2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

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2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby VideoGameCritic » November 13th, 2011, 10:09 am

Here are three reviews I've been working on for a while.

The Afterburner 2 review is one of the many Afterburner reviews/re-reviews I have on tap.

Bare Knuckle 3 is the Japanese version of Streets of Rage 3.  It's fascinating to compare these two games.  For more details you can check out Streets of Rage online, an old site where I got the screenshot from.


Rev1
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2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby Rev1 » November 13th, 2011, 10:20 am

I really enjoyed these reviews, now I want to play the Japanese version. Also, the flamboyant gay man is playable character in the Japanese version.

One note: you said that the fat men can roll on the Japanese version (exclusively) but I am pretty sure they do this on the American version as well. I have lost many lives to their annoying rolling.

Anyway, good reviews. Thanks!


Number1Star1
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2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby Number1Star1 » November 13th, 2011, 11:18 am

Bare Knuckle 3 is slightly better then SOR3 because the bosses don't have ridiculous life bars which makes it less tedious. The game animation and speed is exactly the same as SOR3. I didn't get the part about it being faster unless your comparing it to SOR2. I do like the original colored outfits, and voice clips of Bare Knuckle 3 ("Grand Uppah" instead of "Bare Knuckle". A huge difference you never touched on is when you use your special when your meter is low in Bare Knuckle 3 it takes a huge chunk of your life, in SOR3 their might as well be no special meter because you can use it constantly and only lose tiny bits of it. I also thought your re-review of SOR3 was worded better, I would of cut out the part about the activator though.

Last Note: Since you did a re-review of this game, maybe you could do Contra The Hard Corps (The Jap verison) of Hard Corps. You get a 3 hit life bar, instead of one hit deaths. Basically 9 hits per continue instead of 3. This basically covers your big criticism of the U.S. version.


JustLikeHeaven1
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2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby JustLikeHeaven1 » November 14th, 2011, 12:01 pm

Damn shame about the changes made to the US port of Streets of Rage.  The series should have ended on a high note, but it seems like most of the decisions made by SEGA during that time were designed to shoot themselves in the foot.  Don't they know we like sluts!?!?  Who thought that Blaze's drab gray dress was a good idea?  What makes it worse is this ended up being SoR's swan song.  It coulda been a contenda!

I don't think Afterburner on the Genesis is that bad.  However, if you can get your hands on the Saturn or 32X version you should.  The game is exactly like Outrun in that in order to score points you need to travel as far as you can.  Many people lose sight of this when playing After Burner.  While you do get points for shooting down enemies, being evasive and using your rockets sparingly can be a good strategy.  Its a fun game that I enjoy playing for high score.  If you can find it cheap on the genesis its worth it to be able to play an arcade classic.

ultramegaunknown1
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2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby ultramegaunknown1 » November 14th, 2011, 1:44 pm

MAJOR kudos to VGC for reviewing Bare Knuckle III, as well as re-phrasing the SOR 3 review. 

First off, the Streets of Rage 3 review sounds much more positive, whereas your older review of it came off negatively, contradicting the "B" grade. It's still pretty fun, though, the weakest game in the series. It was my favorite until I got my hands on its Japanese counterpart...

Bare Knuckle III... what can I say? I'd have to say that THIS is the best game in the SOR series, period. The Japanese version nearly quiets all criticism directed towards SOR 3, though SOR 3 actually corrected a few bugs (such as the motorcycles sliding backwards, as well as their sparks matching the color of the bikes, and the evasive roll maneuver being much less effective in the Japanese version), though at the cost of BKIII's fair difficulty level, interesting storyline, and lack of censorship.

Regarding the speed of the game, I wouldn't say that Bare Knuckle III isn't faster per se, but rather, the enemies don't bombard you like they do in SOR 3, giving you an actual grace time to attack. And interestingly, in Bare Knuckle III, all enemies do the same amount of damage on every difficulty level, whereas on SOR 3, the higher the difficulty, the more substantial damage the player takes. 

The storyline in BKIII is COMPLETELY different. Whereas SOR3 concentrated on the Chief of Police and robot duplicates, BKIII is about a sort of nuclear attack on Oakwood City. Upon the discovery of (fictional element 122) Laxine, Mr. X plans to start a war between the Lima Nations (presumably where the game series takes place). Axel, Blaze, and the rest of the gang take action after General Petrov, a sort of peacekeeper, is kidnapped. Dr. Zan, a complete stranger to the gang, warn them via computer that one of the bombs is at the warehouse, and meets them. At first, they question his motives, but he gradually earns their trust. Later on, another bomb is told to be at the discotheque. A news reporter then states that the General was last seen with Axel (though this was Axel's robot doppelganger, Break). The story goes on, and there's even some cussing (after level 3, Axel looks at the hatch and says "The bastards are calling out to us."). 

It's a wonderful game, and again, kudos for reviewing this hidden gem!!!! Have fun!!

Number1Star1
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2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby Number1Star1 » November 14th, 2011, 4:30 pm

Lets not go overboard here. Bare Knuckle 3 can't touch Streets of Rage 2, heck I rate Streets of Rage 1 a tad higher. Bare Knuckle 3 lost all the atmosphere the first two games had in music and stage design. Some of the stages in Bare Knuckle 3 look and sound so bad it totally hurts the game-play experience. Look no further then Stage 4, I mean wtf is going on here. Yet again we are fighting in another brown dull "dungeon" (subway) with noises that are supposed to be music? This level should have been scrapped. The best level in the entire game is only playable if you let the General die ugh.

Anyways my scores for the 3.
SOR 1- A- (Absolute masterpiece for a 4-Meg game)
SOR 2- A+ (The best beat em up ever, hence A+)
BK 3- B (Great game-play, terrible music, ugly backgrounds. Where is Adam, Skate serves no purpose this time around (Zan is a plain joke). I am bitter because this should have been an all-time classic.)
SOR 3 B- (I actually like a couple things more in this version, the role and the fact Zan is somewhat playable because you can use his offensive special a lot more often.


ultramegaunknown1
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2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby ultramegaunknown1 » November 14th, 2011, 6:32 pm

I do agree that BKIII has a very different feel from the urban-neon feel of the first 2, and it's a bit darker and rougher around the edges. But in a way, that makes it appealing; the series was brought forward. It's harder to stomach. I do, however, think that it has the best controls in any beat em up ever. Really, it depends on what mood I'm in. 
SOR 1 for the excellent music.
SOR 2 for the overall feel and completeness. 
BK III for controls, story and awesome secret characters. 
SOR 3 to make you appreciate the rest of the series. 
haha. 


Prinzenick

2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby Prinzenick » November 14th, 2011, 10:35 pm

Afterburner II i would say is a C at least. It plays like a dream on the Sega Nomad, where the soft blurriness eases the choppy animation to some degree. 'Sides, a fast paced arcade title like Afterburner is perfectly suited to short bursts of play, especially when you're on the road.


Samael

2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby Samael » November 16th, 2011, 5:10 am

You're too kind to Afterburner 2. You often die without any hint of why you died, in a very literal sense. I've slowed down the game to do a frame by frame analysis, and it's genuinely broken, unlike the arcade game and 32x edition.

It's only avoiding an F, I suspect, because the Sega CD version was programmed by someone who hated sprite scaling in any form, and playing the Master System version is a form of torture reserved for making gametesting licensed Wii games bearable...

Julio III

2011/11/13: Genesis: Afterburner II, Bare Knuckle 3, Streets of Rage 3

Postby Julio III » November 16th, 2011, 6:47 am

Nice to see a comparison between Bare Knuckle 3 and Streets of Rage 3, I'd always heard its better but didn't know why. Strange you don't mention the BK3 review in the SoR3 review though.


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