Marvel Cosmic Invasion

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Spoiler Free Review: Yeah.
• Time Played: 4-5 Hours
• Partners: Alice, Taylor, Brandon
• Too Short/Long: Pretty standard for a beat 'em up.
• Soundtrack: I honestly do not remember. Maybe because of all the sound effects of playing a 4 player beat 'em up. There were definitely some of the Marvel queues but overall I think it was just generic video game soundtrack.
• Why I played: I play beat 'em ups and this one was pretty noteworthy, harkening back to the olden days of Marvel beat 'em ups.
• Did I cry: No.
• Jank: At launch there was an issue where the player who paused the game couldn't navigate their own move list menu, only player one could. They fixed that. There were a couple times the game didn't recognize we needed to progress and were worried we were going to have to restart, thankfully falling into a pit helped that through. A couple other minor things like that.
• Difficulty: Pretty normal, and plenty of ways to adjust it. As far as playing in the standard modes it was mostly easy enough, we only failed a level once and there were only a couple player deaths beyond that.
• Recommend to others: Honestly, not really. It was fine, but there are so many other beat 'em ups worth your time more than this one. If you're absolutely starved for beat 'em ups or just too much of a sucker for Marvel stuff, sure, it's fine, but that's all it is.
  

Marvel Cosmic Invasion looks like a pretty cool game and that's the most impressive part about it. It looks cool, it looks new and fresh while also looking nostalgic, but it's a little too nostalgic as it's pretty much a standard fare beat-em up of the 90s, albeit with better hit detection.

There are two attack buttons, guard/dodge, jump/fly, and special. Not too bad, nothing super special, but there is so variety in that some characters are guard characters and some are dash, and some are capable of flying.

Double Dragon Revive

• Genre: Beat 'em Up
• Spoiler Free Review: Not much to spoil.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: Pretty standard for a beat 'em up. I would have been happy with more though, it certainly didn't feel like a slog thus far.
• Soundtrack: Some of the tracks are really good, but it's hard to mess up the standard Double Dragon fare. It doesn't do much to set itself apart though.
• Why I played: I like the beat 'em ups.
• Did I cry: Nah.
• Jank: It's a little janky. The controls and feel of the game are generally pretty fun, and you'd think being 3D as opposed to sprites might fix some alignment stuff many beat 'em ups are plagued with, and it does. But it just has different alignment issue instead. Some relating to range, some just with the graphics depth perception. Outside that, they wanted to include some gimmicks in levels, but they're generally kind of janky. Not entirely failures, but they could have cooked a little longer. There was also once or twice we had to restart a mission or do some weird awkward stuff because of glitches.
• Difficulty: Mostly pretty standard, and what you should expect, with a couple difficulty spikes that seem unreasonable. A mid-game boss was probably the hardest boss fighter, and the second hardest is one it just throws too much on screen at once and there is little way for you to avoid it. Usually it's best in these games if you get some kind of invincibility frames after being hit, even if it's just recoil, but nah, you get juggled pretty badly.
• Recommend to others: Despite the jank and difficulty spikes, it was a very fun game overall. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of beat 'em ups, just maybe not at the 35 dollar launch price. Feels more like a 25 dollar game tops that you maybe wait for a sale for around 15 if it's not your top priority.

Feels weird that it's called "Revive" when the last Double Dragon game was just two years ago, and there wasn't a key element of revival in the story. It's in no way a big reboot of the series. It's not the first game in a long time, it's not the first 3d game, it doesn't make super major changes to the game play. I'm not sure why it's called Revive. Maybe the devs thought they were doing more than they did?

What is cool, and a great addition, is how much of the environment is interactable. Throwing enemies into objects, kicking chairs at enemies, vaulting over object, jumping off walls - all great additions to make a beat 'em up more dynamic. Some of it could have been a little less janky in execution or less ambiguous whether it would work or not, but overall pretty cool, and that's probably part of what kept the gameplay feeling fresh and why I would have liked to have seen more. I would have even liked to have seen more gimmick stages - if they were a little better executed, but overall I don't have many complaints in the design and probably would have been happier with another hour or two of levels. Also there is a character who I felt like should have clearly been unlockable, and I'm mad he wasn't. Not that I'm complaining too much, because I loved playing Marian and Alice was pretty happy with Junsuo Ranzo.

It's only two players, and might have been a little too chaotic for 4 players, but I can't help but wonder... ideally the game comes out with an update to fix some of the jank, add that other character (or two), 4 player mode, and an extra stage or two and we can pop it back in for another go.

Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Spoiler Free Review: Yeah, though I don't really think there is anything to spoil, either.
• Time Played: 3 Hours
• Partners: Alice, Taylor, Brandon
• Too Short/Long: It feels about right for a more or less standard beat 'em up.
• Soundtrack: While there are some really good Power Rangers tracks, it's not doing anything too special with them. 
• Pleased/Disappointed: A little bit of both, I had fun with it and am glad it existed, but it wasn't all that ambitious.
• Why I played: I love the Power Rangers franchise and the timing of this release was really perfect, following my personal Power Ranger Renaissance era.
• Did I cry: Only because of how bad I was at at Megazord combat.
• Recommend to others: It's hard for me to actually recommend it. There are many better beat 'em ups. But there aren't many better Power Rangers games, so it's fun having some... not bad Power Ranger content.

Rita's Rewind kind of pulled a 180° on me. I was pretty hype seeing initial trailers and such, and thought this was gonna be the best beat 'em up in years. Better than Shredder's Revenge, maybe even better than River City Girls 2(no hope to be better than the first though). It was not.

It was fine. It was serviceable, and there is some fun stuff in there for Power Ranger fans. But it's not gonna blow anyone away. It's more or less what you'd expect from an older licensed title. More or less standard fair with a Power Rangers coat of paint.

There character don't really control or act differently, they pretty much all have the same exact move sets/stats/handling etc. So who you play is only for aesthetics. The Megazord combat leaves a lot to be desired. It's actually pretty similar to Divine Dynamo Flamefrit which I played not too long ago. Instead you have to chase down your opponent and there is no shooting, so it grows a little tiring. Maybe this actually would have benefitted from playing single player? In multiplayer you alternate turns for the Megazord, and maybe it just took us out of the groove. Still I can't help but feel like they could have mixed up the gimmicks for the different fights.

There are also individual Zord, and motorcycles sequences, so between the 4 different types of gameplay, it does a good job at mixing up the content. It's just all imperfect. I can't help but feel like each aspect is just missing that one thing to make it much better, and there is often too much happening on screen to see what's going on, creating a downward spiral of messing things up.

Still, I had fun with it, even if it could have been a little frustrating and wasn't as inspired as I hoped for.

Battle Circuit

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: ~1 Hour
• Partner: Alice, Taylor, Brandon
• Too Short/Long: Definitely on the short side, but on par for an arcade beat 'em up. You can stand at a cabinet for several hours.
• Pleased/Disappointed: I like it, I think it's a pretty good one.
• Why I played: Needed a warm up game before jumping into the inventory management sim that is Dragon's Crown. Also a palette cleanser after Mayhem Brawler.
• Recommend to others: I wouldn't go out of my way for Battle Circuit, but if you have it via a collection of some kind, as I do, it's worth playing.

I liked Battle Circuit. I think there was some mixed reception among those I played with, but it's not bad for a 90's arcade brawler. I like that it has input combos, and I like that it has upgrades. I just think it would have been neater if there were more input combos and more upgrades. Sometimes there is a bit too much going on screen to really tell what's happening, and sometimes it performs a pretty strong seizure check.

It's pretty quick paced though and general attacks feel good, and there is a diverse cast. I appreciate a lot of beat 'em ups for not just being "Guy 1, Guy 2, Woman".

Mayhem Brawler

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: ~2 Hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: It's fine, maybe a bit short, but there are some branching paths, so you could go back to play the levels you missed out on.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Kinda neutral. It was okay, but didn't really stand out.
• Why I played: It was like 90% off and I just kinda wanted to play a Beat 'em up.
• Recommend to others: Not really, there are better beat 'em ups you can easily get cheap.

Mayhem Brawl is a Beat 'em up. It has a she-wolf character. I don't have much else to say that's positive. It's not a strictly BAD game. It's just kind of lacking. The "live twitter feed" during the story scenes is cute. Game play wise though, it just feels basic and unfortunately not too tight - I had a lot of trouble lining up in the game. Special moves happen almost quicker than you can see them in some cases, making them pretty lackluster in presentation. There isn't really a stand out mechanic or anything special to point out.

That's all I've got to say about that.

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.

Streets of Red: Devil's Dare Deluxe

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: 2+ Hours
• Partner: Alice, Rey, some others a long time ago.
• Too Short/Long: It's about what it needs to be for the kind of game it is.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It's a fun game, and I went back to it after years, so I'm pleased with it.
• Why I played: Picked it up again after just looking for a good game to play three players.
• Recommend to others: Yeah, it's not necessarily the first, or even top few beat 'em ups I'd recommend, but pretty up there.

Originally released as just "Devil's Dare", I had played this a good bit years ago, but didn't finish it to my recollection. Or maybe I did, and I just felt like replaying. I'm not too sure because I originally owned it on Steam. My Steam time says 5+ hours, but I feel like that may have been accidently left open or something, especially considering my 2-3 hours on the Switch version has 3x the amount of in-game achievements unlocked.

Everything is the game is a reference to something else. Many video game references of course, but also a good bit of movie references and just other miscellaneous pop culture references. I don't think the entire Gex series has as many references as this couple hour beat 'em up.

We played with Rey and got the bad ending, not knowing we were going to be asked for a ton of money to get the good ending. Alice and I played a few days later, having a better idea of how to earn and save money and knocked it out. It's a fun little romp if you've knocked out some of the more popular options for beat 'em ups.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons

• Genre: Beat 'em up
• Time Played: 2+ Hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: Overall the game feels too short.
• Pleased/Disappointed: It was fun, pleased on that department, just wish there was more.
• Why I played: No reason other than it was Double Dragon and I needed something different to play than what was already in my rotation.
• Recommend to others: Overall I'd recommend it, with the warning of how short it is for a single run.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is a perfectly serviceable Beat 'em up. It doesn't have the fan service of a game like Shredder's Revenge, and it doesn't have the longevity of River City Girls. It's controls are pretty tight, and I'm glad I can do specials without sacrificing health. There are also a decent selection of characters each with their own special moves to make them fairly unique.

The main problem I have is just, it feels too short. Granted, a lot of old beat 'em ups are only a couple hours long if you can actually get through them, but they're difficult due to either clunkiness or weird hit detection that this game doesn't really suffer from, but it makes them feel much longer because you're likely not going to get through on your first try and have to restart.

While there is an option for it, if you fail, you don't necessarily have to restart if you either have money to revive or tokens to continue, but at least on default settings, this wasn't really a problem for Alice and I. We had a lot of fun with it, but even though there are a bunch of unlockables, there isn't really much of an incentive to continue playing to see more in-game content.

Levels can be longer depending on your order, so I guess it may be worth at least a second play through, playing the opposite level order, just to see some of the areas we may have missed out on, but I think I'll save that for 4 players... is what I would say if it had 4 players. One other glaring flaw is that despite the fact you take 4 characters into battle, and with 1 or 2 players, there is a tag in-out system. There is no option for 4 player. It seems like the game may have potentially been made with the idea of 4 player in mind and for some reason it wasn't implemented. Maybe they thought it was too chaotic on screen? Couldn't balance the difficulty? I don't know but it feels like a missed opportunity.

Other than that, I guess if you're the type of person who likes replaying games just to play them at higher difficulties and get better scores or something, there might be a bit of replay-ability. There are mutators available for your run available from the start, so that's neat, if you like that. I personally don't care about those options too much.