The beat-em-up seems to be making a comeback in 2005. I would say that's a good thing, but let's take a look at the contenders real quick. You have Capcom's Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance, a mostly forgettable brawling affair that should be hitting discount price any day now (review forthcoming); you have the forthcoming Final Fight Streetwise, which could have potential but blew a lot already on the fact that it's more adult-related than the arcade original and also relies on a single-player approach; Sega released Spikeout for the Xbox, a game that had some appeal but drowned it out in ridiculous difficulty and a short length; and then you have Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, which I recently gave a glowing review to only because it sticks to its roots and means it.

Somewhere in the middle of all this is Namco's attempt to get back into the brawl, Urban Reign. In the game, you take control of Brad Hawk, a street brawler who's been hired by the city to take down some vicious gang bosses who could very well be behind a growing war that's taken into the streets. As Brad moves along on his quest, he'll get others to join his team and eventually learn who the real boss is behind the whole reign of crime. Along the way, the story tries to provide the usual twists and turns, but it's really weak. I mean, so weak that even Steven Seagal would scoff at the script. Van Damme, too, if you caught him on a bad day.

The game relies heavily on its action, and here it doesn't seem to disappoint. The teams behind Soul Calibur and Tekken have put together a decent brawling engine that allows you to take on multiple opponents at once and even aim for specific parts of their region, like upper or lower, for the most effective damage. There's only three problems that come into play with this...

The first is repetition. It can't be helped. In a brawling game, you're likely to run into the problem of pulling off the same moves over and over again in order to successfully complete your task, and, to some gamers, this will grow downright mundane. Urban Reign suffers this problem, although not as greatly as other recent examples of the genre, namely Beat Down.

The second is juggling. Sure, you can chain together some nasty combos and pull off some mega-damage on those foes who are just a general pain in the ass, but the problem is that it's a double-edged sword. Just as you can easily knock an enemy into the air fifteen times or so, a dangerous boss character or well-armed thug can also do the same thing, drowning out your precious energy and forcing you to continue.

And that's where the game's biggest problem rears its ugly digital head- the unbalanced difficulty. Some parts of the game are a breeze to get through, with thugs that are moronic in their fighting style and easy to knock out. (This is where some of the repetition problems come into play.) But then there's times you'll run into a boss that's cheap. I mean Ramen Noodle cheap. He or she can knock you into the air and soon enough you're finding yourself one life short. This will probably frustrate some gamers out there who simply want some kind of fight-back thing to help them get off the ground and get back in a good stance.

Urban Reign may suffer from these setbacks, but it also gives a little effort, too. Along with the flawed albeit alright gameplay system, the game also features a graphic engine that's instantly recognizable for those familiar with Namco's work. The way that the levels are drawn out are pretty good, and the animation's better than you might expect. The game also earns points for some of its destructible environments, choice of occasional weaponry, and the support of widescreen and progressive scan, for those who want to display this game the best way possible. Some enemy designs are a bit bland, but you're going to run into that problem sometimes. I'm just glad it's nothing absolutely outlandish that would make a runway model run away screaming from the lack of color match-ups.

As far as sound, meh. The voice work is pretty decent and follows the Namco trend, but the soundtrack itself is nothing memorable. Some of the sound effects deliver the goods, but you'll mostly forget about it and wish you could blare something of your own to fight to. Me, I'm a big fan of Apartment 26's older stuff and I used it constantly here. See if you can track it down.

Urban Reign does have longevity going for it, if you don't let the other flaws frustrate you to the point you don't want to play anymore. There's characters that you can recruit that come into play brilliantly, and that you can switch to on-the-fly if you're up for it. This mixes up things a little, particularly if you find yourself running into some familiar Tekken characters. Yes, Paul Phoenix is still cheap, but damn effective. There's also mini-quests to complete that can be a bit of fun, as well as a four-player brawling mode. With the help of a PS2 multitap, you can get some friends together and just beat each other down senselessly. It would've been awesome to see this kind of incorporation into the main game, but to have it here is better than not having it at all. I wonder why Namco can't make a Tekken Tag game this way. Hmm, perhaps some day.

I can't fully recommend Urban Reign to those who are just up for a breeze-through, as its problems are still a bit tiresome. However, you shouldn't ignore it either, as the game does have some potential in different areas, particularly its multiplayer brawling mode. Give it a rental and see if the Reign holds over your house.

Our Final ScoreMediocre

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