Streets of Rage 3 serves as a sort of coda to the series. The tone is more serious, crazy and deranged, reminding the player than underneath the smooth, classy music scores of its predecessors is bone-crunching violence inspired heavily by the morose and gratuitous American films of the 70s which sought to authenitcally portray the social decay and urban danger of the decade.

The game lacks the gradual pacing of prior installments; the player is thrust into the action to take on enemies you would not see in SOR2 until it final acts right from the first level. The music is pounding, thumping, postmodern techno, "ear raping" the player with harsh, distorted beats and postmodern soundscapes. The levels are incoherent and strange with one such sequence abruptly changing to the player escaping a bulldozer and another has one escaping a train from running them over. A pivotal stage has one traversing several elevators to save someone from being killed by poison gas in a much provocative game design statement in sharp defiance to the simple scrolling of its elder installment.

Though more mechanically robust than previous games with more moves and faster action, Rage 3 resolves into a less memorable experience. Though its experimental changes are welcome the game is forthright in its desired alienation of the virtues of its predecessors and as a result has not come to be as well remembered or celebrated.



back to reviews...