feature so I don't think it's a biggie but thank lord the main game's soundtrack is good on it's own or else oof. 2/5

In terms of story... well, it's alright, I like it well enough but I felt it needed a little more. Now Streets of Rage isn't Shakespeare, 1 and 2 conveyed their stories mostly based on the intro and ending texts and imagery but 3 stepped it up a bit and tried to make it a little more engaging, you follow a narrative and depending on a few of your choices you get different paths and different endings which disappointingly in 4, it's as straightforward as 2 and I don't mean to shit on 2 but it sucks 3 wanted to pick up on the ideas 1 introduced only for 4 to can it again. Well, it's not all bad tho since it does have story bits between stages like 3 to keep you engaged but uh, idk, I felt like 3 had more memorable character moments than 4? I could tell you that in 3, Axel is the straightforward guy that takes no shits even after being framed, Skate is a pissed off kid and has a bit of trust issues with Zan, Zan is a Syndicate traitor that leads the party to Mr.X and Blaze is what keeps the party level headed and places her trust on Zan. 4 Tho? Uhh, shit happens? Everyone is about on the same page so it's a little hard to remember any stand out moments of them. Adam had a bit of a stand out moment but after he made his entrance he just sort of fucks off from the story so really the most memorable character moments actually lies on the enemies. Estel is on your tail and eventually turns around and helps you, we fight Shiva and offers his help, we fight an old friend which is kinda woah. As for Mr. X kids uh... they remind a little bit too much of Rugal kids from KoF, I swear Mr.Y is a fusion of Rock and Adelheid (although not in personality), they have a post NESTs KOF vibe to them which can't say if it's a good or bad thing but they play out their roles just about how you'd expect. 3/5

As one last note I nearly forgot, this is the first time in a while I played co-op with friends so it added extra enjoyment to the game to me, I had played 3 player mode with my family and had some online sessions with distant friends which granted, was not always smooth but still loads of fun! 4/5

All in all, I hope extra content is on the way, there are hints from devs and left over data in the game that suggest there might be more which I hope is the case. Retro chars are cool but without relying on them the game could use more unlockable characters such as Max, Roo, Shiva, Estel or why not? Ash (Even though there's no trace of him.) Besides that, if they add extra story/stages to the main game it would give it that extra spice this game needs.


And do you prefer:

1) Streets of Rage Remake?
2) Streets of Rage 4?
3) Both are okay?
4) None is special?

It's tough. Honestly? Both are awesome on their own right. SoR4 feels more fresh, it's a proper sequel to a long awaited new entry and imo, has a far better presentation. In terms of content and gameplay feel I do like Remake better but depending on how they handle future content or at all, I might just easily pick 4.

I think it's a bit to early for me to say what I think because have negative views at the moment. I know Kim Justice said in one of her videos that she hated it at first and then it grew on her. So I just feel like I need to play SOR4 some more. I think my main problem is that I was playing SORR and the SORmaker mods from January so I might be subconsciously comparing the two games.

a) Did you like it? And why?
Not really, I liked the art style and the game's characters but not the game play. I remember the special moves to be a "crowd control" move to use when an enemy has you, and now it does nothing it's just another attack. The game is heavily influenced by SOR2 which is not a bad thing but SOR1 and BK3 (Not SOR3) are brilliant games and in "3" your characters could run and roll.

b) Did you hate it?
It's to early to say that I hate it, but for some reason it does not feel like a SOR sequel but more of a sequel to "Remake" (with a lot of stuff missing). Like SORR is a missing link in the game arc.

And which do you prefer:
Overall I prefer Streets of Rage Remake, plus there's probably a talented individual who's already modding SOR4 into SORR right now.

Light82 wrote:So I just feel like I need to play SOR4 some more.

After playing it some more things can feel a bit different. With me, I found that SOR4 Adam is my favorite character. At first it felt weird playing with him.

Light82 wrote:there's probably a talented individual who's already modding SOR4 into SORR right now.

I hope you are right. Some ninjas can really make it happen at some point. I mentioned about some of the challenges in the other topic