Streets of Rage 4 "Grand UPPAH!"

[Wraith]

Anyone want impressions from someone who likes action games but have never played a SOR game before? This game fucks. But it has a couple issues. I've done two co op runs and a solo one. If this is Streets of Rage at it's most basic it truly is timeless. I had a lot of fun just chaining basic combos together with specials. There are a lot of characters but I spent the vast, vast majority of my time playing Cherry. Her design caught my eye from the jump and I was having too much fun to think much about switching after.

The ability to dash, bounce off enemy heads, attack them on the ground etc made her feel very modern in a way the other characters just don't. I still need to play around with the other characters but I've been playing a lot of 3-4 person co op and this kit just flows to me. I'm probably gonna play this game again soon so I'll sink my teeth into one of the others then. I played a little bit of Blaze and her after burner kick seems fun.

The game was short but sweet. A lot of variety without feeling like padding. I actually really liked the level gimmicks like the pits, the breakable walls, the sliding floors and stuff. The art design never stops being gorgeous with the satisfying animations and sound design being half the reason it feels so good to play. Each level looks and feels pretty different and it can't be understated how big of an achievement that is keeping this quality of art throughout. 

Some enemy types were annoying even when the methods to dealing with them were obvious. The hitboxes on things like knives are huge and some enemies feel like they can move around way too easily compared to my character. In general I felt like some other defensive option would have been nice. The defensive special and the risk/reward required was cool to me, but a weaker that you could use without risking your health would have made the game more exciting for me. 

The story was pretty forgettable also but I imagine that's normal for these games. Otherwise I don't have too many problems. I hope this series continues and they keep finding ways to evolve this combat system.

[Remy]

Yeah cherry is a definite stand out. Compared to Skate, who she is kind of a reskin/rework of her design is about 100x more appealing and the power dunk like move is awesome. If I have a criticism her range is kinda short and her damage a bit low- sometimes It can be hard to take people out quickly in crowd control type situations.

If you're still playing, I know the girls are more appealing but I feel like adam is a good bridging character from Cherry to the others. his little short dash is super useful. I also kind of love the animations of his moves? His running special kick has so much IMPACT and the air special is a dang tatsu!

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/NegativeJaggedHornedviper-mobile.mp4

Here's a gif of me playing like crap but still nailing a nice juggle with that air tatsu.

I get why they didn't want to have everyone run, the game is going for that SOR2 mood, but I think maybe SOR5's game design could handle short dashes or runs.

They really knocked it out of the park with this game. I know this because when I make my girlfriend play belt scroller beat em ups with me she normally does so relatively unwillingly, but with this game she a.) wanted to play it without being nagged b.) commented on how great the graphics and music are and c.) painted blaze fielding after we beat it. Her opinion should be important to you because she works as a   "Game Developer"  

I mean, I knew the graphics were awesome from early footage, but man the stage/encounter design, character design and combat design (the hitstop/feedback on hits is PERFECT) are all home runs. Even the new enemies fit right and serve good roles in the SOR combat design. Normally these indie tribute beatemups really suck ass, so my bar was low but man what a killer game.

I even love how the music is continuous like a DJ set from screen to screen with smooth fades. So beast. When I get a weekend to myself I'm gonna deep dive this game and go for S Ranks and beat Mania Mode 

 

On 5/13/2020 at 9:24 AM, Wraith said:

Some enemy types were annoying even when the methods to dealing with them were obvious. The hitboxes on things like knives are huge and some enemies feel like they can move around way too easily compared to my character. In general I felt like some other defensive option would have been nice. The defensive special and the risk/reward required was cool to me, but a weaker that you could use without risking your health would have made the game more exciting for me. 
 

Neutral jump has i frames, so you can use neutral jump attacks to get out of sticky situations/ deal with charging enemies (ie, the ruby/diamond gemstone named 80s drop kick girls)

 

Shoutouts to my boy Donovan for protecting america's skies. No Jumping Ever (tm)

[KHCast]

28 minutes ago, Remy said:

Neutral jump has i frames, so you can use neutral jump attacks to get out of sticky situations/ deal with charging enemies (ie, the ruby/diamond gemstone named 80s drop kick girls)

Wait really? Fuck, I didn’t know that  thanks 

[Remy]

Yeah. Forward jump kicks are an OK option too but I'm not sure about the invincibility status, It's more useful for stuffing random enemies. I used to be pretty good at SOR 1 & 2 but most of my metagame knowledge has slipped out of my brain.

Oh yeah, you can land on you feet after a grab/hit that launches you by pressing up and jump before you hit the ground.

[KHCast]

 

The game has received a sizable balancing patch!

 

[Blue Blood]

SEGA actually tweeted that? They've been so hands off with SoR4. It's basically been entirely DotEmu and the developers, with SEGA's name relegated to just the copyright information. I hope they're getting involved because they see what a good thing they were missing out on and want to stop washing their hands of these projects.

[Wraith]

they saw that 1.5 million units sold and are currently in pulling head out of ass mode

[Remy]

On 9/8/2020 at 12:37 AM, Wraith said:

they saw that 1.5 million units sold and are currently in pulling head out of ass mode

Fucking SEGA lmao. I was talking to my 35 year old cousin about this game and he didn't believe it was real or anything other than a fangame. I'm pretty sure he still hasn't bought it because he still thinks it's some homebrew project like SoRR. It's wild this project turned out so good and they were still pretty much sweeping it under the rug. They should really be paying the devs to do an expansion campaign with a few more playable characters. 

I need to revisit this game with the new balance patch. But I've fallen down a loot game hole with Destiny 2 and PSO2.  But then looking at those patch notes...

 

Quote

Cherry Hunter (SOR4):

- Can jump cancel after uppercut combo and grab uppercut.

I need to style with my girl cherry, because dear god was i hammering that jump button after those uppercuts to try and JC. I don't know how I'm gonna react to it actually working now. 

[King Conne]

First trailer for the D.L.C. :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhsAAQoYQ0k

[KHCast]

That looks like a hefty amount of dlc wow. I’m impressed so far, so can’t wait to see what else they got in store for us 

 

Also Tee Lopes, lets fucking goooo

[Wraith]

Wasn't expecting all this. I would have been fine with just some new characters to play the campaign with.

Hopefully the release date is sooner rather than later