Overall: There was two reasons I bought this game. One, because the limited release bit was true. There aren't many copies in circulation. That's the reason I kept it. At first it was selling for like $60 on eBay so I was like "oh man it'll be worth so much more", but unlike rare Sega classics like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shining Force III, this ones a stinker, and that is why it now goes for $20 cuz people probably realize what crap it is. 3D beat'em ups have really had almost 0 success. True there was the Die Hard Arcade, the Dynamite Cop game, and Fighting Force, all of which were pretty decent, but it's just so sad when you play a game like Streets of Rage. Forget Final Fight, anyone who knows anything knows Streets of Rage was the better of the two series. The characters were great, the system was great, it was a challenge (SoR 3 especially). Streets of Rage 2 n' 3 just hold a special place in my heart from my 16-bit days and I have compared every future title to them. So what made SoR such a complete package besides what I mentioned? Well the moves were cool, both the characters specific regular moves and special ones, Axel's obviously being the coolest, as were the hidden characters, Shiva and Roo (and occasionally Ash).
When I first heard about Spikeout, I was just like, "0o0o0o a Sega beat'em up? Sweet!" Everytime I see a 3D beat'em up being advertised I always hear "it's just like Streets of Rage in 3D", and, well, it never is. I'm so let down, nobody shows this genre any respect any more. Why not just make a new Streets of Rage for crying out loud (on top of a new Mutant League and Golden Axe, but I digress)? The graphics and cutscenes look straight from Dreamcast, absolutely weak. It's like the same thing Sega did with Shenmue II and Toe Jam & Earl III and it really gets me steamed. This a decent romp for like 10 mins. cuz in those 10 mins. your like "oh this game could be good" cuz your picking up weapons and your figuring out the combo system, then you realize the combo system is weak, the special moves are all so worthless and horrible looking, there's just nothing you want to do. The multiplayer is split screen as well which is just horrible for this type of game, so I strongly recommend not picking this one up. Gameplay: All the animations are wonky, the running and jumping animations especially are so messed up your just like "this is not a next-gen game". You essentially do a 5-hit combo over and over and can pickup a plethora of weapons which many you can't execute combos with. The only worth while one is the dual wrenches, but it's such a bitch to get and since the stages are so short, there really isn't a point for all the effort. Each stage introduced you with a map of the stage with an announcer saying "start" "exit" "boss" and showing where they are on the map, they do it for every stage too, it's so straight forward, I'm not a moron. Then each boss is introduced with "BOSS" and a stupid guitar rift. The best strategy is to just grab'em and do your special moves, it does the most damage, and generally it involes you spinning a lot so you do a mess load of damage to everyone around you. However, it isn't all that special looking. You could do just the regular special move, but it does almost no damage and it looks equally unimpressive. My friends were laughing so hard at just everything. I held my head down low after bringing this to a friend's house. You'd be better off using it as a coaster. Graphics: Dreamcast is the only word I should have to say but unfortunately this requires a minimum of 100 characters.
The graphics are so horrible, the character design is alright for a couple characters, but pretty much downright awful for the majority so you never get that feeling your playing with a badass, enviroments are garbage, just a very ugly, ugly game. Sound: If I could rate this section lower I could. The voice acting is some of the worst ever, and there a couple lines that just make you cringe and how bad they are scripted. Problem is, if you die, you have to hear the cutscene from the beginning of the level. Ugh. The soundtrack is horrible too with some awful rock rifts and occasional rap beats for a couple cutscenes. Mute has never looked so tempting. Suggestions: This is what you do. You take the guys that made streets of rage 2 and 3 along with the music composer because the soundtrack was badass especially the boss music, and you make a Streets of Rage 4. I know, it sounds really, really complicated, but I think that's your best bet right now. Between this and Beat Down Fists of Revenge, I think for eternity I'm going to be playing Streets of Rage on emulator and never rent or buy another beat'em up unless it gets perfect 10's across the board. This generation has just been awful to beat'em ups and everyone should be ashamed for making these sorry excuses for games. Excuse me while I try and beat SoR on some other difficulty besides Normal (a feat I've yet to complete w/o cheats, talk about a challenge)
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