The Karate Kid: Street Rumble Review – Not Quite the Best Around, But Pretty Good

As a die-hard fan of the original Karate Kid trilogy who’s been through more VHS tapes than I care to remember, The Karate Kid: Street Rumble has truly stolen my heart! This game is like a time machine, whisking me back to the arcades of my youth, where I would spend hours perfecting my high kicks and uppercuts.

In “The Karate Kid: Street Rumble”, you won’t find Daniel LaRusso’s Cobra Kai comeback. Instead, it’s a traditional 2D scrolling fighting game that sticks faithfully to the original three Karate Kid films. It’s got such an old-school vibe, as if it were an arcade machine from the early ’90s, honoring the martial arts film trilogy with characters like Johnny Lawrence, John Kreese, Chozen Toguchi, and Terry Silver. This game is a tribute to classic brawlers and The Karate Kid movies, and surprisingly enough, it’s quite enjoyable.

The storyline kicks off as Daniel transfers from New Jersey to LA, where he encounters bullies almost immediately. Instead of walking the streets of Reseda, he’s seen taking down a diverse group of thugs. The action is swift and instinctive, setting a powerful tone. You don’t necessarily have to control Daniel; characters like Mr. Miyagi, his love interests Ali Mills (from Karate Kid 1) and Kumiko (who uses a pair of fans in Part II), each with their unique moves and styles, are also playable. This opens up opportunities for exploration.

Choosing to frequently switch among characters in a game might lead to each one advancing independently, making it more advantageous to stay with the character you prefer, as this allows for earning XP and unlocking bonuses such as extra lives or augmentations to your special move gauge. What makes Street Rumble unique is that enemies deplete your Focus Bar (which is your special move meter) before damaging your health directly. This implies that using signature special attacks involves a decision between risk and reward.

As a martial arts enthusiast, should I go all out and throw in some high-flying crane kicks or fiery fireballs to handle the crowd, knowing it might deplete my energy reserves for health? Or do I play it safe and stick with traditional moves? The Focus Bar increases as I attack, which means aggression is rewarded. Each level presents unique challenges that offer bonus XP when defeated using specific moves, encouraging a varied combat style. In between the twelve stages, mini-games provide additional opportunities to enhance my character. Overall, it’s a fantastic homage to those iconic 1980s Karate Kid movies, although I wish they had included more accurate character likenesses.

Static images connecting the story are jarring, and only serve to highlight the dodgy likenesses. You can get away with it when it comes to the in-game pixel art – Daniel-san, Miyagi, Johnny, Ali, Kumiko, Chozen et al. look close enough to their cinematic counterparts when you’re brawling your way through the All Valley Tournament or kicking Johnny off his bike on Topanga Beach, but the bookending artwork simply doesn’t fit. It doesn’t matter all that much, however, as the core gameplay is solid enough to see you through to the end.

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble isn’t quite on par with games like Streets of Rage 4 or River City Girls, but it still offers a robust and enjoyable scrolling beat ’em up experience. It incorporates a touch of role-playing game elements, along with some fun mini-games reminiscent of the movies (such as catching flies, crane training, and Terry Silver’s challenging button-mashing ‘No Mercy Lesson’). The game offers various difficulty levels, and additional modes to extend play, including Arcade Mode, Boss Rush Mode, Endless Mode, and the option to play mini-games outside of the main storyline.

The cherry on top is local co-op for up to four players, which proves every bit as chaotic and fun as you’d hope. There are niggles, of course, such as not being able to quickly turn around to face an enemy behind you during a combo, or, indeed, execute an attack to hit an enemy behind you. Consequently, it can feel a tad treacly when you’re surrounded and unable to dash onward. You can’t pick up weapons or objects either, and it can, at times, feel quite repetitive. Regardless, The Karate Kid: Street Rumble gets things mostly right, even if, despite its various extra modes, there’s not a huge amount of replay value, especially for its $40/£35 price tag. If you love The Karate Kid films, and are craving a decent beat ’em up, then this is just the job. And easily the best Karate Kid game around.

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2024-09-20 15:12