Streets of rage
The retro collections keep coming, and in today’s episode we have a duo of games from Core Design. For those not familiar with their work, they were extremely prolific in the 90s and early 2000s. They worked on just about everything from shooters to their most famous work, Tomb Raider. The Fighting Force games have an interesting history. The first one was originally a template for a new Streets of Rage game that was rejected and then turned into its own thing. The second game, well we will get to that. This is another bare bones Limited Run Games jam but revisiting them was certainly interesting.
This collection continues the trend of the lesser-advertised LRG collections. Booting it up treats players to a simple menu with the two games selectable. There are a couple of CRT filters and sharpening effects. The emulator reminds me a lot of the one Sony uses for PlayStation classics on the PS5 with a timeline for rewinds and save states. The one big update though is that the controls have been reworked. This is one area I really appreciate what Limited Run Games does with these collections. They really do make the games playable by today’s standards. 3D games of that era really were a struggle to play.
MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $14.99
Now for the games themselves. The first Fighting Force was more of a curiosity than an actual classic. It is the most non-offensive beat ‘em up. The characters retain their Streets of Rage inspirations with the main, standard guy, one big burly tank, and two women with similar move styles. There are weapons to pick up, a small sampling of special moves, and that is about it. The structure is familiar with a room full of baddies that must be taken down before moving to the next repetitive arena. It is simple, fun in small bursts, but not much else. The combat isn’t deep, the campaign isn’t long, and it was more a novelty to revisit than anything else.
The second game is where things go downhill. Fighting Force 2 was a huge departure from the original. It came out when games were trying to be more than they needed to be. It is less of a beat ‘em up and more of an action game with awful tank-adjacent controls. This is the most generic action game, even from that era. Players can punch and shoot enemies, but both are awful. The controls really kill any enjoyment, but even if they were good, the structure would kill it. It is literally collect cards to open doors, kill enemies, rinse and repeat. It is extremely mundane and boring. Even revisiting it I struggled to play more than 30 minutes. It is just one of the worst games I have ever played. It was bad back then, today it was just an embarrassment.
Visually neither game is going to stand out. The first game was neat at the time it was released because there were not a lot of beat ‘em ups in 3D. The models hold up alright, and the amount of color keeps it from being drab. I appreciate that the frame rate is now solid and the sharpening of the pixels definitely helps. The second game is a total eyesore. Even when it released its limited color palette and uninspired factory setting is just depressing. Truly the second game drags down this collection and I think it would have been better just to focus on the original and just add more stuff.
Speaking of extras…there ain’t much. Some images and the aforementioned filters and save state/rewinds. That is it. No commercials, history, or anything else. It is clear what games Limited Run Games spends more time on, and this one ain’t it.
In the end the Fighting Force Collection is more of a curiosity than a compilation of classics. Some people have nostalgia for the first game, it was decent. The second game, however, should have remained forgotten. Core Design started strong and ended with a whimper and I would rather remember them for titles like Tomb Raider and Soulstar, and not the travesty that is Fighting Force 2.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
