Every time I booted Streets of Rage 4 on my PS4 I would get a smile. I knew that great music, beautiful graphics, and great old school combat were just around the corner. The game offers so much for its value that I cannot recommend this game enough. Although Streets of Rage 4 is an old school beat ’em up, the game does not feel old and it totally deserves a spot in today’s game landscape.
It’s not usual for me to beat a game and want to play the campaign all over again. It’s not usual for me to care about getting a higher score on levels. I am just not the type of gamer that cares for that kind of stuff. With Streets of Rage, I completely broke those norms. After I beat its 12 level campaign, I immediately wanted to start it over and this time really chase a high score. I wanted to go through the game and discover all of its secrets and all of its playable characters. Once you beat you the campaign you unlock different difficulties along with an arcade and boss rush mode, so you’ll have an excuse to play the entire thing all over again. This is a good thing because the campaign is short. It took me a couple of hours to go through the campaign with my brother. Each level comes with its own personality and different enemy types. An amazing soundtrack that feels like it was pulled straight from the 80’s plays in every level making your playthrough that much more enjoyable.
Each character that you get to play as have unique styles. Some feel heavier than others, but they all feel great to play. In Streets of Rage 4, you get to unlock more characters by just playing the game and just adding to your overall score. These unlockable characters are from previous Streets of Rage games. In a world where every game seems to have micro transactions and DLC packs, it’s nice to see a game that lets you unlock additional content by just playing the game.
There are four different modes that you can play in Streets of Rage 4. Story mode, Arcade, Boss Rush, and Battle. Out of these four modes, Arcade and Story mode are my favorites. Arcade mode brings me back to a simpler time where I would go to an arcade and I would spend my money trying to beat a game. In the arcade mode, you are given one shot to go through the entire 12 level campaign. You cant change characters and once you die you’ll have to start all over. Arcade mode brought a sense of intensity that I didn’t know I needed from a game like this. Battle mode, on the other hand, is my least favorite mode. Streets of Rage 4 is not a fighting game and I feel like Battle mode tries to make Streets of Rage 4 just that. The end result for this mode feels incomplete and just not as fun as the other three modes.
Last weekend I sat down in front of my PS4 with a bunch of games I have been meaning to get to, but I didn’t care to jump into any of them because I was playing Streets of Rage 4. I absolutely adore this game. Streets of Rage 4 is not the perfect game, but it’s a really fun game to play. I am not the guy to replay a campaign once I have already beaten it, but that was not the case for this game. I have played through the campaign multiple times by myself, with my wife, and my brother, and each time I have had a blast. Don’t sleep on this great title.