Seems to have gotten mixed reviews from the U.S. release. It sounds like the game's difficulty level (hard!) and lack of story (who cares...it's a BEAT EM UP) are putting off some reviewers.
It comes out in Japan thursday...I plan on picking it up along with Guilty Gear XX #Reload for PSP (yeah!!) and maybe Ninja Gaiden Black too.
Seems to have gotten mixed reviews from the U.S. release. It sounds like the game's difficulty level (hard!) and lack of story (who cares...it's a BEAT EM UP) are putting off some reviewers.
It comes out in Japan thursday...I plan on picking it up along with Guilty Gear XX #Reload for PSP (yeah!!) and maybe Ninja Gaiden Black too.
I doubt this have anything to do with money hats, but see it more of a cultural thing.
The thing about it, North America is only now starting to see the return of SOR-like games, but the thing about them is that they don't carry the type of gameplay expect from western games. Not only that, but games like spikeout and urban reign are seen as games/genres that should've gone the way of the arcades in NA.
Anyhow in a country that value its D&D-knock-offs, FPS's, RTS, there just isn't any room for games that have that "arcade touch" to them unless its something mass-market like Tekken, Soul Calibur or VF. I mean, IGN score of a 8.0 for Outrun 2 is a testament of that.
Speaking of Outrun 2; the game has 10x the depth that BurnOut wish it had. Thankfully I'm glad SEGA stuck to thier game without compromise and that how I like it.
i've never paid much attention to famitsu scores, but at this point i'll take any little reason to hope that urban reign has turned out well. some of the negative american reviews do seem rooted in hostility to the genre. criticizing a beatemup because it's repetitive and difficult is like criticizing a jrpg because it's overlong and melodramatic. that's what the genre is for.
i've never paid much attention to famitsu scores, but at this point i'll take any little reason to hope that a new urban reign has turned out well. some of the negative american reviews do seem rooted in hostility to the genre. criticizing a beatemup because it's repetitive and difficult is like criticizing a jrpg because it's long and melodramatic. that's what the genre is for. my quarrels with final fantasy or suikoden are no doubt irrelevant to jrpg players, and i wonder whether urban reign reviews are at all relevant to me.
while I don't disagree...I haven't heard anyone who has actually played the game call it good. BeatDown might not have been as bad as it was scored, and SpikeOut might have been marginally better than what it scored, but neither was a great game overlooked by the confused American reviewers. Despite our hatred for them at gaf, a lot of these reviewers when not actually posting here, are suckers for the genre Joe Blow might scoff at as well.
i don't hate american reviewers. i've reviewed a couple games in american publications! i just don't know if the particular criticisms leveled at urban reign should put off genre fans.
Progressive scan capable (though it's 525p like Tekken 5 I believe), 16:9 mode available.
There's 100 missions in the "story" portion of the game - this normal progression is single player only with an AI partner. about 1/3rd of all the missions are single player (no ai partner) only, with some missions being fairly ridiculously hard as 5 people armed with weapons beat you down - this is a *lot* harder than it sounds due to the lack of a real block button.
After you finish the game though, a free mode and a challenge mode unlocks. Free mode is basically pick any mission you want from the story mode + play it again for rank (and unlocks) and Challenge mode is fight X number of battles until you're defeated. Challenge mode is co-op capable apparently however.
Gameplay wise there's 3 hit regions on the body per person in game (head, chest/body, legs), if you beat a person on the head enough they'll start taking critical damage of sorts at that body location.
Most characters has a super death 1 strike move, a super combo, and a super "buff" ability of sorts. (I say most because I haven't gone through all the playable characters yet)
There are breakable furniture lying around, and a fairly healthy assortment of weapons. Getting tossed into a piece of furniture do a little extra damage on top of however much damage you've taken already.
There's a boss that is
recurring, and will remind you of something like Abobo. You do shit damage to him everytime you hit him until you break a body part, and he has a super move makes him immune to stuns - he basically will just plow through your punchs and kicks and smack you around a lot
default controls :
L1 Item Pickup (weapons, health powerups, etc)
L2 Taunt (basically a "hey you" type of deal - not sure what else this does yet)
R1 Target Lock
R2 AI command (gives commands to your AI parter - call for them to perform double team moves, help you out, get them to give you their weapon, or even switch over and play as your AI partner)
Triangle - grapple (up + grapple for a slam that focuses on the head, down + grapple to work over the legs, etc..etc..
Circle - strike (same thing with grapple, up + strike to hit the head, etc..etc.)
X - Run
Square - Dodge (various characters have different counters - most have a simple parry, Paul has his Tekken reversals though )
Urban Reign isn't...."bad" per say......least it's certainly not a 3.5 out of 10 in my book. The lack of a block button and having to take on 5 people at once is fairly irritating, but once you get into the groove of the game of sorts it can be pretty good fun.
lack of a block button is not an issue, you can parry/dodge attacks and tech out of throws and air juggles with square, it just takes timing... you have to press square when the attack is about to come in contact with you... plus with 2 bars, you press circle + triangle with two bars of 'super' meter you do a neutral super that basically clears enemies away and even breaks you out of stuns...
the only really fucked up mission is
Mission #98
the rest are pretty doable...
it's ALOT better than Spikeout, doesn't even belong in the same sentnce really...
oh, and it's better than MKSM
i have to wonder about the reviewers who gave the game under a 7.5 really... wonder if they actually played the game or just reviewed it based on what they thought it would be like...
I haven't played Urban Reign so I can't comment on it's quality but Famitsu give stupid scores to plenty of games. The 9 / 9 / 8 / 8 - 34 GOLD for Medal of Honor: Rising Sun is the real stand out for so many reasons :lol
Finally sat down and gave the game a chance after reading the crappy reviews. I thought the game was okay at first but the further you go in the story mode, the more shitty it becomes. The AI is total crap and frustrating at times, especially your partner. I'm not sure that Famitsu is smoking but 3.5 is well deserved after having played through most of the game.
