Well, mostly. Axel's beard and Blaze's leather jacket make me think they want to make them more gruff-looking. I need a full playthrough of the first level to fully convince me, but good first impressions are encouraging.
I do love the fact that they gave Blaze a jacket in game, a nice nod to the official artwork from SoR3.
I've been trying to work out the one thing that feels "off" about the gameplay as seen in the trailer and that seems to be the very thing. Hope they fix that, especially with it being a basic fundamental that's been around since the very first game! I was actually thinking about just how many stages the game should have. 8 wouldn't cut it today really, unless they go for the SoR Remake method of having multiple paths (having 8 REALLY long stages would just bring back horrible memories of Sega Ages Golden Axe)
Had a think about it and "big announcement" regarding the "classic soundtrack" indicates to me that they could mean modern remastered/re-done versions of the music from the original games. Koshiro did just remaster SOR1's soundtrack with this for example. So perhaps re-done versions of some of the original tracks and potentially some new music from Koshiro too? The PAX demo had place-holder music from SOR2 if that's any indication. As for the game feeling like Streets of Rage - everyone who has played it says it's accurate to the original games - and that's good enough for me. Particularly given it's in such early stages (LizardCube said the game could be a while off yet - as they want to produce something perfect as with the Wonder Boy remake). If these very positive previews are accurate and the game really is as amazing as we're hearing and then the soundtrack theory is correct and Koshiro is back - we could be in for one hell of a game.
I wont trust the reports until it's in my cold, dead hands. Remember all the previews for Sonic 4 by people that didn't know any better proclaiming it played just like the originals... Yeah.
I really hope we're not getting remastered music, I'm kinda done with 'remasters' 'reimagined' etc now. I want original ideas! I hope Koshiro does the music, my hype levels will seriously drop if he's not on board.
I feel like mentski is the only one pointing out things that are bothering the crap out of me. My thoughts so far: - The Good - - Even though it's not preferred art style I actually like the way this looks, especially in motion, also please pull a mania adventures and make a short series with this animated style. - Axel and Blaze designs don't play it safe and shows progression of time without us even knowing the story (if there is one) - new mechanics like recharging your health loss from special moves by chaining attacks and not getting hit definitely adds that little nudge the combat system needs - new stages so far, while they need more life to them I like the locals presented so far - possible new end boss shown at the end of the trailer, she looks pretty cool I just want to know more about her - The Bad - - Enemies are the same as before, was hoping for at least a visual redesign akin to the transition from 1 to 2. no new enemies yet - No info on any mechanics from 3 like running and rolling has me a bit concerned that we're looking at a SoR2.5 of sorts but that being said... - I FUCKING missed PAX and didn't get to actually play the game so I can't make any calls on what's going on. It's damn frustrating hearing vague opinions on the game, were there no seasoned vets playing the game yet? - The Ugly - - one of the most divisive things for me is the fact that there are juggles in the game, on one hand this can turn out to be fun and not repetitive or annoying on the other hand juggling is often done horribly wrong. I just need to play the game! - Jump kick doesn't knock down, I'm divided on this too. on one hand I don't use jump kicks often simply because I want to maximize me damage out point before knocking down an enemy, on the other hand? this might mean just one jumpkick and no jump in attack or multiple cancelable aerial attacks. either way I can't make heads or tails of this - no release date or platform not really concerning but damnit just take my money! - maybe the announcement was too early? I highly doubt Axel and Blaze are the only ones in the game but maybe this is all the result of springing this on us too early in development. All in all I'd be lying if I said I'm not insanely hyped about this game, I am but at the same time this can go pretty bad or just be decent enough to pass the time for a moment and disappear into obscurity like many other new beat em ups abd I really don't want that. also I did a thing.
I got a reply from Guard Crush on Twitter saying the jump kick is fixed now, but I'll be keeping an eye on 'em. Mark my words. The level of "Don't screw this up" on this for me is higher than any Sonic title, hands down. This game needs to be a natural extension of SoR3, mechanics wise. Although personally I think SoR3 does have a few aspects which I think aren't quite as good as 2, such as what I'd call the "hit impact". There's something about the speed of the strike, length of the stun and sound effect in SoR2 that make you feel like you're really hitting enemies with some force, the changes made for SoR3 (and I don't mean stuff that was just changed in localisation, Bare Knuckle 3 is the same in this respect) make the punches feel a bit like you're just slapping somebody with a wet fish. Never liked that. But the running/rolling, weapon blitz attacks, and multiple level blitzes... Yeah. They need to be in. In regards to juggling: I'm not adverse to it's addition, as long as it doesn't screw the gameplay too much. Look at Double Dragon Advance - Possibly the best Double Dragon game (seriously, Neon is crap), and a natural upgrade from original arcade gameplay with additional moves from the Nintendo games. They added juggling there, and it worked really well - You could play all the way through the game using moves and strategies you used on the original arcade versions of 1 and 2, but once you got used to the added moves and juggle system it put the game on a whole new level.
I'd prefer somewhere in between the damage levels of 2 and 3, especially with the regain your health mechanic. Maybe a variable system that impacts health lost/regain-able vs. damage dealt
Aren't those preview articles a bit too "glowing" for what they've been shown? I'm getting a bad feeling because of them. =P
If you're talking the western release, rather than Bare Knuckle 3, the localization team changed all the damage values to make it harder for westerners, and totally unbalanced the game in general. SoR3's localization was a botch job from start to finish. If you want to play the game as it was meant to be, play BK3 with the Twilight Translations English patch.
Yeah I only play BK3 and still find the specials underpowered there compared to 2. I haven't played through Western SoR3 for years but I do remember switching my MD off in disgust last time I tried! (I don't even have my copy anymore - my ex stole it!) I actually bought a Chinese repro BK3 cart a while back and that very translation was on it which was a nice surprise.
About juggles. I know it's early in development but stuff like this is pretty hard to get right. I'm okay with juggles when handled properly as mentioned above with double dragon advance and other games like Fight'n Rage. However... Streets of Fury (made by the very guard crush) DIDN'T handle juggles properly, the issue mentioned above is EXACTLY what you deal with in that game which is the cause of my concern. Hype isn't dead for me yet but damn did that put a dent in my optimism for a moment. I surely hope some die hards get to play this game and give as much constructive criticism as needed...
I can think of a few people who worked on a certain Remake who would be ideal for that job.... (Hell, I did very minor graphic and sound work on that, ask me! :p)
Oh, wait... You're Xillatem, aren't you? Not sure if you remember or not, but I was a very active member of the original Bombergames board for quite a time. Responsible for the "too many shades of brown" comment when some of the earlier level art was shown (I was pretty vocal on the fact that even if they used more than the allotted MD colours, it should at least look like it used MD colours for authenticity). Also: This. Interestingly, Guard Crush have just followed me on Twitter, after a mate of mine (who's a bit of a gamedev in his own right) ended up telling them "If you want a perfect Streets of Rage game, @Mentski is your guy to consult, I can definitely tell you that." Yikes.
Interesting, I remember you both as well. I talked to quite a few people from the bombergames boards on discord as well as some speed runners, and devs like gsaurus. So we have a good handful of folks (myself included) well versed enough with the series to give them some proper feedback. I notice SEGA isn't even promoting this which shows they have very little to do with this project. Hopefully the team is open to keeping this project alive even after release I'm certain updates will be necessary to get everything smoothed out. Think I'll just stick to making videos, maybe one talking about all the smaller mechanics most casual players would usually glance over, this stuff is important for keeping the essence of Streets of Rage.
Indeed I am, and how could I forget /> I remember putting together a rough version of a scene and sending it off to whoever was upgrading the stages to "Remake" status. There was one particular detail that stood out like a sore thumb and I quietly thought "It's alright, he'll fix that". Needless to say, he fixed up everything EXCEPT that!
