The Takeover

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: ~3 Hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: It's about right for your standard beat 'em up that doesn't have character progression, so it doesn't wear out it's welcome.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased overall. Just disappointed about some parts.
• Why I played: I had heard/looked at this one a few times and Alice just happened to mention liking some of the Beat 'em ups we have played recently while this was on sale 85% off.
• Recommend to others: Sure, if you want a very classic beat 'em up with more modern styling.

The Takeover isn't anything too special, but it's alright. It's a very solid take on the very classic beat 'em ups. There isn't any progression and it's just 7 stages with a couple bonus stages mixed in. Very much Final Fight, a little Streets of Rage. There aren't many fancy combos, but it does a lot while keeping it simple. Standard kick/punches that can be modified by pressing up or down to launch or ground the enemy. Grabs with throws or repeated punches. Dash attacks, jump attacks. "Rage" which is a meter for temporary invincibility and a super that attacks everything on screen. There is also the special that you can use any time but eats health.

I like beat 'em ups, but one thing I never loved is the universal special that eats health. I would be fine if it was just a specific characters special move, but I just rarely ever feel like the special that eats health is worth it so I almost never use it, so it feels like a wasted thing. Other than that, my only real complaint about this game is the Bonus Stages - which are super cool, do not even come up in multiplayer. It just entirely skips them. I can easily see how they could be modified for multiplayer, and even if they couldn't. Just let only one person play them. It's fine. Skipping them altogether seems like the worst way to handle it - especially since they are so cool. I feel like some people who maybe only take the chance to play these kinds of games multiplayer may not even be aware of these stages.

That said, I wouldn't have minded more bonus stages like that. I know some people don't like multiple genres within one game. I saw a review that was like "I don't want driving in my fighting game. If I wanted driving, I would play a driving game." but screw them. I like that kind of stuff, a lot.

Oh there is one thing that does kind of set this one apart that I did like. You always have a gun on you, and while you start off stages with no ammo, you can find it pretty easily and whip out a gun by holding the right trigger to fire it any time. There are also some guns and other standard beat 'em up temporary pick-up items, but always having the side-arm was kind of cool.