Streets of Rage 4

Streets of Rage 4 continues a legendary series dating back to the nineties, when Sega defined the beat 'em up genre for home consoles. The original PC and console game was built by studio Dotemu in collaboration with Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games, while the mobile version for iOS and Android was prepared by Playdigious, a studio specializing in bringing more demanding action titles to touchscreens. The player moves through city streets from left to right, beating up gangs of street thugs, collecting special attacks, and combining basic and heavy strikes into longer combos, with a choice of several characters each with a distinct fighting style.

Visually, the game relies on hand-drawn animation that replaced the pixel art of the originals while retaining the recognizable character of the figures and settings from old Sega. The music was again composed by a team of composers tied to the original trilogy, and the nineties synth motifs are felt at every step. The PC and console release was hailed as a triumphant return of a genre that for years had lived mostly in memories, and the mobile port a year later made it possible to enjoy this beat 'em up celebration outside the living room too.

On mobile it's a paid game with no ads or microtransactions, controlled via an on-screen virtual joystick and buttons or a connected gamepad. Playdigious has experience with similar conversions and the port runs smoothly, though beat 'em ups in general demand precise, fast input that a physical controller handles better than thumbs on glass.

Why play: For old-school beat 'em up fans who want to experience Streets of Rage on the go too - ideally with a connected controller, since fast combos control a bit worse on touch buttons.