Reviewed: October 16, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Namco
Developer
Namco
Released: September 13, 2005
Genre: Fighting
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Teen
7
7
7
7
7.2
Supported Features
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
If you are going to make a street fighting game then what better people to get to design it than the creators of games like Tekken and Soul Calibur. Namco has been perfecting the fighting genre for years, and while Urban Reign might be a new concept and direction for beating down street thugs, there is no denying the guilty pleasure derived from playing it.
You play the streetwise brawler, Brad Hawk who has been hired by Shun Ying Lee, the sexy Chinatown boss who wants to bring peace to her city by having you go out and beat the crap out of all her rivals. Makes perfect sense to me…but it really doesn’t have to because the story is soon forgotten in a sea of endless street brawls where you unleash havoc as any of 60 playable characters using 30 deadly weapons and all sorts of unique combat moves and combos.
Anyone who has played a Tekken or Soul Calibur game will feel right at home behind the fight controls of Urban Reign. While martial arts have been partially replaced with more thuggish moves, there is still a bit of flair and elegance to the combat, and you will likely see a few familiar moves and even borrowed animations from those other games.
There is a respectable challenge to Urban Reign, even on the easier skill settings, although those challenges are usually reserved for the boss encounters, but with more than 100 missions in the story mode you don’t want to get stuck too soon during a normal encounter. These incidental fights are more about practicing your technique and experimenting with new moves to prepare for those periodic boss fights.
The fight engine is pretty engaging although targeting can be an issue in fights where you are outnumbered. It's also annoying to find yourself on the receiving end of an endless "juggle" of moves that you simply cannot escape until you are prompted to "continue" the failed game.
Then again, with more than 100 fights, there are a few balancing issues, or rather lack of balance. Most of the fights are all on the same approximately level whether you are on fight 7 or 77. But every now and then some killer boss makes an appearance to jerk you out of that dazed state the previous 18 fights have lulled you into. And even worse, a lot of those tactics that you had been perfecting in those previous fights simply don’t work on the bosses, so you are forced to quickly change-up your tactics.
In later fights you will be joined by A.I. comrades who manage to hold their own, but you are also free to switch to these alternate fighters and explore a wealth of grapples, team moves, and combination attacks.
I was actually quite surprised at just how good the graphics are for what is likely to be considered a B title. The overall art style is nothing too original but the character models are excellent as is the fluid animations for all of the fight moves. Things can get pretty intense and there are some really good special effects, both visual and camera, that spice up the fights.
Levels are both indoors and out with just enough environmental details, and there is a decent variety of enemy combatant models and some really inventive boss designs. The entire presentation is wrapped up nicely with widescreen and progressive scan support.
The music is pretty much the generic fighting music and urban fare you would expect for a street fighter title. It’s not bad, just forgettable, but it gets the job done and enhances the energetic gameplay and cutscenes when appropriate.
There is some good voice acting and Namco fans are likely to recognize a few of the voices. The rest of the sound package is merely fight noises, punches, kicks, and the resulting oomph’s and umps of physical combat.
Outside of the lengthy and repetitive solo campaign there is a solid multiplayer component for two and even four players with a multitap, playing cooperatively or against each other. Fighters are repetitive by nature, so anyone who enjoys the genre will certainly enjoy the 20-30 hours you can spend with Urban Reign. The game also adds numerous challenges and hidden characters like Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law from Tekken.
While Urban Reign won’t be competing with any of the major fight titles coming out this holiday season, it never really was meant to. This is simply an underground fighter that is more of a diversion and a guilty pleasure for those who like brutal street fighting with a bit of martial arts elegance.
Heavy on action and light on story, this is the perfect mindless fighter that is easy to learn and nearly impossible to master. There is so much here and only the extensive multiplayer component will ever really give you the chance to explore everything Urban Reign has to offer.