Streets of Rage 4 helped breathe new life into beat-em-ups and did so while keeping what made the original series great and revamping the art style as well. While it was a great brawler and in some ways an all-time great in the genre, however, it wasn't perfect. The modern-day sprites and art style were fantastic, but did clash with the 16-bit art used throughout parts of the adventure with hidden boss battles and hidden characters. Gameplay pacing was also a problem as not every character could dash -- resulting in the game feeling archaic compared to even mid-to-late '90s brawlers like Final Fight 3 that made it a standard feature. Mayhem Brawlers aims to provide a very Streets of Rage-like experience with its combat while keeping gameplay speed high.

Streets of Rage had Axel, Adam and Blaze while Final Fight had Haggar, Guy and Cody. Mayhem Brawler has Star, Trouble and Dolphin as its playable head-pounders and each offers up a different feel from one another while still offering up a familiar attack strategy. Trouble is your all-arounder with more speed than most, while Dolphin feels very much like a Final Fight 3-era Haggar in that he's big and loves flying piledrivers -- but he can dart around the screen with ease and has a punishing roll attack that makes him a faster bruiser character than most. He feels like a beat-em-up version of AEW wrestler Brian Cage in that he's far faster than he appears on paper and can decimate foes in seconds. Star is light on her feet and deals out damage with more range.

Each character has a special attack that doesn't take their own health away but instead takes out one of three available "power bars" under their health bar. Star's attacks all around her while Dolphin's can do that but he has an  alternate attack that is just a giant hulking stomp to send foes flying. Trouble busts out claws slice up foes and feels a lot like a taller Wolverine-esque character. Oh yeah, claws -- each character is also mutated in some form. Dolphin is a man/dolphin hybrid while Trouble is part-wolf and Star has telepathic skills that make her feel like this universe's Jean Grey.

Each of them is a blast to use, with Dolphin being a personable favorite when I'm in the mood to just toss people around. The other characters have throw attacks, but his are more pro wrestling-based and as a wrestling fan, he's my main. Trouble is the most fun to use when you're in the mood to just slice and dice folks quickly and he makes mince meat out of large groups. Star is going to be better-suited for those who get used to the timing of enemy patterns as you have to make all of her shots count, although her area special attack does cover more ground than the others' do. Enemy pattern learning is a big key to success here more than other brawlers due to how many ranged enemies you'll do battle with and their ability to hide behind cover.

There's more strategy to the action in Mayhem Brawler as a result and it requires being more careful with how the player approaches each screen. In some games, you can just brute force your way through everything -- but not here. Many enemies attack with guns from behind barrels while other goons attack, leading the player into a tough spot. Do you take out the goons first or focus on the long-range foes first? The answer usually depends on how much health you have left, if you have lives left and how many of them are remaining. A continue in the mainline game just resets your stage progress, but playing in the unlockable no-continue arcade modes is a whole other ball of wax.

It's generally better to take out ranged foes first since they can pick your health apart and leave you with a screen filled with foes and no health pickups to rely on. Enemies with guns can overwhelm the screen easily and it's even worse in the later-game when foes can both teleport and also form telekentic guns -- so they're hard to hit and easy to get hit by. Bulky foes are actually some of the easiest to take out since they have longer windup animations and often leave themselves wide open for attack. Bosses are intimidating, but beatable when their goons don't swarm the player from all sides. Each one looks different and feels like a different challenge -- making them fun to learn and rewarding to topple.

Smaller enemies are sometimes tougher to beat since they're so quick and none of the characters excel at long-range combat without guns. The weapon selection in Mayhem Brawler is impressive -- with an array of short-range and long-range weaponry. Melee items include knives, cleavers, batons,and bats while guns include pistols and SMGs, enabling foes to be mowed down with relative ease if there aren't a ton of them. If the screen is filled up, then you'll probably take a couple out from afar before getting up close and personal with the rest. Outside of the enemies that hide behind barrels, there are no enemies that are just outright cheap and the game doesn't rely on insta-kill or instant-damage traps at any point -- which is a godsend for someone who grew up with arcade brawlers nickel and diming your health whenever possible.

One thing that Mayhem Brawler does better than most entries in the genre is keeping environments fresh thanks to its branching paths -- which also show off more of the in-game world with a different cast of characters. Going from one path to another gives the player a chance to make their character more ruthless or kinder. All of the characters we use have a bond to some degree with the bosses they fight and you can choose to run them to jail or be nice to them and give them second chances to change the in-game path. The between-stage cutscenes are cool and feature a Twitter-like timeline to help the in-game world feel more connected and real -- to the point where this would be cool to see as a comic series down the line. The look and feel of everything would be at home in an Image Comic in 1995.

The stages vary from subways to cool areas that aren't seen often like parks during the day and even a TV show set. Thankfully, tropes like endless elevator sections are avoided and it helps the game feel fresher. Having three player co-op is cool, but it's a shame to see it as local-only. Hopefully as time goes on, we'll see online play added in. Mayhem Brawler controls like a dream and the button layout is logical and there's no input lag. Playing on a regular controller feels natural and playing on the go with the Switch is fun -- and the split d-pad design on that platform allows things like double-tap dashes to be done a bit faster than on a normal controller.

Visually, Mayhem Brawler takes cues from Streets of Rage 4 but does a fine job of standing out thanks to the comic book art style used throughout the game itself and the cutscenes. Character animation is smooth and strikes that fine balance between looking great and not taking up so much time as to result in taking a beating while trying to dish one out due to too many frames being used. The environments all look fantastic, with rich color being used in every stage -- enabling the supernatural elements like mind control and shape-shifting to carry a bit more weight since they're happening in a plausible in-game world. The environmental diversity is impressive and made better by the branching paths.

Mayhem Brawler's soundtrack is sadly its weakest overall point. For a genre known for legendary tunes, the rock-heavy OST is fine, but never quite gets over the hump of being memorable. It's fine to listen to in the moment, but none of it sticks with you after a play session. Thankfully, the rest of the sound design is strong and helps make up for that shortcoming. Each main character's attacks sound diffeent, with Dolphin's being the loudest, Star's being the softest and Trouble's featuring a slicing and dicing effect that furthers the Wolverine vibes in just the right way. Each weapon also sounds different -- so taking out a foe with a knife versus a cleaver offers up a different attack strategy and a different sound effect to help convey the individual damage done by each strike.

Closing Comments:

Mayhem Brawler is a top-notch beat-em-up that delivers far more variety and fun than most entries in the genre. Even compared to heavy hitters like Streets of Rage 4, Mayhem delivers faster-paced action alongside a degree of stage variety that's rarely seen. The diversity in the playable cast's styles helps them each feel different, while the slick animation and comic-inspired art look sharp in-game and in cutscenes. The soundtrack is rock-heavy and good, but not on-par with the titans of the genre. The sound design, however, is strong and better than most other brawlers. Mayhem Brawler is a must-buy for anyone craving something that combines the look of Streets of Rage 4 with the faster feel of a Final Fight game.