Hard Streets 

Reviewed by: DeathDude

Positive Points: Nice music
Easy to pick up and play

Negative Points: No real story
High difficulty
Time limit

Genre: Arcade

Size:  5,116 KB

Requirements: Windows

Questionable Content: 13+ Violence, Blood

Editor rating: 3.7

Homepage: http://www.parkproductions.btinternet.co.uk/index.htm

Download location: http://www.parkproductions.btinternet.co.uk/hds.htm

When an evil corporation for some reason wants to cause trouble as most corporations in video games do, they always have something planned. In this case, the Viper Corporation is doing well something evil obviously, because that is where our hero comes in, to beat up the thugs of this corporation and shut them down once and for all. So a simple premise right? Well it is never easy for one hero against a bunch of thugs but that will not stop him from trying. In Hard Streets, you take on the role of our nameless hero who has to stop the Viper Corporation for some mysterious reason that is never revealed awesome stuff. The game though is very easy to pick up and play and has some great music, but with no real back-story and some high difficulty, it will be a challenge to be the hero.

With no story to go on all we know is that the Viper Corporation. Which is obviously evil has to be stopped and with it's shall we say hire a goon program of sorts, they will protect the interests of the corporation. Which is where our hero who decides to take it upon himself to save the day will battle through these thugs and of course the bosses in each level to be the hero and get all the glory? Well or something along those lines. 

The game overall is easy to pick up and play, move with the directional keys and use the z button to do your attacks. Using a combination of the direction pad and the z key you can create other moves and inflict pain on your enemy that way. This is all explained in the read me file so you should give it a read to see some of the moves. The music that was chosen I thought was used very well for this sort of game. The music does not get in the way and flows with the action on screen, nicely done in this regard have to say.

However with the lack of story it really hurts the game I feel, even in this sort of beat em up type of game, least something to go on. Like maybe, the corporation is selling drugs, or weapons or something of that nature. As well, the difficulty of some of the enemies in game can really be difficult, most are the same sprite, and use the same sorts of moves. However, some have the tendency to be cheap and knock you right back down when you are hit down the first time, very annoying. Finally, the time limit that was used is very annoying I found. It sometimes causes you to rush because certain amount of enemies you have to beat before you get to the boss and if you slack off you could run out of time. It may add to the challenge but in my opinion seems a bit short for certain levels. 

Still if you are a fan of this sort of type of game. Then you should give this one a try and see for yourself. It's called Hard Streets and trust me the title does not lie.