I loved Streets of Rage 4 when it came out last year.  I enjoyed it so much that it won my “Best Arcade Classic Remake” award in my 2020 Game of the Year blog.  So I was happy to find out they had some DLC for it, and even more excited that I got to review it!  This Mr. X Nightmare DLC adds new characters, modes, and other features to this 2-D side scrolling beat ‘em up, and it’s available on most current consoles, but reviewed on PS4 here.

The biggest new addition to this DLC are three extra playable characters.  You can now play as three of the game’s bosses: Estel Aguirre, Max Thunder, and Shiva.  I’m especially glad for Estel because she was one of my favorite characters in the game.  She’s a strong and tough police officer, and even though you fight her twice, at the end of the game she realizes you’re the good guys and helps you out.  The only disappointment with these new characters is that they did not change the story sections with the new characters.  When you fight Estel as Estel, you just battle a glowing version of her.  They also added a new Survival Mode where you try to last as long as you can against waves of enemies.  There are also new moves, new weapons, new music, leaderboards, and more.  While I think they could’ve done more with the new characters’ stories and maybe released the DLC much sooner, it’s only 8 bucks so I think it’s still worth it if you really like the game.

Kid Factor:

Streets of Rage 4 is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Cartoon Violence, Mild Language, and Mild Suggestive Themes.  You do punch and kick all manner of bad guys, thugs, and even corrupt police officers, but there is no blood and the characters look like cartoons anyway.  I didn’t really notice any bad language, and the suggestive themes come from some of the skimpy outfits the female characters wear.  I played games like this all the time as a kid and teen, and I turned out OK.  Two player co-op makes it a great game to play with someone in your family as well, either couch co-op or online.

Tags: Game Reviews