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Urban Reign is one of those rare titles that seems, at
least as far as its target audience is concerned, to have gotten in
quite a kafuffle about its market positioning. Offering itself at
one  time as another attempt at the Scrolling Beat-‘Em-Up genre for
the 21st Century, and then again as a rival - and
technically-crafted ingenuity successor – to the brawling
take-downs of EA’s crafty Wrestler, the Def Jam series, it
appears that NAMCO’s exercises in Arcade production for the home
console have gotten SONY in a bit of a flutter. With the title’s E3
2005 Preview Code insisting on remaining distinctly average, and
the release being billed as an also-ran by both the US and Japanese
press, the confusion couldn’t have helped matters too much.
But SONY, NAMCO and Urban Reign have put all this
behind them now, as today (3rd February, 2006) the game
launches in Europe – where much of the title’s fumblings have
managed to have been swept-under-the-rug before anyone noticed –
as part of SONY’s Fire It Up Campaign, and comes
well-stocked to a hungry market.
With the nature of the title becoming little more than a
boast about it’s completeness for Europe, the tag-lines “100 Levels” and “60 Characters” are
actually quite diminishing to the title. Yes, there are plenty of
characters to choose from, and the Story Mode does run through one
hundred Levels, however, this does little to accentuate the
personality of Urban Reign. Each Level consists of one fight
with either a single or preset amount of enemies. Mission variety comes in the form of differing objectives; from taking down
one specific enemy, to taking them all out, to completing the Mission
with a set time-limit. Once a small amount of progression has been
made, the title opens-up a little and provides the player with
multiple Mission options, however the effect this has on the game is
minimal, as each Mission will still require completion to continue.
Flowing through from Mission to Mission is an easy pastime which can feel both rewarding and soul-destroying
at once, a trudge through a sea of gold as you see countless numbers
and objectives fly by.
Progressing
further reaps your own reward, as the title adds spice to the mix of
what most of the Grand Theft Auto generation gamers may
unduly consider repetitive play. As the game begins to unveil
itself, later Missions involve team-battles, with a small amount of
tactical commands at your disposal, and the ability to switch
between each team member and to perform tag-moves. After each Level
you are awarded a set amount of Ability Points which can be used to
upgrade one of several attributes, separated into Offensive and
Defensive Abilities, however, in team-battles, whichever character
you choose to play as, only the lead will receive his Ability
Points. With the first twenty-or-so Missions acting is little more
than an introduction; a chance to get used to the wholly  inventive
combat system, the difficulty curve appears as almost ludicrous;
some battles against a single fighter in the first handful of Levels
will prove more taxing than a Level twenty brawls later against a
gang of five.
Not
wanting to rely on its competitors’ achievements, Urban Reign
features just one attack button. Circle offers your basic Strike,
while Triangle controls Grapples, Square delivers Dodges/Deflections
and the X Button executes a sprint. Deflecting an enemies attack
will often line you up for a perfect Grapple. A context-sensitive
press of the Triangle Button when between two enemies will allow you
to perform an attack on both simultaneously and, when another
team-mate is nearby, perform a tag-move such as a hefty throw, or
holding the opponent while your partner beats them. Grappling a
downed opponent will see you pounce upon them and repeatedly smack
their face, and Grappling from the rear is almost irreversible.
Pushing both Triangle and Circle will execute a special attack, or
SPA. There’s a variety of SPAs that can be learnt through
progression and offer the instant “Cool!” factor that both Enter
The Matrix and The Matrix: Path Of Neo seem to have
chosen over substance.
The
variety of moves on offer is perceived well and has clearly been
influenced by NAMCO’s other Beat-‘Em-Up productions, Tekken and
Soul Calibur II; reinforced by the appearance of two of the
regulars from Tekken’s roster. Each attack option has been
divided by three target options; Head, Upper Body and Lower Body,
each of which you can opt to upgrade as one of your Defensive
Abilities. A fourth placement for presses of the Circle Button
without tilting the Analogue Stick is simply randomised between the
available moves similar to that seen in Tekken 5 – a
compliment to the venture the clearly spawned the ambition for a
project such as Urban Reign; perhaps even representing the
evolution of the idea behind Death By Degrees.
The
use of weapons – liberally splattered around later Levels in the
Story Mode, whilst simply an option on the Menu for Multi-Player
gaming  – interactive Arenas and a cunningly executed and reliable
control system regard Urban Reign as one of those rarest of
breeds: a new game on a modern system that truly feels like a
16-bit release. Not out-dated, nor unresponsive – simply
effortless in its presentation from game-to-gamer - an exceptional
treat these days that’s toughened by a support of modern gaming
ideals.
The
quality of Urban Reign is reflected in its graphical prowess.
No bugging, no poorly attempted effects and no showing-off. The
PlayStation2 is competent enough to produce such a standard
regularly, but is often flawed due to over-ambitious production
values. Each Character Model appears crisp and well presented, and
the surrounding areas, although varying in scale, are very detailed
thanks to their brief nature. Much like the Xbox360’s Condemned,
Urban Reign excels simply because it was confident enough to
look very, very good, without ever needing to push boundaries. The
sound is also very well presented, seemingly able to transcend 
social boundaries and deliver “cool” to a wide variety of people
through the use of the titles’ Soundtrack. Featuring Rock, Pop,
Rap, Hip-Hop and Dance and pretty much anything you can think of
with a “phat” bass-line, anyone with a regard for modern music
is likely to at least accept the offering, if not nod their
head-along.
As
a modern interpretation of the Scrolling Beat-‘Em-Up genre, much
like God Of War, Urban Reign has succeeded in remixing
the formula for a new generation of hardware and gamers. However,
due to the nature of the title it can feel incredibly limited - much
like a Wrestling game where the Arena is in place of the Ring and
featuring a much less substantial command-quota – it appears as
though the confusion with the title’s marketing has spawned from
the game’s internal frustration with its own heritage. Urban
Reign isn’t unique, but its uniquely crafted art puts it ahead
in its league, including recent entries such as Beat Down: Fists
Of Vengeance and The Warriors and that in itself is
enough of a reward.
 
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