Streets of Rage 4

Streets of Rage 4[lower-alpha 1] is a beat 'em up game developed by Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games. It is a continuation of Sega's Streets of Rage series and released for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 30, 2020.

Streets of Rage 4
Promotional art
Developer(s)
  • Dotemu
  • Lizardcube
  • Guard Crush Games
Publisher(s)Dotemu
Producer(s)Cyrille Imbert
Designer(s)Jordi Asensio
Programmer(s)
  • Cyrille Lagarigue
  • Bo Samson
Artist(s)
  • Ben Fiquet
  • Julian Nguyen You
Composer(s)
SeriesStreets of Rage
Platform(s)
ReleaseApril 30, 2020
Genre(s)Beat 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Plot

Ten years after the events of Streets of Rage 3, in which the criminal mastermind Mr. X was defeated, Wood Oak City falls under the control of a new crime syndicate led by Mr. X's children, the Y Twins, who plan to brainwash its citizens with hypnotic music. Blaze Fielding calls in some old favors to take the twins down. Joining Blaze are her old friends Axel Stone and Adam Hunter, Adam's daughter Cherry Hunter, and Floyd Iraia, a cybernetically enhanced apprentice of Dr. Zan.[1][2]

Gameplay

Carrying on the style of gameplay from previous entries in the Streets of Rage series, Streets of Rage 4 is a side-scrolling beat 'em up in which up to four players locally or two players online fight against waves of enemies, aided by disposable weapons and item pickups. Alongside standard attacks, throws, and Blitz Moves, each character has a set of special attacks that can be performed at the cost of some health. In this game, however, players can restore health spent on a special attack by performing successive follow-up attacks without getting hit. Each character also has a unique "Star Move", which can be performed by collecting Stars in each level. A new combo system is introduced, along with the ability to juggle opponents against walls and other players, allowing players to earn extra points by stringing together long combos without getting hit.[3]

The main gameplay mode, Story Mode, sees players going through each level as the story is told, with a stage select unlocked after clearing Story Mode. Players have a limited number of lives depending on the difficulty setting, but can earn more by earning a certain number of points. If all players lose all of their lives, they will have to retry the level from the beginning, with the option to use assists that add extra lives and Star Moves at the cost of a reduced score. Upon clearing a level, players receive a rank based on how many points they scored. Points earned goes towards a lifetime score, which goes towards unlocking bonus playable characters from past games, presented in 16-bit style. The game also features Arcade Mode, which tasks players with clearing the entire game with limited lives, a Boss Rush Mode and a competitive Battle Mode, which lets two players fight against each other. The game also features a retro audio option, featuring music tracks from both the Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System/Game Gear versions of the first two games.[4][5][6]

Development

Following the success of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, a 2017 remake of 1989's Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, publisher Dotemu and developer Lizardcube approached Sega about creating a sequel in the Streets of Rage series. Sega agreed, licensed the franchise to Dotemu and production on the game began at the beginning of 2018, with the game publicly announced that August. The game was co-developed by Guard Crush Games, using a modified engine from their Streets of Fury game, with a core development team of five members across the three companies. Each playable Streets of Rage 4 character has approximately 1,000 frames of animation, with enemies having between 300–400 frames each.[7] Seaven Studio ported the game for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch[8] while BlitWorks ported it for Xbox One and Windows 10.[9]

Music
See also: Music of the Streets of Rage series

The game's score was primarily composed by Olivier Deriviere, with additional compositions from Yuzo Koshiro, Motohiro Kawashima, Yoko Shimomura, Keiji Yamagishi, Harumi Fujita, Das Mörtal, and Groundislava.[10][11] The soundtrack is structured so that Deriviere wrote the primary themes, while each boss fight's theme was written by one of the guest composers.[11][12] Koshiro was not a part of the project from the start, but joined in June 2019 after playing a demo of the game at BitSummit, an indie game showcase in Japan. He cited fan requests and how the game was coming along as reasons for joining.[13] Hideki Naganuma was also originally set to contribute, but dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts before being replaced by Fujita.[14] The game includes the ability to switch the soundtrack to that of Streets of Rage and Streets of Rage 2.[15]

The game's soundtrack was released digitally alongside the game on April 30, 2020 by Brave Wave Productions, with a limited vinyl release produced by Limited Run Games.[16][17] A CD soundtrack is included with certain physical releases of the game, and Tee Lopes has contributed an additional remix for an exclusive 15 track soundtrack CD for those who ordered physical editions from Limited Run Games.[18]

Release

The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 30, 2020.[15] A limited physical release for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch versions by Limited Run Games was made available as both a standard edition with reversible box art and a classic edition with a steelbook case and a Genesis-style clam-shell case.[19] A limited edition version including a CD soundtrack, a 7-inch statue, a chicken stress ball, and an artbook has also been offered.[20] Another physical release for PS4, Switch, and Xbox One is being planned by Signature Edition, releasing the game in both a standard version include keyrings and an art booklet and a signature edition with a CD soundtrack, enamel pins, and a bandana.[21] Following the announcement of other physical editions, Dotemu and Limited Run Games announced that all orders of their physical editions would include a complimentary CD with an exclusive remix by Tee Lopes, as well as free Steam keys for those who ordered the limited edition.[22]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic86/100 (NS)[23]
84/100 (PC)[24]
82/100 (PS4)[25]
82/100 (XONE)[26]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid9/10[27]
Easy Allies8.5/10[28]
EurogamerEssential[29]
Game Informer7/10[30]
GameSpot8/10[31]
IGN7/10[32]
PC Gamer (US)76/100[33]
Push Square[34]
USgamer4/5[35]
VentureBeat88/100[36]
VideoGamer.com8/10[37]

Streets of Rage 4 received generally positive reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[24][25][23]

Leo Faierman of The Sydney Morning Herald said that "the visuals, sounds and mechanics aren't as envelope-pushing in 2020 as the originals were in the early '90s, but the balance between embracing nostalgia and reformulating the brawler for the current decade is struck wonderfully."[38] Heidi Kemps of GameSpot said the game "looks great, sounds great, and plays very well" and that even "if the experience is relatively short, it's the sort of game you and your buddies can easily enjoy playing and re-playing."[31] Michael Huber of Easy Allies stated that Streets of Rage 4 masterfully revitalized the series, describing the combat and soundtrack as high points, but criticized the online components at launch.[28] Dale Driver of IGN said that "it’s still a very conservative update to the quarter-century-old format that feels like a slave to the past."[32] Joe Juba of Game Informer agrees that it "feels like an homage to the ‘90s, but it’s also stuck in that era."[30]

Notes
  1. known in Japan and Asia as Bare Knuckle IV (ベア・ナックルIV)

References
  1. Ek, Robin (November 22, 2018). "Streets of Rage 4 interview with Lizardcube, Dotemu and Guard Crush Game". The Gaming Ground. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  2. Machkovech, Sam. "PAX hands-on: Retro sequels Streets of Rage 4, Windjammers 2 take us back to '94". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  3. Fillari, Alessandro (September 11, 2018). "Streets Of Rage 4 Is A Nostalgic Trip Back To A Classic Series". GameSpot. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  4. McWhertor, Michael. "Streets of Rage 4's new character is a guitar-playing badass". Polygon. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  5. Maher, Cian. "Streets of Rage 4 gets a new character and four-player co-op". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  6. https://twitter.com/lizardcube/status/1247907332912295941
  7. Fiquet, Ben (April 23, 2020). "How Lizardcube Redesigned the Characters of Streets of Rage 4, Out April 30". PlayStation Blog. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  8. https://www.seaven-studio.com/streets-of-rage-4/
  9. https://blitworks.com/streets_of_rage_4
  10. Hussain, Tamoor (July 17, 2019). "Streets Of Rage 4's Soundtrack Has Four Legendary Artists Including Yuzo Koshiro". GameSpot. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  11. "ALL-STAR COMPOSER LINEUP". Brainwave. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  12. Romano, Sal. "Streets of Rage 4 composed by Olivier Deriviere". Gematsu. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  13. McFerran, Damien. "Yuzo Koshiro Thinks You're Going To Love Streets Of Rage 4". Nintendo Life. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  14. Wong, Alistair. "Hideki Naganuma No Longer Composing Streets of Rage 4 Soundtrack Due to Scheduling Complications". Siliconera. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  15. McCaffrey, Ryan. "Streets of Rage 4 Gets April Release Date". IGN. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  16. http://www.bravewave.net/streetsofrage4/ost
  17. https://limitedrungames.com/products/streets-of-rage-4-signed-soundtrack-vinyl
  18. Bartholomé, Clément (May 12, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 : DotEmu s'excuse pour la confusion concernant les éditions physiques". jeuxvideo.com (in French). Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  19. Romano, Sal. "Streets of Rage 4 PS4 and Switch limited print physical editions announced". Gematsu. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
  20. https://limitedrungames.com/products/limited-run-332-streets-of-rage-4-limited-edition-ps4
  21. https://signatureeditiongames.com/products/streets-of-rage-4-signature-edition-ps4
  22. https://twitter.com/Dotemu/status/1260124403658043395
  23. "Streets of Rage 4 for Nintendo Switch Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  24. "Streets of Rage 4 for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  25. "Streets of Rage 4 for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  26. "Streets of Rage 4 for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  27. Moyse, Chris (April 29, 2020). "Review: Streets of Rage 4". Destructoid. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  28. Huber, Michael (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 Review". Easy Allies. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  29. Robinson, Martin (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 review - beloved beat 'em-up gets the Sonic Mania treatment". Eurogamer. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  30. Juba, Joe (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 Review — Return To The Old-School Neighborhood". Game Informer. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  31. Kemps, Heidi (May 4, 2020). "Streets Of Rage 4 Review - The Beat-'Em-Up Boys Are Back In Town". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  32. Driver, Dale (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 Review". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  33. Fenlon, Wes (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 review". PC Gamer. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  34. Tailby, Stephen (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 - Bygone Beat-'Em-Up Classic Returns in Flashy Revival". Push Square. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  35. Allen, Eric Van (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 Review: Streets Ahead". USgamer. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  36. Grubb, Jeff (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 review — A brawl down memory lane". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  37. Wise, Josh (April 29, 2020). "Streets of Rage 4 review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  38. Biggs, Tim (April 29, 2020). "Iconic brawler hits the streets again after 26 years". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
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