Streets of Rage 2

The Good
The range of moves, including those which involve the use of lead pipes, knives and other weapons you can pick up or knock from the hands of enemies. The levels are of imaginative design, the graphics all look good and there are plenty of first-rate tunes. The characters are all well-thought-out and well-designed, the villains are interesting and varied and the bosses are suitably impressive. The two-player mode provides extra value, and there is even a Street fighter-type one-on-one fighting game. You'll be coming back to this again and again.

The Bad
Erm....er....no updates on those blokes with boomerangs? No, that's just nit-picking.

The Bottom Line
Police officer Adam Hunter has been kidnapped by the boss of a criminal organisation who intend to take over the city. So it's up to Adam's brother Sammy 'Skate' Hunter and his friends to make their way through eight levels of gripping horizontally-scrolling mayhem to reach and destroy the power-mad Mr X. There are four characters including Skate and wrestler Max, along with Blaze and Axel from the first Streets of Rage. And there is a whole range of villains, including denim-clad thugs, knife-wielding maniacs, ninjas, fire-breathers, kick-boxers and many others. Along the way, you'll find varied pick-ups such as apples and chickens - which replace energy - and there are several extra lives, most of them hidden around the place. A first-rate beat-em-up, and the best of the Streets of Rage series.