I've always loved Behemoth games but this one I just cannot enjoy. Maybe I'm getting old, but this game is way too chaotic for me - it's hard to apply ANY strategy or skill when the entire screen is swarming with really annoying enemies and everything just moves so fast. Notice that I said "chaotic" and not "difficult" because this isn't even fair to expect the player to get good at this. There are games that are challenging but fair, and allow for pattern learning and strategy, like Mercenary Kings. Meanwhile, in this game everything feels like there's just no proper way of doing things. To think that they could've spent that time and resources making Castle Crashers game with all the roguelike features...
The idea was good but execution is just terrible IMO
Pretty fun racing game for 2 players, but aside from that, it doesn't offer anything great. Driving model/physics can sometimes be pretty unpredictible
Way too chaotic and frustrating. There's a fine line between being challenging and unfair - it's not possible to apply any sort of strategy or tactic when the entire screen is covered with enemies and bullets and everything happens so extremely fast. I just can't enjoy this one - it's the first Behemoth game I regret buying. Too bad Xbox doesn't allow refunds. Cool idea but absolutely terrible execution
A very solid beat em up with interesting mechanics and very satisfying combat. My only issue is the difficulty level - "Medium" is pretty tough, and while you can make your way through most of the game using continues, the final area is a massive difficulty spike where not even continues can save you. If you lose all your lives, you need to repeat the entire final section. You could always play easy mode, right? Wrong. Completing the game on easy doesn't unlock anything - you need to beat medium to unlock juicy stuff like AI partners etc. That said, it's still a very good beat em up with fun boss fights and alternate routes. I only wish there were more characters than the base 3 and no unlockable conditions (like beating the game on medium/hard etc since you still need to buy stuff with tokens)
It's technically just a remaster, since the gameplay is mostly untouched (in fact, the old game is running "underneath"), but it feels more than that. It's a worthy tribute to the cult classic. There are some QOL changes and additions, but I was hoping for more changes to modernize the archaic design choices. That said, I can't blame VV for playing it safe, since this is supposed to appeal to the die-hard purists, not new players.
It's real shame that there's no local coop on consoles - that would surely be a major selling point, just to beat this epic story with your buddy or significant other. Also, a word of warning - if you don't have active online sub (XBL Gold/PS+) you will only be able to play offline/single player mode. Unlike D3, online and offline characters are separate, and without the sub you won't be able to play your ladder/non-ladder characters, even solo.
While it may not be as complex as D2, D3 is still one of my favorite, if not the most favorite ARPG of all time. Combat feels amazing, skills feel powerful and loot is exciting. Local co-op on consoles is icing on the cake. Easily a 10/10 product.
Speaking of consoles - I used to wonder how can Diablo work on a controller, but it turns out that it makes the game so much more fun than using mouse+keyboard. And that's coming from someone who spent decades playing on PC (both D1 and D2)
The two new characters are nice, although nothing groundbreaking. The new mode feels unfair and unbalanced - it's pretty much impossible for solo play, and becomes a breeze even with button mashing at 4+ players. The "power-ups" are risk/reward type of thing, like "deal and take double damage" or "heal 1 hp every round, but no healing items appear". They also only last for a couple of rounds, they aren't actual upgrades. Boss transformations are a nice fresh addition, but due to unfair difficulty you probably won't be able to enjoy them for long, and there's only 3 of them. The way this mode is designed is also strange - in order to progress, you need to earn crystals, which are awarded for clearing waves, BUT you only get to choose 1 out of 2 rewards, which may be one of the following: crystals, "upgrade", health, transformation or power pizza.
The mode wouldn't be bad if they balanced scaling around number of players, made upgrades useful + permanent and perhaps allowed some extra healing sources. If you have to copy Streets of Rage 4 Survival mode, at least do it well...
A very good beat em up; perfect choice for rather casual beat em up fans - you won't find SOR4 complexity here. A couple of questionable design choices regarding special move system and difficulty levels, but all in all it's one of my favorite titles, especially for co-op.
The new characters are very fun to play, and the new game mode is a nice addition, even if it's more on the difficult side (no difficulty settings).
Since it's survival mode, well, you will inevitably fail. Kind of a shame, but all things considered, it's good value.
Easily my #1 beat em up of all time. The visuals, the music, the gameplay - it's all easily 10/10. It's amazing how smooth everything feels, despite being 2D sprites.
I only wish there was more content, but hey - you can never have enough for a game you love.
One of my favorite games of all time. Long story short - it's like Metal Slug and Borderlands had a baby.
Gameplay and music are simply amazing, but i can't pretend I don't see the design flaws. You read that right - the game has pretty much zero bugs and is very polished, but it feels like the "bad" things are intentional.
Most players will find the game to be quite difficult, myself included. It took me quite some time to finish. I was stuck on certain bosses 2/3 way through the game, as they seem straight up unfair. Speaking of bosses, probably the main issue is that they deal a lot of damage, and most of them are open for damage only during a small window between their attacks, which renders certain weapons pretty much useless. That's probably why I used magnums and sniper rifles 90% of the time, because SMGs, machine guns, shotguns and aren't worth crafting. Pistols and Assult Rifles are okay at best. I realize I focused on flaws rather than good things, but don't get me wrong - it's still an amazing game and it's criminally underrated. It's just that it could've easily been 10/10 if it wasn't for a few bad design choices.
BTW visuals are lovely (textbook pixel art) and the soundtrack slaps hard. Totally recommend this one if you don't mind the fact that you probably won't beat every single boss on your first attempt until you get a grip of its patterns ...And don't forget that it has glorious 4 player local coop. Many hours of playtime guaranteed
I'm not gonna lie, when i saw screenshots for this game, I though it's just another 8 bit-style indie game. But thanks to Game Pass i could give it a try, and I was blown away. The game combines the best features of retro games with content and accessibility of the modern ones. It has light metroidvania elements, which means it give you freedom of choice, but not to a poin where you're lost and confused about where to go next.
There's also multiple endings (and paths with exlusive quests and bosses too!) as well as various characters to play as, most of which are hidden, so there's lots of replayability.
8 bit games are infamous for their difficulty, but thankfully Infernax offers many accessibility features, as well as cheat codes for casual players (like me)
And now for the biggest bomb: the devs added a brand new local coop mode in on of the free updates! And it's not just tossing in a copy of the main character, oh no. It's a brand new chracter, exclusive to Player 2, with his own weapons, upgrades, skills and equipment. That's not something you'll see in a AAA title.
There's a ton of stuff I won't include in this review because i don't want to spoil it for you - they're too much fun to discover on your own. Seriously, go get this game. Like, right now. You won't regret it
I'm genuinely shocked how low the score for this game is on Metacritic - I can only guess that it's because of die-hard Double Dragon fans that expected something else.
Me? I'm just a beat em up fan that never played any DD game. And let me tell you this - while you won't find super advanced techniques akin to Fight 'n Rage here, you can expect a whole lot of satisfying combat and some mechanics that bring some fresh air to this very conservative genre. For instance - you get to choose the order in which you take on each of 4 gangs, but each subsequent area gets longer, and the boss becomes more difficult. There are random upgrades you can purchase with collected money, and the difficulty is also highly customizable - there are sliders for multiple aspects to adjust the experience. You may be tempted to ramp up the difficulty, since that makes it easier to earn tokens, which are used to unlock extra content - a very clever way to convince players to challenge themselves.
The game features multiple characters to choose from, including unlockable bosses (!), all of which are extremely fun to play as. Special attacks are beefy and incredibly satisfying to pull off. Definitely a must-have for any beat-em up fan, as well as players who want some solid fun, be it solo or with a friend.
I decided to check out this game after playing the latest production from this studio (Double Dragon Gaiden) and now I see where the inspiration comes from - both games are similar and both have incredibly satisfying combat, but obviusly DDG is way more polished, as it's a newer title.
My only issue are the two unlockable (ranged) characters. They're not nearly as effective and fun to play as the others, since ranged attacks can't hit groups of enemies, and the reload system is just bad - weapons don't reload overtime when not being used, nor can you reload automatically. You need to empty the magazine to reload. However, you should take it with a grain of salt - I've only played solo, and I heard Streets of Red is best played in coop. Perhaps that's how you can make all characters work well. TL;DR - considering the low, low price of this game, it's an absolute steal when it comes to value. 4 player local coop makes it even a sweeter deal.
