Overall 8.1 Graphics 6.3 Sound 6.3 Addictive 6.3 Story 2 Depth 3.3 Difficulty 6
5.4
Vigilante justice with unanswered questions endings
Renegade is a game of fisticuffs against the various gangs terrorizing the city. You don't know what city; or even the names of the gangs, but they attack you on sight, so there is no quarter given or expected. You are the lone man who takes it upon himself to clean up the streets. Wearing your finest brown pants and vest, you start clobbering gang members until you face off with their boss, mano-a-mano. The fighting controls take a bit getting used to, as you can kick or punch, but the buttons actually choose which side you are attacking. And attack one can, with jump kicks, grab attacks, even sitting and punching a baddie in the face, quite a bit of moves! You can do a behind attack while facing the opposite direction just by pushing a button - and I think this is one of the first games to feature such a move.
Each of the gangs is detailed differently, and use different weapons. Sadly, these weapons cannot be picked up. The graphics for each gang are fairly good, you can see facial features, especially funny when you stun them and they stand there with mouth agape. The weapons also get a pass, the chain the biker gang uses looks like a chain, but the backgrounds, while fairly detailed, are a little lackluster with a lot of open space. This is especially true in level 4 with its large mostly empty rooms.
There are different songs that play throughout it, from a down and dirty rockabilly theme to a motorcycle chase track. There are some good effect noises; such as when you knock an opponent down, the crunch as you jump kick their nose, and a noise is displayed when an enemy dies - although its hard to define if its a death cry or some odd tone. Regardless, you will appreciate it as your enemies fall.
Renegade is a pretty fun game, but is pretty short, all things said. The enemies do keep coming and try to bait you, or trying to sneak behind or gang up. The balance of the aggressive AI and defensive AI is well done, the battles are the entire game and they are done well. Each enemy killed will send another on screen, until you've killed the whole posse. What I also like is the use of the different stages in defeating foes. You can throw enemies (or knock them back) off ledges or even off a pier! It removes them without a lot of fighting and is key for speed runs. Be careful when trying to set up for such attacks you are not knocked off!
The story I think is the weakest part of the game. You just start the game fists blazing, and all you get for beating a stage is a cryptic Mr. K telling you you're not ready to face him. You find out he's the last boss later, but at the beginning - who is Mr. K? Even the bosses you fight, they all have names and taunts, but you won't hear them unless that boss defeats you. It would add more to the story to hear them first before you tackle their stage. Strangely, this was not done.
The difficulty really boils down to several key things: Getting used to the left-right fighting controls, the difficulty of some of the bosses, and the bizarre challenge of the last stage. The last boss uses a really cheap attack, but I would love to hear the game's explanation for why you might find yourself starting the game over if you take the wrong path. The last stage is so strange, it just doesn't make sense.
All in all, Renegade is a fun throwback fighter from yesteryear that has little depth, secrets, and may not make a lot of sense, but it has satisfying combat, just like a brawler worth its salt would have.
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 07-15-14
Updated: 04-13-17
Review Replies: 1
6
Renegade against who? Ghostbear1111
I found Renegade for the Nintendo Entertainment System while reading an online article about beat-em-up games I should play not named River City Ransom or Double Dragon.
Renegade is an interesting game to play because it is a forerunner of a number of elements to later combat games. Four directional movement, for example, started with the Japanese arcade version of Renegade. The original game, Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, translates into "Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio," which makes it worth playing in the first place. Further reading also indicates Renegade was the first game to introduce enemies who could sustain multiple hits before being defeated.
Renegade on the NES is a below-average game. The player is immediately thrust into the action with no idea of what we're doing here. I'm fighting enemies to rescue someone? Maybe a girlfriend? It's never clear on the objective. The player simply starts fighting everyone in site.
And the computer throws multiple enemies at the player on every map. Maps are limited in scope to just a single setting, a subway station for example, with movement being limited to the edges of the screen. There are often three bad guys to take on at once, one is usually armed with a weapon but takes fewer hits to defeat. The others are unarmed but can hold down the player to allow gang-up beatings. They take more shots to defeat. After the player defeats a number of waves, a final boss shows up and the player then defeats him.
I was bored at first since the AI had the same strategy for players and learning the timing, paired with the button-mashing, made the game easy after the first play-through. Interesting enemies showed up, namely guys on motorcycles who try to run down the player, an enemy with a big knife that defeats the player with one stroke, and towards the end of the game, warps that send the player back levels if they
select the wrong path to take.
The thing that struck me was the controls to the game. There is a A-B jump-kick maneuver available based on the direction the player is facing. But the odd thing is the punches and kicks are simple left and right with B and A. The B button is a directional attack to the left and the A button is a directional attack to the right. No matter which direction you're facing, A always attacks right. Furthermore, if you're facing right, it's a punch. If you're facing left, it's more like a roundhouse kick to the right, making it advantageous to face away from an enemy to kick them. A player can also press the down on the D-pad and squat to continue beating an enemy who is on the ground.
Renegade is an average game. It's ground-breaking in that it led the way for future beat-em-ups and it added a number of elements to the genre. I enjoyed playing the first few levels but it quickly became the same strategy against slightly different sprites for enemies and different backgrounds. The stripped down plot, which is simply "Go fight guys and save your girlfriend" doesn't develop into anything special and allows the player to focus on the action. The action, unfortunately, is mostly button-mashing.
Graphics 6 Sound 5 Addictive 4 Story 2 Depth 3 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 4.7/5
Submitted: 04-07-17
Review Replies: 3
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