3D STREETS OF RAGE
So, I finally beat this game after obtaining it the day it came out. No, it is not long and has nothing new added to it. Yes, I had beaten it before on genesis, PS3, and 360. So why did it take me so long to beat this time? Simple. this game is a prime example of how to port something in the most horrible way possible!
I'll admit that I am a HUGE fan of the series (if you ever saw what my Vierna character I sometimes use in display pics or signatures looks like, she was loosely inspired by Blaze when I was a kid and developed a lot over the years) and so I eagerly anticipated this game's release in 3D. what a let down THAT turned out to be.
STORY
Not really much to say here. Typical 80's-style movie plot. Lots of crime on the uprise and so 3 ex-cops are working together to take down a crime syndicate. Nothing has changed from the original to the 3DS port, here.GRAPHICS
Okay, here is where we begin with the problems. The graphics normally look like this:
That is all well and fine and actually really good for its time back in 1991 during the original release. If you play the game with the 3D turned off on the port to the 3DS, then you are still having no problem. 3D is where they are bad. For starters, weapons dropped onto the ground are graphically 'inside' the ground. This is actually hard to describe without visually being able to see it for yourself. I'll do my best here. Imagine one of those old shoebox art projects kids do in elementary school. that is how the 3D graphics look. Paper cutouts with a 3D depth background. Now, imagine the floor being made of glass with texture added (like tan glass with white dots for sand on a beach, for example). Now JAM a knife into that. That is what the knives look like when you see them. you can actually see the area around the sprites for the knives and pipes and whatever that were cut and pasted into the game. So there is an invisible "aura" around the already bad 3D graphics that is also badly imposed.
Also, see that title screen at the top of this review? After beating the game I placed the 3DS on my lap and began typing on Skype that I beat it. the game went into one of those gameplay demo modes and then back to the aforementioned title screen - with inverted 3D visual effects. The characters and name were depth where the city was popped-out. I hit a button and then backed out back to that screen and it fixed itself.
Problem number two; "Classic" display is an option opposite "3D" in the settings. If you choose this (and I honestly have no idea why you would and you will see why I say that in a moment) it is SUPPOSED TO make the screen like a classic 80's dome-style TV shape or arcade cabinet. Which, okay, I know that is a trend for some reason as of late which I honestly hate (they did it on the 360 ports on XBLA and it annoyed me there too as it just takes up needless space and cuts screen off, in my opinion) but it is much more worse than that. The game actually distorts the characters like a funhouse mirror! Blaze stretched so that her torso to the bottom of her skirt bowled outward and her legs and head got almost non existent. She took up the entire screen as well. The graphics horrifically blurred to the point that if water were on my screen they probably would have been clearer since I highly doubt they could have gotten any worse. No, that is not a joke - I am being dead serious. Yes, it was THAT bad!
SOUND
The one thing kept true beside the story was the sound. The unique music and sounds of the series still shine even today and they feel right at home on a handheld console! The music makes the game's progress run all the smoother and lets you know when a boss is coming up by changing with a dramatic pause between doing so and the time when the boss appears. You will hear the music change and the game leaves you in suspense for several seconds as you wonder which side, or if both sides, you will be attacked from and by what.Character voices are still as choppy and nostalgic as ever. I am grateful for this as I have lots of fond memories of this series, as I have stated. Mechanized devices still have their robotic feel when you hear them, such as the elevator you ride whilst battling (which is a staple of the series).
GAMEPLAY
Streets of Rage is a beat-em up, and in my opinion, one of the best ones (except the first game is nothing compared to 2 and 3, respectively). You and a co-op partner, if you have one local, can fight in a side-scroll progressive map, beating up the bad guys with fist, foot, knife, tiny explosives (that never worked even once for me in this port), lead pipe, or my personal favorite - the baseball bat. Later games give each character two special moves each that are unique to them, but in this first game you get a crappy police cruiser that comes in and nukes the entire play field about once per level. A minor footnote and warning here - co-op, beware as you CAN hurt one another and cannot disable it. Now, stand back, because you are about to step into a world of pain. It is not only painful at how difficult this game is due to the many glitches, but is also painful because of how bad the hit detection is in general. If it weren't for the ability to save state the game I don't think I would have been able to beat this game on easy mode (although I was on Normal). I have NEVER had a problem with ANY of the ports or original games of this series since they released. I own all 3 on Genesis, PS3, and 360 and have beaten them respectively on all difficulties. I am not showboating or anything, just to clarify, I am mentioning this so you understand that the difficulty experienced in 3D STREETS OF RAGE is not due to the game itself, but the bad hit detection alone.
I have hit and been hit by enemies half a screen away and a entire body above me. This isn't a once in a while experience, either. This happens about 2% of the time. 2% sounds like a little amount of time, you say? Factor how many enemies you have and then add to that the fact that I was playing as Blaze who has the weakest damage output. Now add to that the fact that enemies take more than one hit. add all of that together and do the math. Yeah, it happened a LOT. The WORST cases of it are when you fight the Level 4 and 5 bosses as Blaze. These things can hit you when you cannot hit them despite your fist hits them or they miss you completely. either way the game cheats badly due to the lousy hit detection. My advice here? LEARN THE BACK ATTACK SKILL / BUTTON and learn it FAST! That one skill seems to be the only move in the entire game to not suffer this hit detection problem.
Another problem with the controls stems from the ability to land on your feet - or in this case, rather, the 'inability' to do so. Normally, if you are thrown by an opponent you hold or hit UP and the jump button and you will land on your feet 100% of the time. In this version you have to spam that control and pray it works, otherwise you will find yourself taking undue damage as you land on your rump hard and heavy despite initiating all controls flawlessly.
NEW MODES AND OPTIONS
The 3DS port has several new features, never before seen in releases outside of Japan (and some never seen before now at all).I already mentioned the CLASSIC and 3D screen options. Now, let me discuss some other things I want to make clear.
For starters, let's discuss the controls. I purposely left this out of the "gameplay" area and with good reason; it is fully customizable and fully confusing to begin with! I began the game and went to punch the first enemy on screen, habitually pressing the Y-button as is the normal spot for the basic punch button on all ports I have played, or for that matter, almost any beat-em up game. Instead, I immediately wasted my only Special Attack for that round. I went to change the controls... it got troublesome. Y was Special attack. but what it said was "Y = C". Okay, thanks for that. I get that the Y is acting as the C-button from the Genesis, but could you be a tiny bit more helpful, please and tell me what C DID? I mean, most of the people playing this game have never touched a Genesis controller! It is 22 years after the game's initial release, for heaven's sake! So yeah, setting the controls is trial and error.
With the controls set to my liking, I felt it was time to restart the game so as to get my Special Attack back. Exited to the Main Menu, pressed START when prompted, and... continued right where I left off. The game temp-saved automatically upon me exiting. It wasn't until I had shut the game fully off and loaded it up again that I found THAT was what you needed to do to start a new file.
Another new feature is the ability to change from INTERNATIONAL to JAPANESE mode. I was REALLY excited to see this! I've always wanted to play the original Japanese version known as Bare Knuckle and see the graphical changes in-game rather than online. For those who do not know, Bare Knuckle was censored heavily when it left Japan, which is why the name was changed as well. Women enemies in the game were deemed "too scantily clad" for the main issue.
I couldn't find an image of the censoring from the first game, but here is an example from SoR3
Another censoring they did in the first game was Blaze's jump kick, which concealed a panty shot. I have no problem with that, as it makes sense with the US censors and all, but they made the move look ridiculous now. One leg is outstretched while the other is just kinda... there. Regardless, yeah, Japanese mode did nothing but change the text at ONE PART - where you need it the most - to Japanese characters. The title screen and sprites / characters were never changed.Another mode they added is "Fists of Death Mode". Everything but you dies in one attack (except if thrown). It is pointless, takes the fun out of the game, and is the equivalent to using an Action Replay to make the game stupidly easy. However, if for some reason you are having a lot of trouble with the game, then this is good for training, I guess. I don't know... personally, I can't suggest this mode for any reason, really.
Anyway, yeah, to recap and summarize; Bad hit detection. Bad 3D controls. Local-only co-op. Pointless modes that break the game's difficulty to near-worthless. Pointless modes that ruin graphics. Pointless modes that do nothing but mess you up near the end. Avoid this port - but not this game - and save your money for something more worthwhile - like a single stick of gum.