Streets of Rage 3 (Mega Drive)

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richarddavies
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Streets of Rage 3 (Mega Drive)

Post by richarddavies »

Streets of Rage 3
Developed: Sega AM7
Released: 1994
Copy reviewed: Actually started playing this on the SEGA Mega Collection on the 360 for the sake of playing it on a big tv but ended up having to go and get my Mega Drive from my mates in disgust at the 360 D pad.


Ok I am just going to say this now rather than later. I love Streets of Rage 2 more than 3. I always have. Ever since I first played it as a kid I was hooked on it. I played it everyday. I loved the music, the sprites, and the upgrade in moves over its predecessor, everything about it. So when I first found out they were releasing a third one I went nuts. I thought “How could they top it?” Well…..

Axel, Blaze and small child Skate (I hope Axel and Blaze never become parents letting a young boy take on an international crime syndicate) return from SOR2 and are joined by newbie the cybernetic Dr Zan. Also as a new addition to the series there are secret characters that can be unlocked in Shiva the badass back flipping ninja bodyguard of Mr X and a boxing Kangaroo called Roo. In the Japanese version there is also a flamboyant looking mini boss called Ash who you could play as but he was omitted from the western versions for being too fabulous (I assume). There are quite a number of technical improvements in 3 over the last in the series also. You can now dash and roll up and down the screen with a double tap of the D pad. There’s quite a number of new moves also and to help with that it is compatible with the six button Mega Drive pad. Each character has their own special weapon that they are most skilled with too, for example Axel is good with blunt objects like bats or planks, Blaze is good with knives and Zan turns all of the weapons into an energy ball which he rolls at the enemy, knocking them down. Also rather than a timer on the screen it has been replaced with a power bar for your special. When filled you can use your special move without using any health. The speed of the game in general has also been noticeably improved on the earlier games. Another addition is a stars meter. If you acquire so many points without dying you get a star which upgrades your characters special move but if you die you lose one. Now to be honest though I never got to try this as I was playing the European version. If you don’t know when the game was released over in the west certain changes were made to “Accommodate” western tastes. One of the changes was the difficulty. It is HARD. The normal setting on the PAL release is harder than the hard mode on the Japanese copy so I’d love to tell you what the specials are like once you’ve gotten all 3 stars but I only managed to scrape one before getting my head stoved in. Also worth noting is the storyline is completely different between the 2 versions. The jap version being about a new kind of explosive called Rakushin and a general that goes missing while the English version revolves around important key figures being replaced by robot clones in order to take over the city. Now for the game play itself and this is where I get into a pickle. On paper SOR3 has more characters, more levels, more moves and better speed so why don’t I enjoy it more than 2? The graphics on 3 are great but I prefer the sprites on the second game. They are more colourful and stand out more on the screen. The music (composed by Yuzo Koshiro) is a Sega Classic on SOR2 but while there is a few good tunes on the third outing some are just awful. The levels on 3 are nice and varied, there’s a nightclub and a construction yard and one of the endings you end up whooping ass at city hall.

I think the crux of it is it just doesn’t have the heart that the second one did for me. The levels aren’t as interesting and neither are the baddies or the bosses. The difficulty of the Pal version at least can border on downright annoying on anything other than the easy setting. I think this Streets of Rage 3 just goes to show bigger doesn’t always mean better.
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Gavvie
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Post by Gavvie »

Check you out, approving your own reviews :P

Nice to see Streets of Rage 3 getting some "love" though. Granted, it wasn't the best in the series, but I would've thought that 1 or 2 would have been reviewed first.
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Post by richarddavies »

Gavvie wrote:Check you out, approving your own reviews :P

Nice to see Streets of Rage 3 getting some "love" though. Granted, it wasn't the best in the series, but I would've thought that 1 or 2 would have been reviewed first.

I did ask but never got a reply! I was being pro active. XD Yeah my first thought before I started the review was to review the second one as it's my fave but I thought i'd give the third one a chance as i'd not played it to completion in years. I do think it's a great game I just like 2 more.
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Post by Tru »

Nice review. Streets of Rage 3 is actually my favourite because of the tweaks such as being able to roll up and down and use your special attack without draining your own health, etc. I find it's much more colourful than the second, and I especially like how the last level depends on the outcome of a particular stage.

I agree that the enemies feel a bit dull, but the stages and music were pretty cool. I also loved how certain stages made use of the surroundings, particularly the train stage and the construction stage. The bulldozer bit is just LOL :P

I had no idea there were different stories though, but I quite liked how SoR3 had some cutscenes to explain it. I also had no idea that the difficulty had been ramped up; I always assumed I was just crap at the game!
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Post by richarddavies »

Yeah you should give the jap version a go. It feels alot more balanced and fun to be frank with the better balanced difficulty.
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