Streets of rage 4

[BIG EDD]

Double post

[prinnysquad]

Some of you lot would twist on 21. Hated it since it was revealed and refuse to budge on one single aspect. Careful you don’t nod amongst yourselves too much in that echo chamber or your blinkers might fall off.

Dev is putting a boat load of effort into this and doing way more than most would. They’ve tried to brace the generations and, while some may not like the results, it’s a brave effort. I personally loved the retro sprites and soundtracks. Looks like a lot of fun and a neat new option.

[Golgo]

Some of you lot would twist on 21. Hated it since it was revealed and refuse to budge on one single aspect. Careful you don’t nod amongst yourselves too much in that echo chamber or your blinkers might fall off.

Feck, that's them telted. I think it looks really good, new art and all. Be nice if this came out to complement the new Windjammers 2, which is getting similar-looking treatment but has gone a bit quiet.

[prinnysquad]

Well want a bunch of fannies. Flouncing in here for their fortnightly whinge. If EDF:IA taught some of us anything, it’s to reserve proper judgement until it’s finished and maybe, just maybe, play the damn thing.

It’s like when Shelley Duvall pleaded with Kubrick during their 127 takes of a scene in The Shining: “well what do you want??”
What do the naysayers want here?

[vanpeebles]

I wanted Streets of Rage II, but around 3 times as long, with more baddies, extra characters, proper pixelated graphics and proper chip choons. I wanted Sega to go round and spray knock out gas through the key holes of anyone who worked on the original three and lock them up the Prisoner style until they came up with a proper 4.

I didn't want daft punk the video game with flash animation by macromedia. I don't want Axel looking like he's just walked in from the set of Rab C. Nesbitt. And the pacing looks all wrong too. It doesn't move right.

[prinnysquad]

So basically you wanted a Megadrive game. Not gonna happen. Even the original studio couldn’t do a new SOR2. They tried. It was called SOR3.

As for the rest - what a load of base-response tripe. You don’t like it because it’s not a carbon copy of a 28 year old game, with added bells and whistles.

[Asura]

So basically you wanted a Megadrive game. Not gonna happen. Even the original studio couldn’t do a new SOR2. They tried. It was called SOR3.

At the risk of playing devil's avocado, my only gripe with this is that I wish Sega hadn't shut down that fan project. In an era where they brought Sonic Mania in-house, it's a real shame they didn't do the same with that.

[hudson]

So basically you wanted a Megadrive game. Not gonna happen. Even the original studio couldn’t do a new SOR2. They tried. It was called SOR3.

As for the rest - what a load of base-response tripe. You don’t like it because it’s not a carbon copy of a 28 year old game, with added bells and whistles.

They could have gone down the route of Sonic Mania and got creative with the MegaDrive limitations.

[prinnysquad]

Why do we need to enforce artificial limitations? I really don’t understand that mindset.

And, is this game really so different? People getting precious over a few sprites. In reality, it’s a 2D side scrolling beat em up.

SOR2 exists and it’s pretty perfect. That was a moment in time, captured beautifully. Play it. Enjoy it. But things aren’t 1992. Even the same team managed to mess up their own work soon afterwards. SOR3 was good, but not great. We were never going to get SOR2 again. The team are long gone, the creative spark that existed at that moment of time between that group of people has been extinguished.

This could be a damn good game, lovingly created. We just don’t know yet. No point putting the boot in though, until it’s done and played.

[fuse]

devil's avocado

Grade-A auto-correct over here

The retro characters reveal is one of the few gripes I've had over this, and if anything, I think it tells you that I'm fully on board with the new style they've been building. On one hand I don't want it to pander to pixels-or-nothing crowd, but by the same token I can't lie and say I didn't crack a smile when they got to talking about having the old soundtracks available.

[hudson]

Is it really so different though? People getting precious over a few sprites. In reality, it’s a 2D side scrolling beat em up.

Why do we need to enforce artificial limitations? I really don’t understand that mindset. SOR2 exists and it’s pretty perfect. That was a moment in time, captured beautifully. Play it. Enjoy it. But things aren’t 1992. Even the same team managed to mess up their own work soon afterwards. SOR3 was good, but not great. We were never going to get SOR2 again. The team are long gone, the creative spark that existed at that moment of time between that group of people has been extinguished.

This could be a damn good game, lovingly created. We just don’t know yet. No point putting the boot in though, until it’s done and played.

I just thought it was very interesting to see what the team behind Sonic Mania did with the Sonic. It has stuff going on that couldn't be done on a Megadrive. Maybe a Dreamcast. It wouldn't strictly be limited to the hardware of the times, but bending the art style and doing stuff with the game that could only be done with modern tech.

Whilst I'm looking forward to this release of SoR4, I did wonder what could be achieved if they went down the Sonic Mania route. It's interesting.

[prinnysquad]

Oh don’t get me wrong - Sonic Mania is great. And maybe SOR4 would be great with the old sprite style.

The loss of sprites being a dealbreaker, though? This thread has been full of tedium about people criticising them for not using pixels. God’s sake, just see how it plays. There’s no way the original team would have stuck to pixels when they planned their sequels after SOR3 when 3D became the norm.

It just seems that this could be a cracking little game given a rum deal by some sourpusses who can’t handle change. That’s their problem, but it’s getting tedious having every single reveal slagged off. Of course, if the game itself is crap, that’s another matter, and the graphics may be one symptom of many.

[Hirst]

I don't mind it not looking like the original games, I just think the art style and backgrounds look poor - like if I just imagine it as an all-new fighter that had nothing to do with the series, I still don't like the way it looks. I think it is quite bland looking artwork and the world seems a bit lifeless. Some very dull-looking colours too.

I'm not completely writing it off, because it does appear like it plays well. And whoever did the music, it's still good. So I'm a little bit interested, but not super-excited. And that's fine - for what it's worth, I really didn't like the art style of Double Dragon Neon and that was a good little game with bags of charm. I'm keeping an open mind.

[prinnysquad]

Well that’s me too, Hirst. Not super hyped, spaffing my kecks. But looking forward to it with a mix of curiosity and hope.

The video with the rain filled me with hope. It looked more atmospheric. Just seems sad that so many decided from day one that the art style was ‘clip art’ or like a ‘flash game’ (and what a load of rubbish that is!) and have slagged off every single announcement since.

[wakka]

I'm looking forward to them finishing this as I'm quite eager to try it, and it'll be free on Game Pass. However I am even more eager for them to get on and finish Windjammers 2.