Streets of Fury EX – Review (PC)

Streets of Fury EX – Review (PC)

Once upon a time motion captured sprites were the pinnacle of graphics technology. Mortal Kombat is almost certainly the most famous example of ‘digitised sprites‘, in which video footage of real actors is condensed and rendered as two dimensional sprites. Those ‘photo realistic’ fighters in Mortal Kombat were at one time or another considered to be state of the art. I would argue that the famous moral panic surrounding the level of violence in Mortal Kombat was heightened by this ’realistic’ depiction of ninja on ninja violence and brutality. But as 2D trends gave way for 3D advancements in graphics, this tech fell to the wayside in favour of your now conventional polygons and fully rendered character models. With the recent rise in popularity of retro-chic and pixel-art, it was only a matter of time till an indie game stepped up and took advantage of this retro rendering style. Streets of Fury EX is exactly that; a side scrolling beat-em-up whose gimmick is a throwback to a graphical style I would rather forget.

Realistic digitised graphics and visual style caught on in the 90s; specifically within the fighting game genre. Primal Rage’s uniquely identifiable art style came from the photo-motion-capture of stop animation puppets. Even Mortal Kombat’s direct rival, Street Fighter, dabbled with this approach. Someone somewhere at Capcom thought that making a video game out of the movie that was made from a game was a good idea. Like the shittiest form of inception, Street Fighter: The Movie: The Video Game was birthed, complete with photo mo-cap visuals in place of the much loved sprites and style that helped to define Street Fighter as a series – a hideous crime against video games. And before you ask; no, the game is nowhere near as self-aware as a title like that might suggest.

Street Fighter The Movie: The Game
Fun Fact: Jean Claude van Dam was the character that influence the creation of Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat. Unfortunately, he turned down the role of motion capture for the character. He later went on to star as Guile in the movie version of Mortal Kombat’s biggest rival, Street Fighter.

But that is enough about shit Street Fighter games, and more of Streets of Fury EX.

Streets of Fury EX is set in the urban sprawl of Paris during a riot and plays like it sounds; owing a lot to titles like Streets of Rage, Final Fight and Double Dragon. You are a kickass martial artist employed by the French government with the task of clearing out the gangs that have taken control of the streets. You do this by fighting your way through an entourage of underpowered minor enemies and overpowered bosses. The game’s combat is deep, intuitive and most importantly really fun. Each character plays in their own unique way adding replay value to the title, and you unlock extra game modes, characters and secrets as you level up by defeating enemies. The game places emphasis on combos and super-splashy special moves. The two go hand in hand; fill your special ‘Fury’ meter by beating up baddies with the biggest combos possible, allowing you to then clear entire waves with suitably ridiculous special moves. These range from simple flying anime-esque roundhouse kicks to firing used video tapes out of your crotch.

Streets of Fury Super Move
This man is in serious need of returning some video tapes.

The largest gripe I had with the game at first was that that it felt, for lack of a better word, cheap. I understand that it is a rather superficial criticism on the whole; the gimmicky art style, while unique, makes the proceedings feel rather tacky. Actors’ clothes and outfits are comically bad for the most part. This isn’t helped by some rather cheesy in-game music and garish UI. However, the game grew on me over time. After a couple of hours the tackiness began to transform into charm.

And then it hit me, Streets of Fury EX is an attempt at pastiche. The characters design, the visuals, the set-up and even the taunts and clichéd gestures made by the fighters – they are all playing upon conventions of the fighting game and beat-em-up genre, whilst still maintaining a good strong gameplay experience.

And I must re-iterate that there is great depth to the combat. The combos are simultaneously easy enough to pull off, but allow room for mastery. The game plays to an extent like Tekken, where bouncing and juggling your opponents is key to victory. The fact that the game has clear parallels to big-budget fighters like Tekken is testament to how good the animation is and how fluid the combat can be. In addition to this, the variety of enemies and scenarios in which you face them is broad enough to create lasting appeal across a several hour play session, whilst four player local co-op is a fantastic addition I would like to see more indie games bring to PC.

Although the gameplay is great for the most part, it isn’t without its issues. Being able to tell whether enemies are in the foreground or the background is sometimes far too difficult. I often found myself moving into the foreground to finish off the last enemy of a group, for them to move back a plane into the background. I would then chase them into the background for them to then move into the foreground. This was a weird issue with AI that happened to me on multiple occasions that only served to frustrate me.

Streets of Fury Combo
Some of the sprites look pretty stupid at times. And not in a ‘so bad its good’ way like it might have been intended.

Streets of Fury EX is an indie title that dares to be different; true brawlers and beat-em-ups that play this well are few and far between in the modern gaming landscape. I will praise Streets of Fury EX for its departure from the typical retro-aesthetic that relies far too heavily on pixel art. My only lingering issue with the game is that the pastiche doesn’t quite work, because the presentation is rather ham-fisted. It feels cheap, and not always self-knowingly so.

In some ways that I can’t quite put my finger on, it feels like a fun little gem that I have discovered years on, something I can imagine being published towards the end of the Dreamcast’s life cycle. And for a title looking to harken back to a genre who’s roots are firmly placed in the retro, that can’t be a bad thing.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
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