A surprisingly fun and charming game. Streets of Rogue is a "rogue-lite" game that shares most of its DNA with "rogue" games and RPG games, mixed with an old-school pixel art vibe and a soundtrack that at times seems ripped from Streets of Rage altogether (it's good).

The basic premise of the game is that you must make your way through progressively more difficult "floors" to reach the top of the city, where you must take down the mayor and end his reign of terror - which is making chicken nuggets illegal, by the way.

The gameplay is left very open ended in that you have a multitude of different character classes to choose from, each with unique abilities and ways to deal with missions. Run and gun? Pick the Soldier. Stealth? Pick the Thief or Assassin. Don't want to hurt anyone? Pick the Doctor. There are also some weird and wonderful ones like Vampire, Zombie, Gorilla, Scientist, Cop, Firefighter, Barman, Investment Banker and lots more. You can even mix-and-match abilities, stats and traits to create your own class.

You soon realise that Streets of Rogue allows many different approaches to how you deal with missions and threats. It allows great freedom and encourages experimentation. There are tons of abilities and items that switch up your game and it's great fun to try them all out to find new ways of completing objectives.

Each level/floor exists in a certain area, including the Slums, Industrial Zone, The Park, Downtown and Uptown. Each of these contain 3 levels on each, with the third being a randomly generated "disaster" of some sort, making it harder than the previous levels to complete. Some of the disasters include a zombie apocalypse, periodic radiation blasts, a killer robot on the hunt for you and much more. The addition of this third zone means sometimes your well laid out plans fly right out of the window - to hilarious consequences. There is a final level after this, which only has one act. Each level and mission is also randomly generated - meaning no two games are ever the same (unless you make note of the seed to use again). Couple this with an insta-death mechanic means you will die a lot - and hopefully learn from your mistakes and correct them on the next run. Alternatively, perhaps the ♥♥♥♥ will just hit the fan and you will walk into a hole in the ground.

Some of the best moments this game has to offer are when the random insanity meter goes into overdrive. Think fast in these situations, or die. One tiny mistake can sometimes lead to an all-out war on a level if you are not careful. Alternatively, you can swing the tide to your advantage just as easily with a well placed item or a tactic which becomes more and more useful as the game goes on - starting a turf war.

The game also contains up to 4 player multiplayer. Split-screen or online. I have yet to try this, but envisage it to be a lot of fun.

In summary, the game is a fun, addictive rogue-lite with strong RPG elements. Random levels and objectives, tons of ways of dealing with things, tons of choice and wacky-ness.

Jimbo Rating: 8/10

A surprisingly fun and charming game. Streets of Rogue is a "rogue-lite" game that shares most of its DNA with "rogue" games and RPG games, mixed with an old-school pixel art vibe and a soundtrack that at times seems ripped from Streets of Rage altogether (it's good). The basic premise of the game is that you must make your way through progressively more difficult "floors" to reach the top of the city, where you must take down the mayor and end his reign of terror - which is making chicken nuggets illegal, by the way. The gameplay is left very open ended in that you have a multitude of different character classes to choose from, each with unique abilities and ways to deal with missions. Run and gun? Pick the Soldier. Stealth? Pick the Thief or Assassin. Don't want to hurt anyone? Pick the Doctor. There are also some weird and wonderful ones like Vampire, Zombie, Gorilla, Scientist, Cop, Firefighter, Barman, Investment Banker and lots more. You can even mix-and-match abilities, stats and traits to create your own class. You soon realise that Streets of Rogue allows many different approaches to how you deal with missions and threats. It allows great freedom and encourages experimentation. There are tons of abilities and items that switch up your game and it's great fun to try them all out to find new ways of completing objectives. Each level/floor exists in a certain area, including the Slums, Industrial Zone, The Park, Downtown and Uptown. Each of these contain 3 levels on each, with the third being a randomly generated "disaster" of some sort, making it harder than the previous levels to complete. Some of the disasters include a zombie apocalypse, periodic radiation blasts, a killer robot on the hunt for you and much more. The addition of this third zone means sometimes your well laid out plans fly right out of the window - to hilarious consequences. There is a final level after this, which only has one act. Each level and mission is also randomly generated - meaning no two games are ever the same (unless you make note of the seed to use again). Couple this with an insta-death mechanic means you will die a lot - and hopefully learn from your mistakes and correct them on the next run. Alternatively, perhaps the shit will just hit the fan and you will walk into a hole in the ground. Some of the best moments this game has to offer are when the random insanity meter goes into overdrive. Think fast in these situations, or die. One tiny mistake can sometimes lead to an all-out war on a level if you are not careful. Alternatively, you can swing the tide to your advantage just as easily with a well placed item or a tactic which becomes more and more useful as the game goes on - starting a turf war. The game also contains up to 4 player multiplayer. Split-screen or online. I have yet to try this, but envisage it to be a lot of fun. In summary, the game is a fun, addictive rogue-lite with strong RPG elements. Random levels and objectives, tons of ways of dealing with things, tons of choice and wacky-ness. [b]Jimbo Rating: 8/10[/b]