Double Dragon IV Reviews
A Double Dragon for the current generation could have been a great thing, but this semi-revisiting of the franchise's heyday falls way short of the mark.
Double Dragon IV continues the franchise’s legacy with possibly its best home game to date.
But like Capcom did with Mega Man 9 and 10, Double Dragon IV looks and plays like an NES Double Dragon.
This period study of the arcade's formative beat 'em up has its charms, but the sense that this is a game out of time is not easily shaken.
Double Dragon IV feels like the developer Arc System Works discovered an unreleased old NES game and emulated it on PS4. Its graphics, sound, and gameplay are utterly authentic to the period. Unfortunately, so are its cheap shots and frustrating design elements. It's certainly a lot of fun to play for a while, but once its nostalgic novelty wears off, only hardcore retro fans will likely want to come back for more.
Double Dragon IV is a return to the good old days of beat 'em ups that fans may enjoy but it's also a flawed experience that modern gamers will likely be baffled by.
I am certainly not immune to the charms of 80s and 90s game design, but the NES version of Double Dragon wasn’t a great example for Double Dragon 4 to follow. It’s not just that this simplistic beat-em-up formula didn’t age well graphically or mechanically, it’s that it simply isn’t very fun or engaging to play in 2017.
"If the developers were looking to take Double Dragon IV back to the series' roots, great. It's just that the formula does not translate well after nearly thirty years. What was the standard then isn't the standard now. Having enemies who can move faster than you while your stuck with middling delays was not enjoyable in the slightest. The graphics and enemy design choices were nice but a side scrolling beat'em up is hardly judged on those alone. Absolute die-hard fans of the genre or the Double Dragon name may find something to like here, but anyone else should steer clear."
The ‘80s nostalgia is laid on so thick you could almost choke from it, in this joyless proof that too much nostalgia can be a bad thing.
That said, for nostalgia fans, you're right at home. Sadly, this game doesn't even match up to Double Dragon II, which is 28 years older and still holds up. Still, nostalgia will only get you so far. Double Dragon IV definitely had some potential as a throwback to the late 1980's of gaming. Sadly, there's no enough substance to give Jimmy and Billy the return they deserved. I wanted greatness, I got mildly ok. Stick with Double Dragon II, III or even Double Dragon Neon.
Double Dragon IV is, for better or worse, a direct sequel to Double Dragon II. In terms of mechanics, it's practically a carbon copy, but it goes the extra mile by including a number of new moves and enemies. The tower mode and massive selection of unlockable characters are also really nice. However, this game is trapped in an odd limbo. It doesn't do enough to compete with more modern beat 'em ups, and it isn't as iconic as its predecessor. Its appeals to nostalgia don't quite hit the mark. Perhaps the second game gets a little too much credit; some fans probably haven't played it in decades. Comparing a newer entry to fond memories is a little unfair, but maybe more could have been done to make this one really stand out.
Arc System Work's staunch dedication to the retro aesthetic for Double Dragon IV is admirable, but still falls short of the mark even when juxtaposed to several of the series' own entries. Punch and kicking dudes as Billy and Jimmy still works, but many elements of IV just feel a little too off-brand for my liking.
If you’re looking for a true-to-form Double Dragon title, this is it. However, with decades passing since the original and nothing to propel it forward outside of the ancient IP, you may have difficulty finding the fun