Final Fight: Streetwise

Classic Final Fight has a special place in many gamers’ hearts, including my own. Gamers my age would spend countless hours on Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Ninja Turtles Arcade, The Simpsons, and dozens of other similar titles. In those days, the side-scrolling beat ‘em up was king. Many developers have attempted to pull it off in 3D, and very few have succeeded.

When Capcom announced Final Fight: Streetwise, the hopes of beat ‘em up fans like me flared collectively like a sun. I’d lie if I said Streetwise was everything a 3D Final Fight should be, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy it. I know my opinion is an unpopular one, but I was entertained by this game.

Final Fight: Streetwise introduces us to Kyle, brother of the infamous Cody from past brawls. In story mode, you play as Kyle as you try and track down your missing brother. You’re given missions and then thrown into a city, so you can choose to go straight for the next mission or explore a bit. The game is still very linear, but this way you at least feel like you have a little freedom.

Each area is full of people. These people range from gangs that will pick fights with you, to fans of your fighting prowess, to bums sleeping in the alley. You’re encouraged to defend yourself from attacking ruffians, but hitting a bystander will decrease your reputation with that area.

Between missions you can stop by various places of business, including pawn shops, an electronics store, the gym, a liquor store, and various restaurants and bars. The pawn shop allows you to buy weapons, the electronics store provides new tunes to buy, the gym is where you learn new moves or upgrade your stats, the liquor store has healing items for sale, and the restaurants and bars usually provide you with side quests.

Some of these side quests provide a heavy change of pace. They include throwing darts, breaking trash cans, slide puzzles, and a few others of the same nature. This might sound kind of fun, because as I read what I just wrote they sound more entertaining than they really are. They aren’t terrible, but they aren’t very fun either. They only last about a minute long at the most, and they aren’t very difficult. Plus, they have you wondering why Kyle is doing this stuff while his brother is possibly in trouble. And while I love a good puzzle to break up the repetitive action in some games, the puzzles in Streetwise are so simple they might as well not be there at all. There are other types of side quests, though.

When you see a bystander with a question mark over his or her head, talking to them gives you the option of doing a side quest. These side quests offer something a little different if you want to take a break from the main story, and they end in you earning some money. They usually end up being the same as the last, though, just with a different candy coating. Saving a child from gang members, recovering a purse, or escorting someone through a rough neighborhood all sound different, but in the end you’re just doing a lot of fighting.

And fighting is what this game is all about. Aside from the occasional puzzle or timed button-pressing section, all you do is fight. With this game being Final Fight, that’s exactly what gamers should expect. Luckily, the fighting engine is done very well. You start off with a few simple combos in the beginning, and as you progress you can learn many new moves at the gym. A new element introduced to Streetwise is the ability to counterattack, as well as the instinct meter. If you time your block just right, the opponent will be stunned and you can perform a special counter move. This can be pretty tough to pull off at times, so it’s pretty satisfying when it works out.

Although, the new moves only go so far, and soon Final Fight feels pretty redundant. When I first played this game I was hooked, but the more time I spent with it the more bored I became. Since the story wasn’t that interesting and there were no innovative side games, nothing was really keeping me motivated to continue.

Final Fight has always included weapons; usually a pipe or board you’d find lying on the ground. The weapon count hasn’t increased too much in Streetwise, but there is a good amount of new weaponry to choose from. Classics like baseball bats, knives, and boards are still around, but every once in awhile you’ll find guns. Luckily you don’t find them too often, and you can’t replenish the ammo, so it’s a treat when you get your hands on one. Plus that keeps Final Fight a primarily hand-to-hand game, which is how it should be.

The fighting often is interrupted by the camera, though, which is something that I hope is phased out in the next generation of gaming. The camera in Streetwise does not automatically snap behind you, even when locking on to enemies. Since the camera's manipulated by the right joystick, that means that during a fight you have to take your fingers off the attack buttons to see your enemies. You can’t even move it up or down; attempting to results in the camera slowly panning forward or back a few feet.

The scenery also becomes very dull. At first I really liked the look of the starting area, but you see almost every area very early on, so the rest of the game is backtracking through old scenery. Although they are small, each area is pretty detailed, but due to the small size and the amount of time you spend in each one you’ll quickly grow bored of your surroundings.

Capcom included an arcade mode for when you don’t feel like playing the story anymore. Arcade mode is set up just like the old Final Fight, except it’s using the 3D game engine of Streetwise. In the beginning you can choose either Kyle or Cody to play as, but as you complete the story mode a couple classic characters are added to the roster. When the game starts, enemies start to attack, and when you’ve taken them all down you move on to the next area. Remember the first Fighting Force? It’s kind of like that, but better.

Despite the fact that I had fun with this game, I can’t recommend it to just anybody. I’m a fan of this type of game, and even I got bored before I hit the halfway mark. Final Fight: Streetwise has a fun fighting system, but it doesn’t excel in anything, and it becomes extremely repetitive. Since I had fun with this game at first, I would recommend a rental for anyone that enjoyed the old Final Fight. I can’t recommend this for purchase, though, unless you’re a big fan of 3D brawlers.    

Gameplay: 6.0
The fighting in Streetwise is pretty fun and slowly unlocking new combos keeps combat fresh. Unfortunately it doesn’t keep it fresh enough, and the out-of-place mini games and bad camera don’t help at all.

Graphics: 7.0 
Final Fight: Streetwise has pretty detailed character models and backgrounds, but the animations are pretty choppy and unnatural at times. And even though the scenery is detailed, the palette of drab colors keeps it from springing to life.

Sound: 6.5
The voice acting didn’t quite fit what was happening on-screen, and the soundtrack is limited to hip-hop and alternative metal. You can expand your soundtrack at certain shops, but I had a hard time passing up new fighting moves for music I don’t even like. Other than that the sound effects are decent, but nothing really stands out.

Difficulty: Medium
The difficulty will depend on how good you are at these kinds of games. The missions and side quests are all very simple, so it’s not hard to figure out what you’re doing. The arcade mode is pretty tough, though, and the camera will sometimes mess you up during big brawls in story mode.

Concept: 5.0 
So many developers have tried to remake these classic 2D games into 3D adventures. Some work out, but most don’t. Why are 2D games off limits these days? Couldn’t they make beautiful 2D brawlers with the technology they have now? You’d think that somebody was paying attention when Symphony of the Night was voted game of the year over all the 3D titles of the time.

Multiplayer: 6.0
Multiplayer doesn’t do much to save this one. All it does is add another player to arcade mode, which starts out fun, but that friend becomes just as bored as you do.  

Overall: 5.6
Final Fight: Streetwise is mediocre, and that’s it. The mini games aren’t inspired and as simple as they get, the fighting system is fun but gets old, and the story is boring. You can have mindless fun with it, though, but only until you realize you’re doing the same couple combos over and over. This one is only for fans of past 3D beat ‘em ups.