To us gamers of a certain age, SEGA’s Streets of Rage (or its brilliant Japanese title Bare Knuckle: Furious Iron Fist) will forever hold a dear place in our hearts. Despite being originally released on the SEGA Megadrive in 1991, Streets is probably the most eighties-inspired game of all time, and a must for any iPhone users clamouring for a retro fix.
Japanese developers SEGA are currently running a special iPhone app “MEGA SALE†to celebrate their hedgehog mascot Sonic’s 19th birthday, with Golden Axe and Columns also available, for 66% off their regular price. For us though, Streets of Rage (SOR) is clearly the big attraction from the sale’s line-up, as neither of the aforementioned games contain characters called Axel Stone or feature roast chicken health items, casually lying on the side of streets.
Featuring a plot wrote on the side of a napkin, SOR’s storyline concerns a secret criminal organization taking over the game’s un-named city’s infrastructure, with just three streetwise ex-cops ready to stand in their way – Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding and Adam Power, all completely un-armed and horribly dressed. It’s up to you to save the day through eight “fist-pounding levelsâ€, demonstrating 40 hand-to-hand attacks and utilising everything from lead pipes and swords – though not their presumably police-issued guns, or any guns for that matter.
Ginger triplet street punks? We’re terrified.
With ridiculously cheesy and infectious in-game tunes, SOR on the iPhone is near identical to its near-twenty years old predecessor, with untouched graphics to boot. As you would expect, since SOR is a direct port of its original Megadrive release, rather than an iPhone-enhanced, graphically-updated release.
One of the key differences over this version of SOR of course, is the button-free gameplay we’ve grown accustomed to for iPhone gaming. SEGA have countered this issue by featuring a giant d-pad and three action buttons (A, B, C), though thankfully these are non-intrusive during the heat of battle. Though we say “heat of battleâ€, one of the more disappointing aspects of revisiting SOR is that we never realized how slow the actual fighting was. If you’ve cut your teeth on frenetic God of War-style beat-em-ups, SOR should deliver a slow, easily avoidable kick up the arse, expectation-wise.
However, despite it’s slow pace; SOR is a real blast from the past and evokes fond youthful memories. For newcomers wondering what the fuss was all about, the game’s unaltered gameplay may not completely win over a new fanbase, though Streets of Rage remains a pleasingly-retro slice of fighting goodness. For anyone still sitting on the fence though, we recommend striking as soon as possible to avail of SEGA’s current discount – oh, and did we mention the roast chicken item? Sold.
Streets of Rage is available to download from the App Store for the temporary price of 79c.
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