Things that are very annoying in this game

[Ares4X]

1. no run/roll/dash (only Cherry/Adam)
2. If you died by the boss you have to start from the beginning of the stage.
3. Insane difficulty on stage 12, even on normal!
4. Blaze sounds like a child.

I know that they want to bring the feeling back from the old games (no checkpoint). But for my opinion it's very hard if you play alone on normal difficulty.
The enemies are quicker and can take a lot more blows than in the SOR series.

[Yamigarasu]

Difficulty is fine, SOR and most beat em ups were always a bit nightmarish the first few times you played, no run is a bit of a letdown, but since this game neither has the finesse of 2, nor the speed of 3, its kinda... okay I guess, retry instead of instant continue was a very idiotic move, that and score reset at the start makes no sense for this type of game.

Honestly, all I really miss are the Y button / Hold special moves, and the specials with weapons... the rest is fine I guess... not great, not bad, fine.

[Saturnstales]

Let me add to this list
5. HP draining attacks/ No super bar
6. Many bosses having no-flinch super armor ala Juggernaut MVC
7. Combos can be sluggish at times and can prevent you from jumping
8. If lives are going to be a thing, at least have a checkpoint system if they are all lost.

This game is nostalgic in good and bad ways. I wish there was more innovation and more modern gaming mechanics added into this, it reminds me of many of the flaws of games from 90s, especially those designed for arcades.

[Yaridovich]

Originally posted by Ashedown:

Difficulty is fine, SOR and most beat em ups were always a bit nightmarish the first few times you played

No, not really.

I played all the originals plus a ton of other beat'em'ups and in general, if you're playing on Normal difficulty, the game is really easy on the first few levels. It's very rare for your to get into a troublesome situation and you'll usually only take a punch or two along the way, at least until you reach the boss at the end.

It's not the case here. You can play on Normal difficulty and even by stage 2 you already have some situations that bring some enormous difficulty spikes because of enemy priority and behavior for certain enemies and the lack of run, roll and block moves. You just end up taking a lot of cheap hits that you can't do anything to avoid except use a special. And even bosses have some incredibly cheap moves. The boss at the end of the police station has a grab attack that I could never avoid no matter what and Barbon has that chasing 4 kicks sequence that is just impossible to avoid. You just end up taking damage and that's it.

I love the game but man, they really need to make some adjustments here.

[V I D A L]

1. Not an issue if you're old school and played many of these games.. even though most of them had run, this game is pretty well balanced without it.

2. This is a pro, not con. We don't want this game to be too casual. Stakes are important so you have to play it right, avoid damage, build combos to earn more lives.

3. Not true at all. Just beat the game on normal, had to redo Stage 12 once (only time I failed) that is because twice in the level I held on too long before picking up the turkey and ended up dying before replenishing my life, wasting 2 lives. Second attempt I beat with an extra life to spare.

4. Not important.

Play on easy if the games is too hard for you. Issues 1, 2 and 3 are classic cases of git gud. You're just not skilled enough.

[Yaridovich]

Originally posted by V I D A L:

1. Not an issue if you're old school and played many of these games.. even though most of them had run, this game is pretty well balanced without it.

I played the originals and this isn't true.

The originals didn't need those because they were playable without those. It's not the case here. Some attacks in this game are just either incredibly hard to avoid or just entirely impossible without a defensive move, AKA the examples I gave above like Barbon and the police station boss.

It feels like the gameplay was built to encourage the player to use defensive moves like rolling or blocking but they just don't exist so you just take a cheap hit and that's it.

[4R35]

The original SOR games never felt unfair. For example if you had a sliver of life you always felt if you played your best you have a chance of survival. Not so in SOR4, you get hit by random bombs, flying knees, charging headbutts, undodgable bullets, exploding barrels, slime or just a plain old Galsia punch to the back of the head.

Without the tools to deal or avoid these attacks you tend not to want use your specials because the chance of the losing all your green health from a random unavoidable attack is high.

Oh and the meat placement is weird.

[4R35]

Originally posted by V I D A L:

1. Not an issue if you're old school and played many of these games.. even though most of them had run, this game is pretty well balanced without it.

Simply not true. SOR1-3 gameplay is far more refined than SOR4.

[Yaridovich]

Originally posted by 4R35:

The original SOR games never felt unfair. For example if you had a sliver of life you always felt if you played your best you have a chance of survival. Not so in SOR4, you get hit by random bombs, flying knees, charging headbutts, undodgable bullets, exploding barrels, slime or just a plain old Galsia punch to the back of the head.

Without the tools to deal or avoid these attacks you tend not to want use your specials because the chance of the losing all your green health from a random unavoidable attack is high.

Oh and the meat placement is weird.

I'm enjoying the game but I really cannot disagree with you there. The game just throws cheap hits everywhere.

Stages 1 and 2 were stuffed with healing items, then stages 3 takes forever to give you anything at the start of the stage? You get an apple then you go like a screen and a half having to fight a ton of enemies using weapons or flying kicks until you eventually get a chicken.

[V I D A L]

You guys are just jumping to conclusion. Everything can be avoided if you're paying attention. Every enemy gives you a sign of their income attack.. they blink white when they are resistant to hits, they blink red when they will come for a grab. Everything is predicable once you spend a bit of time with the game and learn it's patterns.

The police station boss gets you by surprise the first time you play because you don't know what he is going to do... after playing that level 4 times, he can rarely hit me.

Less complaining, more playing.

[Mr. No_Effs_Given]

Interesting to see what veteran SoR players think. Since this is the first game on the series i played i cant compare with the others. One thing i agree its the difficulty kinda spikes all of sudden, i guess level 6 is when that happened, for me at least.

[Yaridovich]

Originally posted by V I D A L:

You guys are just jumping to conclusion. Everything can be avoided if you're paying attention. Every enemy gives you a sign of their income attack.. they blink white when they are resistant to hits, they blink red when they will come for a grab. Everything is predicable once you spend a bit of time with the game and learn it's patterns.

The police station boss gets you by surprise the first time you play because you don't know what he is going to do... after playing that level 4 times, he can rarely hit me.

Less complaining, more playing.

I just played the game. I'm not jumping to conclusions. I played the originals, this is not fine.

"They blink as a sign of an incoming attack" yeah, but when the boss uses an attack that is 4 chasing kicks in a sequence or a chasing grab attack that you can't avoid because the boss has superarmor, it's just cheap.

Again, I'm enjoying the game, but this needs some adjustments.

[Yaridovich]

Like... If that was the gameplay on the higher difficulties, I'd be fine with it. Those difficulties are supposed to be the utmost challenges.

But this on Normal difficulty? No.

[Kriegor November]

If you're used to the genre, normal difficulty is cakewalk. I haven't seen a game over yet and I'm now halfway through my 2nd playthrough in hard (always playing alone with Blaze).
There's a easy mode. Why complain about normal if you have a difficulty setting more adapted to your skills.

[Yaridovich]

Originally posted by Kriegor Redfielding:

If you're used to the genre, normal difficulty is cakewalk. I haven't seen a game over yet and I'm now halfway through my 2nd playthrough in hard (always playing alone with Blaze).
There's a easy mode. Why complain about normal if you have a difficulty setting more adapted to your skills.

Because Normal isn't supposed to be this hard.

And no, this isn't standard to the genre. Previous SOR games and most other games of the genre are a lot easier on Normal difficulty.

[Kriegor November]

Fight'n Rage"s normal difficulty is definitely harder. Mother Russia Bleeds, I'd say on par. River City Girls, maybe slightly easier. The beginning of this game is a bit rough though. Double Dragon Neon, way easier. Charlie Murder, about the same. As for old games, Final Fight, Double Dragon, Alien vs Predator, Cadillac & Dinosaurs, Battle Circuit, Violent Storm, Streets of Rage 3 (...) way harder!!!! SOR 2, I'd say the same. I know the game far too well now so normal mode feels very easy, but back then I couldn't finish normal mode first try like with SOR4. SOR1 was definitely easier.