Xbox

Spikeout: Battle Street

Replay value comes in unlocking the staggering fifty eight playable characters available, including Spikeout's many bosses. While some are no more than palette swaps, and a few too limited for serious play, the majority are usable and fairly unique, and it's fun just to experiment and see what they're capable of. Another aspect that keeps the game from becoming too uniform is most stages have branching paths, bringing you to different areas and sometimes entirely different stages, though you can tackle each stage individually once you've unlocked them in story mode. Spikeout isn't the most complex, or even the most visually appealing game to come out of the house of Sega, but sometimes it's nice to smack around a horde of mindless enemies, especially with friends, even if they live on the other side of the planet.

In a day where arcade brawlers are a rare breed, Spikeout: Battle Street does a great job of bringing the classic coin-op action to a home console. The online and System Link support is the real draw as it comes off without a hitch. Spikeout’s dated visuals and extreme difficulty will certainly turn off most mainstream gamers, but those that take the time to explore the deep combo system and entertaining co-op play, will find their $30 well spent. Hardcore gamers and arcade vets will appreciate Sega’s latest effort the most.

If you’ve beaten Streets of Rage twenty times and need a modern-day equivalent, look no further, because this is an amazingly fun multiplayer game that brings back that old-school feeling with 3D class. But whatever you do, don’t fly solo — these streets are only going to be cleaned up with a handful of friends in tow. And at only thirty bucks, it leaves plenty of cash left over for a pair of brass knuckles and a health-replenishing turkey dinner. The only problem is finding it in the USA – only 3,000 copies have been made and 2,999 of them are on Ebay. I have the other copy, and you can’t have it.

Spikeout: Battle Street är som sagt långt ifrån felfritt. De absolut flesta kommer att tycka att svårighetsgraden är sinnesjukt högt ställd. Dessutom hade spelet inte ens varit tekniskt avancerat på en Dreamcast. Det kommer dock långt på ren och skär spelglädje och det var länge sedan ett spel gav mig sådana "bara en gång till"-känslor och jag myser åt att åter få uppleva denna klassiska men utdöda genre. Grafiken är visserligen primitiv men ren och färgglad. Kontrollen superintuitiv men ändå djup. Svårighetsgraden är lagd så att man verkligen känner sig duktig när man lyckas. De animerade mellansekvenserna är retrodoftande korta och består av riktigt avsnoppade kommentarer. Vet du med dig att du gillar gammaldags slagsmålsspel är Spikeout: Battle Street ett absolut måste. Lägg hjärnan i garderoben och bered dig på frenetiskt knapptryckande, storymässiga superfloskler och alldeles underbar arkadkänsla.

Spikeout: Battle Street comes closer to success, thanks to a livelier team-up system and a somewhat better presentation. If only the Story Mode had been a little more forgiving and the sound department more dedicated, we'd have the next great beat-em-up classic. As is, those worthy of a challenge should step up, and bring company. There's still plenty of good feasting here, even if it's a little tough to chew.

Like any arcade game, Spikeout has a short lifespan. Sure, you can unlock new characters and perfect your technique, challenge higher difficulties, and generally aim to be the biggest badass on Xbox Live. But there's a reason that arcade games fell out of favor: the complexity doesn't compare to a game designed to be played in the home. Consequently, you can see most of what there is to see in Spikeout in the span of a rental. Only truly hardcore fans will need to own their own copy; as competent and polished as it is for the genre, it's also a throwback. If you find yourself playing it a month after purchasing it, well, it's time to dust your alphabetized Dreamcast collection again, because you are a true Sega otaku. That said, I had a great time catching up with Sega via Spikeout, and I trust many of you will also enjoy its small pleasures.

The bottom line is pick it up if 1) you can find it, and 2) if you dig this old-school kind of hootenanny. But the best times are found playing as a gang. Solo gangstas need not apply.

Spikeout: Battle Street is an old-school arcadey brawler clearly inspired by games like Streets of Rage and Final Fight, and playing it will definitely make you feel like you're playing an older game.

So there you have it: Spikeout: Battle Street isn’t for everyone, but it does do the things right for those who are looking out for them. Obviously, the online is the biggest draw for this title, but you still have a moderately entertaining game that has a decent combo/move system and a host of unlockables to be found. If you like beat-‘em-ups and would like to play them with your friends, you pretty much only have this game to choose from on the Xbox -- good thing it’s not all that bad of a choice.

"Auf dem Dreamcast war 'Spikeout: Battle Street' technisch nicht zu realisieren", so Toshihiro Nagoshi, Kreativ-Kopf von Segas Amusement Vision-Abteilung. Kaum zu glauben, denn grafisch bleibt der Titel mit seinen plumpen Animationen und tristen Hintergründen weit hinter den Xbox-Möglichkeiten zurück. Dafür habt Ihr die grundsolide Steuerung nach anfänglicher Button-Smashing-Phase gut verinnerlicht und wehrt Euch mit gut getimten Schlägen gegen die Übermacht. Den gesalzenen Schwierigkeitsgrad verdankt "Spikeout" der schieren Masse an Gegnern, künstliche Intelligenz sucht Ihr vergeblich. Scheitert Ihr mehrmals in Folge, wird's automatisch etwas leichter. Genreüblich kommt zu zweit die meiste Gaudi auf, zumal Ihr der Feindesflut dann eher gewachsen seid.

This game is wonkier than Bozo the Clown taking a beating from Flipper at Leave it to Beaver's House during a Monopoly party with no Boardwalk. What that means I don't rightly know, but Spikeout is wonkier than that.

Spikeout: Battle Street will find its fans. People that are totally hooked on unlockables will find a lot of dudes to unlock here, and if you're an absolute fiend for cooperative gameplay, it's nice that the game offers it up, even though you'll only get about two hours of content. Unless you fall into one or both of these camps, Spikeout isn't for you. It's nice to dream that someday someone will be able to successfully bring the Final Fight concept to 3D. But as more and more 3D games totally flub the concept, one starts to wonder if maybe this is an impossible dream.

Can a poor game be remedied by an online mode? Unfortunately, this one can't. There are too many design flaws and not enough polish for it to be recommended, even with a generally rewarding and enjoyable Xbox Live game. If you're a hardcore arcade fan, then at £30 it might (might) be worth a look, but otherwise it's a tepid and frustrating experience with absolutely no polish.

Spikeout se casse les dents là où beaucoup d'autres jeux ont échoué avant lui, à savoir faire se rencontrer la 3D et le genre beat'em all sans trop d'accrochages. Honnêtement, quelqu'un pensait-il réellement que Spikeout pouvait y arriver avec sa réalisation très fade et son gameplay quasi-inexistant ?

When you take all of this into consideration, there's really no good reason to recommend SpikeOut to anyone. The online mode might have added lasting value to the game, but it shares the same flaws as the offline mode. If SpikeOut was setting its sights on revitalizing the beat-em-up genre, it missed its mark by quite a bit.

Sega dropped the ball on this one. Don't touch it unless you need to cure insomnia, and even then, there are ways that are more readily available and are better for your health.