The Karate Kid Street Rumble Review (PS5)
Summary: A fun if basic brawler that fans of the Karate Kid and Cobra-Kai material are bound to enjoy.
3.5
just like grape
The Karate Kid: Street Rumble is the latest plucky upstart to attempt to crane kick its way to the top of the sprite-based brawler pile. Although It may not be the best around this bright and breezy retro brawler doesn’t let anything keep it down. Retelling the events of the first two Karate Kid movies via the medium of static cut scenes and blunt force trauma. Street Rumble feels like a forgotten arcade game from a time when pretty much every pop cultural phenomenon from the Turtles to The Simpsons was taking to the streets. Fighting their way through the mean streets of Reseda California, players take on the role of stylised versions of Daniel, Mr. Miyagi, Ali, and Kimiko. Each hero has their own fighting style and fits the roles you expect from a basic brawler, Daniel is the jack of all trades, Miyagi is the oddball, Ali is the high-kicking speedy one, and Kimiko is the heavy hitter.
Attacks are divided into light and heavy, with more damage dealt if you hold down the heavy attack button. Light attacks can also be strung into heavy attacks and you can also grab and throw enemies if you need to do a little crowd control There are also dashes, dodges, and devastating signature moves unleashed with the tap of a button once your focus meter is filled. It’s a fairly robust but familiar system and if you’ve played a brawler in the last thirty years you’ll know exactly what to expect, though the ability to use any kind of weapon is slightly disappointing, thematically it makes sense.
The cleverest part of the tight brawling though is the element of risk vs reward introduced via the focus meter itself. As you deal damage to enemies you build up the gauge, but if you take damage it decreases, essentially acting like a shield before your life bar gets chewed through. However, you also sacrifice a section of your focus meter whenever you use a signature move. This adds a little extra tactical layer to proceedings as you need to balance whether you can push the attack enough to rebuild your focus to keep you safe after unleashing your heaviest attack.
Though beating a path through Street Rumbles is fairly straightforward, its 12 main stages are broken up by the occasional mini-game based on Daniel’s training regime like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks or balancing on a groyne as the tide turns. They’re all simple but fun asides that stop the game feeling too repetitive and add some pivotal scenes from the movies in a clever, interactive, way.
The presentation is excellent and Odaclick has smartly recreated the world of Karate Kid in a way that makes Street Rumble look and feel like a Saturday morning cartoon spin-off that time forgot.
The main characters and bosses are charming and well-animated (even if most of them are Johnny Lawrence), while the rank-and-file enemies are varied and pose a decent level of challenge as they pile onto the screen.
The same can’t be said for the static cutscenes which are the low point of the game recreating scenes from the film in a way that just looks a little cheap and you wonder why they didn’t just stick with the same stylised pixel art used during play.
Reseda is fairly well realised and the sunny suburb is recreated in the bright hues you’d expect from an early 90s brawler from a party at the beach to the finals of the All Valley Karate Tournament. Each level gets more hectic, involved, and exciting as you move through them. The arcade stage in particular is one of the best I’ve seen and being able to trash the machines is always welcome.
Each stage also has a trio of objectives to complete such as defeating five enemies with a signature attack or making it through the stage without taking any damage. These boost your XP a little, helping your character reach higher levels adding extra hits to your combos and segments to your focus meter.
It’s a shame that the UI is plain and often you’ll pull off a huge combo and the game barely registers that you’ve done anything. Where are the big bright letters slamming against the screen when you reach 100 hits? Instead a tiny meter ticks by on the focus meter that just says great when the the combo ends. Give us some pomp and spectacle guys.
Karate Kid: Street Rumble may not be the most high-octane brawler out there, but it is still great to see the series finally get a game adaptation that’s worth playing through and fans of the movies (like myself) are bound to enjoy battling Cobra Kai for a few hours with a few buddies (though only in couch co-op)
Final Thoughts
The Karate Kid: Street Rumble is a well-crafted and enjoyable adaptation that fans of the movies and Cobra Kai TV series are bound to enjoy thanks to the clever ways that developer Odaclick, has managed to translate scenes from the films into fab set pieces and boss battles.
For everyone else though, it’s a fun but basic belt brawler that’s fun while it lasts but doesn’t have much to draw you back once Johnny has hit the mat for the final time.
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