Streets of Rage 4 brings back the classic beat-’em-up formula with new fighters, new music, and a familiar city under threat. It lands on Stadia, PS4, Linux, and Android, and it holds up as one of the best games in the genre today.
Trailer, via Dotemu.
The City Under Threat
The story sends a new set of heroes into a city taken over by a criminal gang. Players pick from three main fighters, each with their own moves and style. The campaign runs through a series of levels, and the difficulty rises fast throughout the game, not just once the story ends. The gang’s hold on the city gives the story a clear shape, even if the plot itself stays simple.
Level Design That Moves Fast
Each stage throws waves of enemies at the screen, and the levels move quickly without slowing down. Boss fights stand out for their scale and the amount of damage they deal. The controls answer fast, and the camera rarely gets in the way during busy fights. The pacing keeps players moving from one fight to the next without losing momentum.
A Soundtrack Built From Scratch
The music draws on the original series while adding fresh tracks. It plays a large part in setting the tone for each stage. The sound effects keep pace with the action, giving each hit and throw a clear sound. Together, the soundtrack and sound effects carry a lot of weight in making each stage feel distinct.
Fighting Styles, Each One Different
Players can choose from three main fighters, each built around a different fighting style:
- A fighter who focuses on close-range strikes
- A fighter who relies on long-range attacks
- A fighter who mixes both styles together
Each fighter changes how a level feels, since some enemies react better to certain moves. Switching between them adds replay value beyond a single playthrough, letting players return to old stages with a different fighter and find new ways to approach them.
Where It Falls Short
Not everything works. Some enemy types feel like repeats dressed in different colors, and a few stages rely too heavily on repeated hits rather than varied moves. The difficulty spikes near the end can catch players off guard, especially those used to earlier levels. These flaws are real, but they do not sink the whole experience.
The Numbers Behind It
- Title: Streets of Rage 4
- Platforms: Stadia, PS4, Linux, Android
- Critical score: 8.3/10
- Main fighters: three, each with their own style
- Setting: a city under threat from a criminal gang
Streets of Rage 4 succeeds because it respects what made the series work while pushing it forward. The level design moves fast, the music holds up, and the fighters offer real variety between runs. It does not reinvent the genre, but it does not need to.
Where it falls short, it falls short gently. The repeated enemy types and uneven difficulty are small complaints against a game that otherwise delivers. The score reflects that balance: 8.3 out of 10.
Streets of Rage 4 earns its place among the best beat-’em-ups available today.
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