Final Fight: Streetwise

If you’re like me the recent collection of fighting games are just amazing but there’s a place in my heart that still longs for the classic brawling games of yesteryear like Double Dragon where you walk down the street beating any thug that happens to cross your path.  Luckily for us Capcom is bringing us Final Fight: Streetwise--a street fighting game that shows a lot of promise.

Streetwise tells the tale of two close brothers Kyle and Cody Travers just trying to survive the mean streets of Metro City.  One day Cody disappears during a drug deal that goes down in the neighborhood and it's up to Kyle to find him.  The trouble is that Kyle has to go through an army of hitmen, drug dealers and your basic scumbags that want nothing more than to just pummel you to death.  Soon Metro City finds itself in a violent uprising and the few good citizens have risen up to fight back.

The game adds plenty of fisticuff action where you have to be quick with the fists.  One level pits Kyle up against a brutish brawler who calls himself Handsome Bob in a seedy dive that looks straight out of the Fight Club movie.  Kyle can block punches, land solid jabs or put some muscle into his punch to knock his opponent down.  He can also grab his opponent and throw him down to the ground.

Weapons can also be picked up and Kyle can use things he finds scattered throughout the environment like metal pipes and good old-fashioned lumber just to name a few.  You can also use weapons enemies drop like knives and pistols.  And there are even some classic boss fight moments.  So far the boss fights seem to be of brawling variety and judging by one of the bosses, a suave man in a suit that packs quite a mean punch, they’re going to be tough to beat.

Visually, the game is also pretty impressive with enough character and environmental details (no bruising, unfortunately, but the characters look good in action).

While it successfully brings back the classic street fighting games of long ago, there’s footage of mean zombie-like enemies attacking the main character so expect some variety enemy-wise.   We can expect Final Fight: Streetwise to come out for the PS2 as well and hopefully soon.
 

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