Streets of Rage 3 (1994)

BEAT 'EM UP - The four vigilantes race the clock to stop Dr. Dahm's plan to replace key city officials with robotic duplicates.

PROS:

++ Mobility. I really appreciated the ability to roll and run. It makes dodging viable, and allows you to easily create space from the enemies.

++ Tweaked older mechanics. Removed the annoying timer, and adjusted the rules of the special offensive/defensive attacks. The player now has a meter, and can use their special without having to sacrifice their health as long as that meter is fully. Made me use the specials liberally in this game.

++ Environmental Interaction. The environment was more integral to the gameplay this time. Not only do pitfalls and conveyor belts return, but a certain stage features a tram that runs across the screen, and the jungle stage featured traps. These things makes you pay more attention to your positioning.

CONS:

-- Difficulty. The first two games were no cake walks either, but this entry is so much more difficult. And it's made difficult by throwing tons of enemies with high HP at you. It overwhelms the player through sheer number. The bosses especially.

-- Flow and pacing. In SoR2, the pacing was quite perfect. You moved from screen to screen at a good pace which eliminated monotony from setting in. In this game, I would be in the same screen for a whiiiile fighting varying waves of enemies and for the first time in the series, I started getting bored.

-- Sound design. Not only is the music quite odd in some stages, but the overall sound design is quite weak. Attacks just don't sound like they have much impact and made the experience quite stale.

-- Seems uninspired. It reuses mostly the same mob enemies from the previous two games, and only really added the robots and the CIA dudes as new enemy types.

Played the japanese version.

I knew it was really hard to make a good game as SoR 2. And as expected, SEGA could not surpass the second installment.

You still have the moveset from SoR2 and even new moves that I really like. Running, rolling, upgrade to your -> - > punch attack was really neat. Sadly the rest it's not as great as the others. Especially the OST. I know that Yuzo Koshiro didn't compose all the OST by himself. He had a Kawashima again as his co-composer. They did an outstanding job in SoR2 but here, idk, something was missing. Sometimes it was even outputting hearing that music with what was happening on screen. I know what they were trying to accomplish, I really do. Sadly I feel they miss the mark, not by much, but miss it nonetheless.

The other thing that bothered me was the change between version. I really do not know the reason behind that decision. The english version is harder, the whole story is different, it's censored (women having more clothe on, removing a homosexual character). You are forced to play in normal or above. If you choose "easy" you get a really bad ending (yes, this game has 4 endings) and you don't even play the whole game. You finish stage 5 and then back to the tittle screen. That's stupid. Why would you have easy mode if you can't even play the whole game in that difficulty setting?.

if you are ok with the changes overall, the I would say just play the US version. If you really care about the changes, then play the japanese version (bare knuckle 3) with an english patch as I did.

Streets of Rage 3 tweaks up the formula perfected in Streets of Rage 2, with mixed results that still provide a solid experience.

Mr. X is still alive (still!) and has created a corporation bent on replacing important officials in the city with robot duplicates. A team of four unique fighters must stop this plot once again, with a variety of special moves that have some neat updates in this iteration.

Running and vertical dodges (with the double-tap directional button) have been added, giving this game a more fighting game feel and providing some room for more devastating attacks. The timer is no longer present and no longer rushing the player, replaced with a meter used for specials that can be utilized to create powerful attacks without draining health. Weapons now have durability and don't feel quite as useful though, making them a bother to try and pick up on the field.

As for the stages, Streets of Rage 3 can be unforgivingly tough, with some tricky timed sequences and the possibility of a bad ending waiting behind a massive gauntlet of bad guys. The animations look smoother than ever but the environments are less wacky and unique, instead focusing on a gradual transition to robots and mechanical environments. The music also takes a step back, no longer bopping like the original and nearly screeching on some levels. That said, it's still a beautiful game compared to the first Streets of Rage.

Streets of Rage 3 might not have hit the nail on the head when it wanted to try something new, and more challenging might not mean more fun. That said, it still looks amazing and is well worth a shot if you enjoyed Streets of Rage 2.