Ah, one of the most famous teams in video game history returns on a new mission, similar to many of its old ones - but that's okay; they are known for that sort of thing. Who do I mean? Why, Billy and Jimmy Lee, or the double dragon brothers as they sometimes are known. They are back again to stop evil and rescue Marian from a mysterious boss. (Ooh, scary, the mysterious boss they have not faced before!) Well it may not be new, but still this new title in the Double Dragon series is done very nicely all around. Great action, good music that will remind you of the older titles and easy controls make Fists of Rage a title to check out.

As in many of the past stories, Marian has been kidnapped and it is up to the Billy and Jimmy to rescue her again. How she keeps getting into trouble and getting herself kidnapped so frequently is beyond me, but at any rate it would have been nice to have a more original plot. But this is Double Dragon, after all. Asking for Double Dragon without a kidnapped Marian would be like asking for a Mario game without having to save the princess.

As you shall find, the game is a good conversion of past Double Dragon titles; everything from the moves to the scenes you will see is very similar. There are some changes and additional enemy sprites and backgrounds, but they fit into the Double Dragon world very nicely. The controls are also easy: Moves are shown in the options menu, and a beginner's tutorial shows you how to do some of the more advanced moves (very nice that the developer included this). Finally, most of the tunes have been taken from the previous Double Dragon games, which makes sense, because a collection of new tunes might not have fit a Double Dragon game. You can play alone or with a friend, either on the same keyboard or with a gamepad, so that the two of you can fight together and defeat everything in your way.

As with most side scrolling beat 'em ups, the enemies can be cheap in this game, and the game employs a bizarre damage calculation for both enemies and your character. It may seem pretty cool when you see it in action against the enemies. However, when you are the one taking the hits, you'll see why it's a bit off; it may take as few as 2-3 hits to lose a life.

Nevertheless, this was a very nice Double Dragon title, and if you're a fan of the series, you should definitely check out Double Dragon - Fists of Rage.