Review: Fight’N Rage

destructoid.com:

In recent years, the beat-’em-up, (or brawler, if you would prefer), genre has gone through a major renaissance. What was once confined to the golden coin-op age of the late ’80s and early ’90s — before falling short of expectations come the ’00s — has found itself spraining fingers and cracking wrists once again — led by some bold new IPs and the return of some very familiar faces from the past.

In order to change with the times, these modern titles have been forced to add depth, variety, and longevity to what has mostly been a short-lived, quick-to-fatigue genre. In addition, the characters, worlds, and stories have been fleshed out to offer more context to the knuckle-dustin’ action. And so, whether you’re welcoming back franchises such as Streets of Rage 4 or TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, smashing up the playgrounds of Japan in River City Girls, or exploring new and exciting worlds offered in Mayhem Brawler, Final Vendetta, and Dragon’s Crown. Beat-’em-up fans have it made.

But this renaissance did not, in fact, begin with any of the aforementioned games. It didn’t even begin in the past few years. To look for a moment went the genre was reinvented with a roundhouse of vigor we should go back to September of 2017, and the quiet Steam release of Fight’N Rage, a game that wanted to not only capture the excitement of the games that came before it, but also offer players the excitement and depth expected of modern gaming. And it attempted to do all of the above with a single, solitary developer.

Six years later, Fight’N Rage is ready to do it, all over again, on PS5 and Xbox Series X. It’s a game that is getting up there in years. But, as anyone who has watched the Rocky franchise knows, a true fighter is always ready for