Actually, Streets of Rage 3 ROCKS
I just won a free copy of SOR3 from the Digital Press people, from taking 3rd place in a little contest. I vaguely recall renting SOR3 years ago and not being too impressed since SOR2 was perfect. I've read many things about SOR3 being inferior to both of the prior installments over the years, but never any reasons other than the music.
Well, I've played SOR3 now for a week. In fact, it was so fun to play (more on that in a minute) that I dug out SOR and SOR2 and played each of them to compare. My verdict: each of the games stands strong on its own and are different enough from the others to be worthy of owning.
Streets of Rage. It still looks good to me, given the year it came out. Very colorful with decent animation and excellent Yuzo Koshiro tunes. The biggest difference in this game from the others is that the characters are smaller and there are fewer moves, and most importantly, the A button (Special) functions completely differently than in SOR2 or SOR3. In SOR, the Special button is a smart bomb -- the action freezes, your fellow policeman drives up and shoots a bazooka at the enemies which pretty much takes everyone out except for powered up bosses. I actually think SOR2's innovation with the Special is superior: in SOR2, you can press it as much as you like and even use the D-pad to pick from 2 different specials, all the while you lose a bit of health if you connect with enemies. It's good for getting out of surrounded situations. But still, SOR1 has some good bosses and still nimble beatem-up gameplay, and there are great scrolling parallax and water/rain/wind effects that bring a smile to my face. Ever try to pick up one of those rolling cans? :) YOU CAN'T!
SOR2 is the best of the bunch overall. Its use of the on-demand-but-energy-using Special button is a big change from part one, but also the visuals are majorly pumped up with better animation and huge characters! Of course you have four characters (default) to choose from and each is different with satisfying animations and moves. I feel that the biggest improvement of SOR2 in gameplay was the inclusion of one jumping/attack move: in SOR2, a jump and attack will result in a flying tiger leap kind of kick which knocks down enemies. However, a jump + attack + press Down on the D-pad is a Punch-Down / Karate-chop attack which stuns the enemy temporarily. After this hit connects, you have a brief moment to land and start up the 4-hit combo chain, or to grab the enemy and do the throws and kicks. The stun move is absent in SOR and was also absent in Final Fight and that is one reason why I prefer SOR2.
SOR2' music , again by Yuzo Koshiro is PERFECT, and I like the bosses and characters especially the Blanka homage!
Okay, I just got SOR3 and played it a week. In a nutshell -- the music is not quite as memorable as SOR2's , but many of the tracks still fit in with the action. The club / disco scene's music for example -- heard by itself you probably don't like the tune, but when heard while fighting punk biker chicks while strobe lights flash, well then you 'get it' and it works. The music is fine.
I quickly noticed that SOR3 further refines the gameplay from SOR2. Now you have a building meter for your still at-demand Special button. If the meter is filled, you lose no health for pressing Special. If the meter isn't filled, you lose health even if you don't connect with an enemy. Timing and careful planning is crucial in difficult situations! The other addition is the roll move. Tap-Tap up or down makes your character quickly roll to top or bottom of the screen to avoid whips or oncoming machines/bikes. You can run now , too, by Tap-taps right/left. The overall SOR3 gameplay is noticeably faster than that of SOR2 and far faster than SOR1's pacing.
I also noticed in SOR3 if you pull off a Tap-Tap right or left and press Attack while you are holding a weapon, a different power move is animated than if you had no knife or bat! I pulled this off totally in accident and tried for 10 minutes to figure out how I did that! I enjoy the bosses too -- the best so far are the three devils you must fight in succession! Ever see 'em?
All three Streets of Rage games are solid and excellent beatem-ups. I won't rate them but I will say my favorite is SOR2, mostly because of the excellent music and sense of nostalgia I feel while playing it.
