Streets of Rage 2

The Good
Hi there and welcome to the game that crushed Final Fight. Let me talk about what this beauty does right.

The Graphics. A HUGE Improvement over the first streets of rage though not as big as Final Fight. HOWEVER the speed of the sprites and the number far outranks the Final Fight games.

Another great thing about the sequel is the complete revamp of the character graphics. Axel's sprite is bigger has more muscle mass then before and his clothes have a few more minute details compared to Streets of Rage 1. Blaze also has a few new graphical touches over the original streets of rage.

New Characters: Skate is a great addition to the game. He's blazing fast compared to Axel and Blaze and definitely max. Skate also adds some challenge due to having the lowest stamina and strength rating. Also Max joins in. A wrestler that is more akin to Haggar from Final Fight. Though it feels strange not having Adam in this game.

Special Moves! A improvement over Streets of Rage 1. You can now use a special move with the A button where like Final Fight you do a move that is a gang up prevention. Axel does a flaming dragon punch, Blaze does a fireball, Skate does a drill kick and max does a rushing dash. Great stuff. Also each character also has a regular special move. Like the "get da powa" uppercut move that Axel does.

More variety in the levels. In this game you go through bridges and arcades, beaches, a baseball mound, city areas. And several other amusing areas. Though to be honest I wonder why they go through this city on foot. Wouldn't it be easier to go through it by car?

Music. Is SERIOUSLY better this time around. Sure there are some remixes but the quality is far improved and sounds quite a bit better. The soundtrack in streets of rage 2 is the high point of the series and is a pinnacle in beat em up music pleasure.

Sound effects. There's far more this time and they sound far more clear and sharp compared to the original Streets of Rage game. There's punches, kicks, karate yells, axel yelling GET DA POWA, screams from enemies dying, knife hits and bar smacks. This game has tons of great sounding sound effects. Way to go.

The difficulty is adjustable and quite frankly this game gets insane once you start going into the hard and very hard and mania modes. This game offers tons of beat down and the higher the mode the more beat down you serve to the game. Playing this game is pure unadultered awesomeness when it comes down to it.

The Bad
To be honest the only nitpicks I can find about this game are below.

high scores disappear when game is turned off.

Why is it that only skate can run? Why not Axel, Blaze and Max?

The Bottom Line
If I could describe this game I would describe it as a pure rush. This is a pinnacle of beat em ups. Right up there with Double Dragon and just a scotch above Final Fight.

Beginners and Vets will love this type of action and the game never gets old. The game is also pretty cheap too ranging from 5-10 bucks so you won't be breaking the bank when picking up this cart. A give this game a deserving 10/10 for providing so much beatdown that it oughta be illegal.