izigame.me

The Best Double Dragon Ever; Period.
This is the Double Dragon game that I've been waiting for forever. After Double Dragon II, the franchise fell into quite a long slump. The vast majority of the games following The Revenge were either outright trash (DD III Arcade version; DD V Shadow Falls; DD II WOTD), mediocre or flawed in some regard (DD III NES version: Super Double Dragon; DD Neo Geo), or obscure/semi-obscure regurgitations of the first game (DD Advance; DD Zeebo; the various mobile phone versions etc.)
Double Dragon Neon was the first legitimately great entry in the franchise in a ridiculously long time. However, gameplay wise it did not quite feel like a Double Dragon game in terms of the feel of the combat, lack of grappling, etc. Nevertheless it was a step in the right direction and a shot in the arm of fresh ideas and production values that the franchise desperately needed. Which made the utterly baffling decision of making the follow-up game, Double Dragon IV, into a glorified ROM hack all the more infuriating.
But now, they've finally nailed it.
Firstly, the combat just feels so right. The hits have just the right amount of weight to them, and the unique timings and wind ups for the various characters make for a unique experience with each one. Grappling being back (i.e. grabbing, and kneeing and throwing, etc.) was critical for me, and does not disappoint! What I especially love the most is the ability to chain multiple Special Moves together consecutively and within normal combos, depending on how much super stock and super stock enhancing inventory power ups you have.
And I can't forget to mention the innovative tag system. I've never seen this done before, to my knowledge, in another beat 'em up, and it adds all the more freshness and uniqueness to this Double Dragon entry. Being able to play and switch between two characters creates so many interesting possibilities. Whether it is as simple as tagging out to allow your primary character to recover their health after taking a beating. Tagging out to interrupt an enemy combo, or tagging in to extend a combo that you are already in the middle of. Not to mention the novelty of being able to alternate between two completely different playstyles, depending on what the situation calls for
Speaking of inventory power ups, the end of stage power ups are varied and have concrete effects on how you play and approach the game from a strategic manner. Do you want to fit out your team to be brute force bruisers? Do you want to have safety nets installed in the event that things go sour for your play through? Do you just want to disregard any power ups whatsoever and just focus on getting more money for continues or tokens for buying unlockables like the numerous additional characters, artwork, tips and music? You can do it all and more!
Finally, the game's stage progression design is absolutely genius in terms of drawing you back in to play again and again and again. The game, on normal standard difficulty, should take you about 2ish hours, give or take, to complete. A perfectly fine length for a modern beat 'em up. But what really gets you to play repeatedly long after, other than the voluminous unlockables is how the game changes depending on what order you play stages in.
Whatever gang boss you start at, you will have one stage to complete. But the following boss will then have two stages for you to complete. The 3rd and Final gang bosses afterwards will have three stages each to complete. Since you won't see all three stages of each boss, depending on what order you play them in, on the first go, you absolutely have to play through multiple times in multiple different ways in order to see the entire game! And the difficulty changes depending on what order you go in. In other words, play Lady Okada's stage first, and she will be an absolute push over. Play her stage last, and she becomes borderline final boss material.
In terms of constructive criticism and room for improvement, I have only a couple of observations. First, I think they should implement more i-frames when one executes their Special Moves with a character. Sometimes I found myself executing Special Moves, only to get knocked out of said moves by enemies performing attacks that just came off as unfair.
Second, I hope that in a future patch/DLC/etc. that they implement a training mode, that allows you to practice and experiment with moves and combos for the various characters. A survival mode would be nice as well. Also looking forward to online co-op play.
On a final note, to those who are put off by the game's art direction, I ask that you would give it a fair shot. I too had some misgivings about the aesthetics of the game sprites, but once I watched, and then got deeply into the excellent top tier gameplay, all of those concerns melted away and are non-existent now.
After so many years of so many franchise missteps, I feel like how I imagine Cubs or Red Sox fans felt after the end of the many decades of going without a World Series championship win. Yes, it's that good.
The Best Double Dragon Ever; Period.