The Karate Kid: Street Rumble

Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch

The 1980s nostalgia engine continues unabated in this retro-style scrolling beat-'em-up based on the events of the original The Karate Kid trilogy. For a franchise that was at its peak back then though, it's oddly fitting, tapping into the zeitgeist of an era when teens hung out in video game arcades and settled personal disagreements via the medium of All-Valley Karate Championships. Even odder is that the end result is… pretty good.

Street Rumble's pretty-good-actually-ness is surprising – noteworthy, even – as it breaks one of the worst track records in gaming history, coming from developer Flux Studios and publisher GameMill Entertainment. Between them, the companies are responsible for such unmitigated disasters as The Walking Dead: Destinies, Skull Island: Rise of Kong, two previous Karate Kid-adjacent games based on the Cobra Kai spinoff show, and numerous other awful outings. Perhaps it's a matter of volume – amid all that mediocrity, a decent game had to squeak out eventually.

Structurally, it doesn't pack in too many surprises – walk to the right, punch bad guys, take out the occasional boss. It's a formula that's been honed to perfection by the likes of Turtles in Time or Streets of Rage (also '80s hallmarks, and for good reason), and while Street Rumble doesn't reach the lofty heights of the best of the genre, it's a satisfying remix of the classics. Think of your favourite band, then imagine you're listening to a solid cover band of them – that's Street Rumble. And, with four playable fighters to choose from – Daniel, Miyagi, Ali, and Kumiko – each with their own special moves, there's a fair degree of variety and replayability, too.

What is particularly impressive with Street Rumble is that it does throw in some smart ideas that give it some unique flavour. Fighters have a focus bar, its energy building with each attack landed on enemies, which can unleash powerful special moves with each full segment. This bar also serves as a shield though, protecting characters' health bar from taking a (literal) pummelling so long as there's a bit of focus energy to hand. That makes for a clever balance of risk and reward – wade into a cluster of enemies knowing you can take a bit of damage but potentially lose your special moves as the shield effect drains your energy, or play defensively and judiciously use those specials when you have the energy to spend? It also makes some of the more daunting sounding challenges that accompany each level – such as completing them without taking any health damage – more viable, especially as each character's skills and stats level up the more you play as them, increasing the amount of focus energy available, or adding special moves.

The artistic approach is almost a win, with each playable stage, and all the fighters and background characters that inhabit them, presented in beautifully animated pixel art.

Pulling the game back towards mediocrity though is its lack of polish. Controls just aren't sharp enough for the precision that the genre requires – linear movement is fine enough, but if you need to quickly change the direction you're facing to tackle a different enemy, it's not responsive enough. Similarly, the alignment (or hitboxes) between player sprites and enemies never feels right – you can appear to be facing a foe but hits won't land until you adjust positioning slightly. The problem is compounded by most stages being a shade too long, making all those misalignments and ponderous reactions increasingly grating. This lack of responsiveness feeds into a selection of minigames too, such as a "karate training" section where you'll have to repeat combo prompts, but perfect matches can still count as a miss as the game doesn't recognise them properly.

The artistic approach is almost a win, with each playable stage, and all the fighters and background characters that inhabit them, presented in beautifully animated pixel art. Unfortunately, it's ruined by some truly awful cutscenes presented in a completely different and utterly unsuitable aesthetic; they're so bad you have to question if there were two different art departments, neither knowing the other existed. Thankfully, these scenes are both mercifully brief and skippable, but make the whole package feel low budget and a little bit sloppy.

Fans of scrolling brawlers have better options out there – bar its interesting twist of balancing special moves and shield effects, this doesn't offer a lot of surprises – but it is an entertaining enough outing. In a not-terribly-crowded field, Street Rumble is probably the best video game adaption that The Karate Kid franchise has seen.