Streets of Rage 2

The original Streets of Rage made a successful transition from the Genesis to the Game Gear. Complete with simultaneous two-player, two-fisted action, Streets of Rage 2 is now poised to make its own small-screen debut. Don't look for any complex story lines here, it's just pure, nonstop fighting action!

Word on the Street

It's a year after Blaze and Axel rid the streets of Mr. X and his evil crime syndicate. Now Mr. X seeks vengeance by kidnapping their friend, Adam. This time the objective isn't just to rid the streets of criminal scum...this time it's personal!

Link up with a friend for two-player, simultaneous action (via a Gear-to-Gear cable), or go solo in this sidescrolling slugfest. Five treacherous levels jam-packed with all types of goons and thugs block your way to the final showdown with Mr. X. The large, sharp graphics ensure that you feel every punch, slam, and slap.

Several changes had to be made to size this Genesis game down to Game Gear parameters. For instance, you are only able to choose among Blaze, Axel, and Skate (Adam's been abducted, remember?), and their moves have been simplified in comparison to their Genesis repertoire. Each hero still has different strengths and weaknesses, though, including power, technique, speed, jump, and stamina. Each one can also punch, jump, jump kick, flip opponents, and use one specialized move. For example, Axel launches into a whirlwind, six-hit flurry of punches topped with a spinning uppercut. It's easy to activate the fight moves, and all the on-screen action responds to the silky smooth controls.

The game's challenge is variable, with an option menu that enables you to choose among Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty levels, and one to five players per life. With each continue, you can restart with a different character. Additional help is available in the form of power-ups hidden throughout each level, including extra players, health units, and weapons (knives, steel bars, and so on).

Hand-Held Mayhem

Streets of Rage 2 is a handful of fighting fun. If you enjoyed the original, you'll love this sequel. Crisp graphics, nonstop fighting action, and the ability to customize the game's difficulty make this cart accessible to gamers of all calibers. See you on the streets!

Not content with "stay put" systems, the gang from Streets of Rage 2 by Sega hits Game Gear with a big crash! Play as Sammy. Axel or Blaze (no Max this time) for six levels of intense brawlin' action! Most of the moves are the same, with familiar bosses and other various street scum you must wipe the streets clean of! All this done to save the life of a friend who has been kidnapped! Can you hack it?

Do you think you have what it takes to battle Mister X and his cohorts? Think again, young fighter! Streets of Rage II packs more power in its 16-Meg cartridge than any other side-scrolling fighting game!

Clench your fists, make a muscle, and get ready to ' throw your weight around those alleyways of anger -- again. Sega's latest entrant in the beat-em-up ring is none other than the long-awaited, overexposed, 16-meg Streets of Rage 2. For once, it was worth the wait. If Streets of Rage was a fantasy vacation in Maui, the sequel's a million dollar shopping spree!

Take to the Streets

Anniversaries are always memorable, but Axel and Blaze probably want to forget this one. Exactly 365 days after Mr. X met defeat in Streets of Rage, he returns from beyond the penitentiary to copnap Adam, the pair's partner in crime fighting. Axel and Blaze get mad, and vow to get even. They recruit Adam's kid brother Skate and Axel's best friend Max to help them clean up the streets and sign Mr. X's name on the dotted line of disfigurement. Looks like everybody's gonna be kung fu fighting!

Move It or Lose It

You alone or you and a brawling bud hit the streets armed with the widest and most potent array of martial arts moves ever found in a side-scrolling beat-em-up. All told, each hero packs 15 techniques, including standard kicks and punches, jumping attacks, running assaults, throws, hair-grab holds, combinations, and other special attacks. Pipes, swords, bombs, and knives also give you an edge. Rage 2 does have one major hole in its offense: there's no defense. You can't block or reverse enemy kicks.

The signature moves are awesome. Axel, the street-clothed police officer, injects the power of the Dragon into his fists. The sultry femme fatale, Blaze, tosses fireballs, pulls a clothesline, and makes running football-style tackles. Skate, the roller-skating bad boy on wheels, uses a break-dance spin kick and a Corkscrew kick.

At first, SOR 2 seems out of control -- you'll clobber enemies and they won't even know what hit them. Then, it all starts to make sense and you begin to figure out the nitty gritty on how to make all the right moves.

Sights for SOR Eyes

Not only have the street-fighting ranks swelled, the warriors themselves are maybe 50% larger in the return Rage bout. This produces even more graphic, adrenaline-surging battles than before. Compared to other side-scrolling, kick-butt games, only Final Fight sports bigger brawlers. Animation is clean as a whistle, and slowdown is infrequent.

You maul your way through eight slick-looking and excruciatingly long stages. Among other areas, you clean house in a baseball stadium, on a beach, in an amusement park, and in a factory. The colorful backgrounds and touches of multi-scrolling enhance the groovy graphics. You meet and beat a plethora of pinheads, thugs, and bosses en route to Mr. X's high-rise HQ.

Even with adjustable difficulty and two continues per game, SOR 2 leaves players of all skill levels battered and bruised. Most players should beat Easy without breaking a sweat, but experienced players will want to try Hard for a real skull-caving challenge.

A Koshiro Classic

A well-known video game music composer, Yuzo Koshiro, is the man from Japan who strikes the sweet chords in Streets of Rage 2. His discoteque/funk/modern rockish melodies fill the screen with energy. Sound fx-wise, the game surpasses previous Sega efforts with a snoot full of digitized grunts, groans, screams, and yelps. Clarity is definitely lacking, but the voices pump you up even if you can't understand them.

Do Onto Others

In addition to the main game, SOR 2 also offers a diversionary Duel mode. Built exclusively for two-player head-to-head battles, Duel enables you to pick any of the four fighters and battle it out in one of eight battleground settings. Duel is a fun little "extra" and a great way to practice techniques. However, it lacks the blocking, combos, strategy, larger sprites, smoother control, and secret moves you need to compete with full-blown, one-on-one games such as Street Fighter II.

Final Blows

Stacked against the Final Fights and Super Double Dragons of the world, Streets of Rage 2 more than fends for itself. Sixteen megabits of great, improved graphics, massive sprites, top-notch audio, and multitudes of moves make it the 165-bit side-scrolling street fighter to beat. Would-be Genesis heavyweight champs, this game's right up your alley!

Genesis fistfighters have been tearing op to joint waiting for the next gangfight. So, now that street fightin' is all the rage, it looks like a good time to bring in Streets of Rage II, immediately! To help you keep your violent tendencies in check, here's a preview.

Let's Get It On!

Streets of Rage II features some things old, some things new, some things borrowed, and some things black and blue. The Streets of Rage gang is out to put down Mr. X's evil drug gang, who've got an iron grip on Metro City. It looks like goons from every gutter and creepy back alley are out in force. The game's side-view look and the multi-scrolling action are basically the same as the original game. But, the Streets of Rage team features new brawlers, who sport some cool, outrageous moves.

This time, Axel and Blaze team up with Skate Hunter and Max Thunder. Axel's still a stand-up boxer, but he's got a rapid-fire, two-fisted combo and a supercharged power punch. Blaze packs a mean backflip kick, and she unleashes an awesome power blast.

Skate's a slick skater, but he can do more with his rollerblades then motor around. He can pull a low, break dancin', helicopter kick and a sharp, airborne, corkscrew kick. Max is a pro-wrestler with a massive shoulder slam that clears the streets and a devastating two-handed hammer swing.

If you're gonna' play the wimp, you'll be able to pick up weapons along the way. Anything goes, whether it's swatting with pipes, tossing blades, or even hurling a motorcycle through the air.

The Age of Rage

Streets of Rage II looks macho and mean! That's the way you gotta' be when you're out to take on a tough street fighter.

Streets of Rage 2 is a beat ‘em up side scrolling game and the second one in the trilogy of the same name, bringing with it various improvements in terms of gameplay and graphics.

The game takes place one year after the events in the previous installment, and shows the three heroes recalling how they cleansed the city of the crime organization that had plagued it. However, Adam is captured and the remaining two (Axel and Blaze) team up with Adam’s brother and a professional wrestler (named Max) in order to save him and restore peace.

The gameplay of Streets of Rage 2 is largely the same, but has some tweaks and improvements. Enemies now all have health bars and names, and the four playable characters have unique moves and attacks instead of just different power or speed. Because of this, the special move from the first game (the one which calls a police car to attack all enemies on the screen) has been replaced with a unique, life depleting attack for each character. An interesting, as well as fun, addition is the fact that even enemies now have special moves instead of just throwing punches and kicks.

The graphics have greatly improved, especially regarding the size of the characters and the amount of details of the sprites. The environments are all different throughout the 8 levels and even feature weather effects, like rain or fog. The music is once again great and sets the mood, although the sound effects could have used a little more work. Still, the overall graphics and sound create a nice mood to provide better entertainment.

Although praised overall, there were some complaints regarding its controls, which required you to press too many buttons in sequence in order to perform a special move. Also, the game can seem too easy once you get used to the controls, and, as opposed to its predecessor, it does not have an alternate ending; this particular aspect hurts the game’s replay value.

All in all, Streets of Rage may have some shortcomings, but that does not mean that it cannot be enjoyed. Fans of the genre will surely miss out on a great game, should they decide to overlook it.

Streets of Rage 2 features:

• Four difficulty settings and two player co-op mode
• Four different characters with pros and cons, but also different moves