3D Streets of Rage (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Streets of Rage is a side-scrolling fighting game in which there are three playable characters; Axel, Adam and Blaze, and each of these has their own individual stats and attributes. For example, Axel is fast and has a lot of power, but his jump isn't as great as the other characters. As well as being able to perform combos on enemies, players can also grab enemies, which opens up a couple of other options such as the ability to: punch enemies whilst they are grappled, throw them behind the character and hop over enemies' heads, resulting in a grapple from behind to set them up for a deadly ground slam.

There is also the ability to call upon the police to unleash a ring of fire that hits the centre of the screen, wipes out all of the foes currently in the player's view and can also deal quite a bit of damage to those pesky bosses. Every time a player dies, they will have a total of one special attack, yet they can also pick up more in the form of small collectible police cars.

Once players have chosen their preferred fighter, they will appear in the street where they will be pitted against various different enemies across the many screens of that stage, until they reach the boss.

There are eight stages in total and most of them play out like the starting stage, but with new enemies introduced as well as variants of enemy types faced in previous stages. Scattered throughout these stages are different items to pick up, some that heal the player and others that can be used as weapons.

Also included in 3D Streets of Rage is co-operative play with another person, which is, unfortunately, local play only and requires two copies of the game. However, if able to convince someone else to purchase the game, a lot of fun will be had here. If M2 does develop 3D versions of Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3, hopefully it will add an online co-operative mode, like the Xbox Live Arcade versions.

Exclusive to this version of the game, though, is a brand new mode known as "Fists of Death," which powers up every character so their power is ranked at S, resulting in enemies and bosses dying in just one hit. Whilst this mode is exceptionally easy, it is surprisingly satisfying to kill even the toughest of bosses in one hit. Can players make it through the game without losing any health? That's certainly a challenge that can be set in this brand new mode!