Streets of Rage 4

[roots.genoa]

4 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

But will it be a real copy of the game or just a download code?

No, it's always download codes these days to avoid piracy. The boxed version is really nice but I can't afford to buy a lot of games, so if I can get one for free...

Since preorders will only close one week after the actual release, I can still change my mind if Cosmocover (SEGA and DotEmu's PR agency) forgets about me.

[Steven Pendleton]

3 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

No, it's always download codes these days to avoid piracy. The boxed version is really nice but I can't afford to buy a lot of games, so if I can get one for free...

Since preorders will only close one week after the actual release, I can still change my mind if Cosmocover (SEGA and DotEmu's PR agency) forgets about me.

There is no release date set, though. That's actually why I have not actually bought it yet. I'm planning on buying both a Neo Geo AES and my friend's MSX2+ this month, so hopefully it takes a while!

[negative1]

On 4/11/2020 at 6:18 AM, Steven Pendleton said:

There is no release date set, though. That's actually why I have not actually bought it yet. I'm planning on buying both a Neo Geo AES and my friend's MSX2+ this month, so hopefully it takes a while!

April 30th, and free for Gamepass owners:

https://www.windowscentral.com/streets-rage-4-hits-xbox-game-pass-april-30

 

later

-1

[Zoyous]

Is the 4-player co-op online, or local only?

[Hydro Thunder]

As of February, reports are that it is only 2 player co op online, 4 player only available on local

Edited April 17, 2020 by Curious Sofa

[Hydro Thunder]

I found this blog very invigorating and confirming of a lot of the work that went into this game.

I am certain that those who are already critical of the game will not think this will move the needle, but oh well.

 

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020/04/17/streets-of-rage-4-launches-april-30-battle-mode-announced/

 

 

Oh...and for a fun little silly romp...Streets of Fury EX (an earlier effort by some of these devs) is currently on sale for $2.49 on Steam.  Recommend.

 

 

[Austin]

April 30th, huh?

 

I'm stoked.

[Steven Pendleton]

And now they finally announce a release date. I should probably hurry and actually play/beat the entire series as I wait for the physical version of 4 to arrive. LRG takes some time to get your thing to you, judging by the 2~3 games I have bought from them, so I should have plenty of time.

[roots.genoa]

I checked again, as if I had OCD, that I asked for my review code and yes, they sent me confirmation (that I wanted a review code, not that they would send me one) in November.

I'll be very pissed if they forget about me. ?

[Hydro Thunder]

Blog posted by the Art Director:

https://blog.eu.playstation.com/2020/04/23/how-streets-of-rages-iconic-characters-were-redesigned-for-the-ps4-sequel/

 

 

[Hydro Thunder]

On 4/21/2020 at 2:07 AM, roots.genoa said:

I checked again, as if I had OCD, that I asked for my review code and yes, they sent me confirmation (that I wanted a review code, not that they would send me one) in November.

I'll be very pissed if they forget about me. ?

So @roots.genoa, did they forget you?  Or have you not said much due to a review embargo?

Only one "review" online so far, a fairly garbage piece with few to no details from the Guardian, raving about SoR2 and calling SoR4 a "triumph"... but light enough that you don't even believe they've actually played it

[roots.genoa]

4 hours ago, Curious Sofa said:

So @roots.genoa, did they forget you?  Or have you not said much due to a review embargo?

A little bit of both. They didn't forget me but I made the mistake of asking for a Switch key so I wouldn't have gotten it before release. ? I had to ask for a Steam copy instead but only got it on Friday. Fortunately I had the time to play the game enough, even online with a fellow reviewer, to be able to publish my review tomorrow morning.

 

And indeed, I'm not supposed to give my opinion before this evening, and I also wouldn't want to wrongly higher or lower your expectations, since our taste and mileage may vary. What I can maybe tell (I hope ?) because it's not really a matter of opinion, is that you shouldn't worry if you're afraid the game will be too easy compared to the Genesis games.

[Steven Pendleton]

Alright, I just bought it. Not buying any more games this month!

[Hydro Thunder]

7 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

A little bit of both. They didn't forget me but I made the mistake of asking for a Switch key so I wouldn't have gotten it before release. ? I had to ask for a Steam copy instead but only got it on Friday. Fortunately I had the time to play the game enough, even online with a fellow reviewer, to be able to publish my review tomorrow morning.

 

And indeed, I'm not supposed to give my opinion before this evening, and I also wouldn't want to wrongly higher or lower your expectations, since our taste and mileage may vary. What I can maybe tell (I hope ?) because it's not really a matter of opinion, is that you shouldn't worry if you're afraid the game will be too easy compared to the Genesis games.

Hmm, actually that is concerning.  The general take on SoR3 in particular is that the localization made the US game MUCH harder than the Japanese version, needlessly.  It's nigh impossible to beat the game with 1 Player.  Also, I'm OLD now, and don't want to have to drink a case of Red Bull just to be able to get anywhere on a game.  So I hope the difficulty is adjustable, and/or there's a reasonable learning curve!

Please don't let this be a Contra: Hard Corps.  Beautiful but...good luck getting anywhere! 

[roots.genoa]

11 minutes ago, Curious Sofa said:

Hmm, actually that is concerning.  The general take on SoR3 in particular is that the localization made the US game MUCH harder than the Japanese version, needlessly.  It's nigh impossible to beat the game with 1 Player.  Also, I'm OLD now, and don't want to have to drink a case of Red Bull just to be able to get anywhere on a game.  So I hope the difficulty is adjustable, and/or there's a reasonable learning curve!

Please don't let this be a Contra: Hard Corps.  Beautiful but...good luck getting anywhere! 

I will be able to tell everything in less than 20 minutes but to be clear, I think you'll be able to beat the game in Easy. What surprised me is that the Normal mode is really tough, more than in previous games because of the way credits work. That being said, it's a lot easier with 2 players, and you can always retry with more lives - I think they just didn't want people to beat it at the first try.

[DeadPixels]

I just published my review over at Hey Poor Player and figured I'd share. The game really is the gold standard for what a beat 'em up should be, and a hell of a return to form for the franchise. If you've been waiting two decades for another entry in the series, you won't be disappointed.

https://www.heypoorplayer.com/2020/04/29/streets-of-rage-4-review-pc/



 

[Yakumo1975]

Here it is guys, Street Of Rage 4 is finally here!! Is it any good? Well, I thought the initial previews were awful but here I am with my honest first time ever impressions of the game as I boot it up for the first time.

 

 

 

[Tanooki]

I'm a bit surprised the reviews I've seen crop up so far.  Other than IGN doing their IGNorant routine scoring of low off the normal and with some weak comments to justify it, most feel it's in the 85-95% range (IGN was 7.)  Lots of old school flair, but a nice system of minor button combos to add a bit of flair, and a nice new risk-reward system for doing overpowered hits and not always having them suck life.  I like that thought.

 

You know me, I buy real things, I saw the game is another LRG (sigh) release and they're still on sale for $35 (vs 25 digital) which is $10 well spent.  How fast are they about shipping things?  I've only ever picked up Panzer Dragoon off them and it's obviously not shipped yet.  I'd rather this not be some hey, look it's November, enjoy situation.

[Osgeld]

1 hour ago, Yakumo1975 said:

Here it is guys, Street Of Rage 4 is finally here!! Is it any good? Well, I thought the initial previews were awful but here I am with my honest first time ever impressions of the game as I boot it up for the first time.

dunno, didn't really care for the franchise in the first place and it looks like a soulless flash game, least the originals had something enticing about them ... more than a scrolling jpeg and some cell shading with slow moving animation bobbing up and down cause yea ... people bob up and down at a slow rate when trying to kick your ass

[Steven Pendleton]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

I'm a bit surprised the reviews I've seen crop up so far.  Other than IGN doing their IGNorant routine scoring of low off the normal and with some weak comments to justify it, most feel it's in the 85-95% range (IGN was 7.)  Lots of old school flair, but a nice system of minor button combos to add a bit of flair, and a nice new risk-reward system for doing overpowered hits and not always having them suck life.  I like that thought.

 

You know me, I buy real things, I saw the game is another LRG (sigh) release and they're still on sale for $35 (vs 25 digital) which is $10 well spent.  How fast are they about shipping things?  I've only ever picked up Panzer Dragoon off them and it's obviously not shipped yet.  I'd rather this not be some hey, look it's November, enjoy situation.

They take like 2 to 4 months in my experience. I bought River City Girls, Mary Skelter 2, and Fairy Fencer F from them and it took about that long to get them in the mail. I am waiting for my Panzer Dragoon Remake, The Missing, Nurse Love Obsession, and Streets of Rage 4 from them now.

 

I did order Fairy Fencer F and River City Girls together, so it took a little longer to get those than normal since if you order more than 1 thing in 1 order, they only ship the order when everything is available. If you want your stuff faster, better to make individual orders or it might take a while.

 

I don't remember getting any shipping notifications in my email from them, so you might have to actually go to the website to check the status. Basically you can expect stuff to just randomly show up one day. Every single time I get something from them I'm like "what the hell is this crap from Switzerland?", open the box and go "oh yeah, I ordered this last year!".

Edited April 30, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[roots.genoa]

6 hours ago, Osgeld said:

dunno, didn't really care for the franchise in the first place and it looks like a soulless flash game, least the originals had something enticing about them ... more than a scrolling jpeg and some cell shading with slow moving animation bobbing up and down cause yea ... people bob up and down at a slow rate when trying to kick your ass

If you "didn't really care for the franchise in the first place", it probably means you don't like beat 'em ups so you crearly won't like this one.

But I think you're really unfair about Ben Fiquet's job on the visual style. I love pixelart and I tend to dismiss a lot of games because they have HD 2D graphics (such as Hollow Knight for instance) as well. But while I agree most of them look like Flash games, it's not the case imho when they're well animated like Cuphead, Shantae Half Genie Hero, and... the Dragon's Trap remake, which was made by LizardCube like SoR4. Sure, I don't like everything about the art direction (Bourbon and the commissioner don't really look badass for instance) but I find it very impressive. Creating a worthy sequel to a cult trilogy was almost impossible, and I think they achieved that. Frankly, I wish I was that talented.

[Steven Pendleton]

I think I'm just going to continue doing what I have been doing since the game's announcement, which is to completely ignore it until I have it in my hands whenever LRG decides to send me my copy. I have no idea what the game looks like, I have seen none of the gameplay videos, etc.. Yes, I totally 100% impulse purchased a random game that I know nothing about. Not the first time, won't be the last. I've been doing this for my whole life. To date, I have ended up with a total of 1 trash game (Turning Point: Fall of Liberty). It seems I'll be safe with this one!

[Hydro Thunder]

I also don't get why the crowd of people that don't like brawlers, never got into the SoR franchise, etc need to hop in and levy insults to the sequel.

Personally, I have a ton of genres I can't get into, but have never felt a need to hop on say a FFVII forum and tell them that the remake doesn't interest me because I never got into the original etc.  But if it makes them happy I guess?

 

And it doesn't deter me in my excitement either; some of the reviews are just raving.  One I read the guy basically made a case for SoR2 being the greatest video game of all time, and SoR4 being a worthy follow up.  There's a 26 minute Digital Foundry breakdown of SoR4 in which they go into the nitty gritty details while lavishing praise on nearly every aspect of SoR4, so you bet I'm psyched.  Now I just need the damned thing to show up on the Switch eShop (not there as of yet).  It's on Steam discounted by 10% right now for $22.49...but I don't really need both (do I?? :P).

 

Hey @roots.genoa, can you post a link to your review?

[Zoyous]

I just grabbed it for Xbox and PC. Can't wait to fire it up tonight! The artwork is absolutely phenomenal and people who say it looks like a Flash game are only parading their own ignorance. I got called arrogant somewhere for mentioning in my assessment of the art direction that I'm a professional animator, but you know what? I don't play that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge" game on the internet. The Digital Foundry video gives some great insight into the game.

[glazball]

Is there ANY chance SoR4 might get a wider, non-LRG release later?  The Wonder Boy remake was a big deal when LRG published it physically, and some of you may remember that LRG allowed their "friends" to order their copies of the highly-desired game earlier than everyone else.  Then we find out later it got a wide release by Nicalis.  I'm eager to buy the game but not really eager to give more money to LRG after staying away from them for over 2 years!