Streets of Rage II

Name: Streets of Rage II
Platform: Mega Drive (Genesis if you're 'merican)

Developer: Sega

Release Year: 1993

Basic Plot

Adam from SOR1 has been kidnapped by the crime lord “Mr X”. His friends (you) must battle through the hordes of gang baddies to rescue him.

What's its deal?

It's a Double Dragon style beat 'em up.

Gameplay

Streets of Rage II kept the same 2D side-scrolling style of beat 'em up gameplay as SOR1 but had so many improvements. The graphics were significantly better and the soundtrack was AMAZING.

The great thing about SOR2 was the variety of attacks each character had at their disposal. There was of course the regular button mashing combo and jumping kick that you find in any of these types of games but Sega added much more. For example there were in fact 3 different ways to execute a jumping attack. Add in throws, grabs – and lots of options once you had grabbed an opponent, dash attacks, charged attacks, reverse attacks and more. The sheer number of options of which you could kick the crap out of gang punks kept the game from getting stale. There were weapons you could pick up (knives, poles etc) and even though different characters handled these weapons slightly differently they lacked the variety and using them became boring very quickly. Every time I picked picked up a knife I'd find myself throwing it away as quickly as possible just so I could get back to using my mitts. It was ALL about the hand to hand. So very satisfying.

The move commands were all the same for whatever character although the moves those commands produced were specific to the character which meant you could switch between characters easily and not have to start learning their shit from zero.

Axel and Blaze were 'on their own' with no support from the Police this time round which made you feel more like a renegade and the whole mission more dangerous (said the 12 year old playing in his lounge) as a result the special attack from SOR1 (where the Police car came and fired a bazooka and cleared out the enemies on screen) was taken out. Instead, each character had 2 special attacks of their own – one, for when they were surrounded that cleared enemies immediately on both sides of your character and one that was directional which did more damage but only to one side. However using either of these new special attacks used up a bit of your health causing you to only bust them out when you really needed them making them very satisfying to use (nice one Sega). This was taken out for SOR3 which ruined these attacks ('nice one' Sega).

One of the greatest strengths of the game was the characters you could play as. Each had their own style, strengths and weaknesses. They all had a ranking for their strength, technique, speed and jump (jump was a negligible attribute – no one ever died because they couldn't jump high enough).

AXEL: From SOR1. Had a fantastic array of techniques and skinny jeans. The 'cool' choice.

BLAZE: From SOR1. Had all her attributes perfectly balanced. Blaze was also the type of character that you and your mates would 'totally do' when you and your mates were 12 and talking about 'hot video game babes' during sleep overs.

SKATE: Adam's younger brother and the annoying 'young and hip' character who had rollerblades (groan). Fast but very weak and um, dope y'all.

MAX: A professional wrestler who just happens to be Axel's friend (how CONVENIENT). Tries to maximise (no pun intended) his exposure by wearing his actual wrestling costume in a street fight. He was strongest character in the game and the slowest (despite the lightning bolts on his tights).

A nice little touch was that each enemy had their own name and life gauge so you could put a name to the face you were destroying and toy with them on the brink of death.

Memorable moments

Being psyched up by the kick-ass techno soundtrack. Unleashing Max's thunder tackle special attack on 8 punks who have unluckily grouped themselves together. You're so dead.

Positives

• the variety of attacks at your disposal gave the game longevity and rewarded you being a better player.
• The soundtrack.
• graphics were a HUGE improvement from SOR1.
• Naming each enemy.
• Hits felt hard.
• Seriously, the amount of attacks you could do was far beyond anything else out at the time.
• Killing those annoying pricks on the motorbikes.

Negatives

• Finding a player's best move could have you relying on it a bit much (Grand Upper!).
• I know it couldn't work with the story but would have loved to have seen what they would have done with Adam had he been a playable character again.
• Skate.
• Max's backstory.
• Those annoying pricks on the motorbikes killing you.

Extra comments

This was easily the best in the series. SOR1 was a little too basic and SOR3 was just, just, they just didn't get it. Felt too cartoonish, light and tinny.

Stephen's Thoughts
I never played this game but loved the original, and it's on my list of games to write about! Loved it.