The Karate Kid: Street Rumble Review

Developed by Odaclick Game Studio and published by GameMill Entertainment, The Karate Kid: Street Rumble is a double blast from the past. Based on the first three Karate Kid films of the 80’s, Odaclick have combined the storyline of those cinema classics and combined them with a scrolling beat-em-up genre in a style familiar to that of Streets of Rage or Final Fight.

                If you are not familiar with the films then to summarise; 17 year old Daniel LaRusso has moved to LA from New Jersey and is trying to adjust to his new life and school. Meeting a love interest Ali leads to him being picked on and bullied by Ali’s ex-boyfriend Johnny Lawrence, a black belt in an aggressive style of Karate. But the local handyman Mr Miyagi eventually agrees to train Daniel in his unique style of Karate to defend himself and give him a chance to compete in the Schools all valley karate tournament.

                Although that covers only the first film, there are plot lines and characters from the other 2 films who make their appearance in one way or another. For example, the game has 4 player local Co-op and you can choose to play as Daniel the main protagonist and his sensei Mr Miyagi. Then, oddly you can also choose from Ali Daniel’s love interest from the first film and Kumiko his love interest from the second film. I say oddly as both of the love interests don’t get involved in the karate aspect of the films but this is a game, so why not?

                Graphically Street Rumble has some highs and lows for me. The in-game sprites look pretty good and the likeness is OK to the characters they portray. But some of the casual no-name baddies keep reappearing and sometimes multiple of the same character model. There was no scene in the game where Daniel had to fight off octuplets. But recycled sprites aside the animation and moves look great and have a great nostalgic feel to them. What I wasn’t too impressed with was the storyboard images. At the start of the level, there is usually some scene setting which took place in the films like the Halloween fight and the All Valley karate tournament. But the images in the storyboard look off. The sprites look more like the real characters than the images in these scenes too. Poor Mr Miyagi looks like he has piled on the pounds.

                The gameplay is impressive and has been well-developed for a side-scrolling beat-em-up. The hit detection is great and the movement is good too. There is a good variety of moves and combos using light attacks, hard attacks, aerial attacks, running attacks and special attacks. Each character has 4 special attacks although some need to be unlocked by levelling up. With Daniel for example, his first special attack is his famous crane kick so they are including a lot of source material into the combat. The special attacks can only be used when you have built up the special bar by doing normal combos. The special bar also forms part of a shield in that when you are hit the special bar will be reduced first before you lose your health so it pays to only use your special attacks to when there is less risk. There is also a dodge button which is tricky to master at first but can become a game changer against certain bosses.

                There is a decent variety of enemies and bosses who have been taken from the film. The main baddies Johnny Lawrence and Kreese make an appearance, as well as enemies from the other films like Terry Silver, Mike Barnes, Sato and Chozen. The boss fights can be tricky and rely on a bit of pattern memorisation to overcome them so you can’t just spam attack your way through. Each level is quite a decent length and there is quite big number of stages to work through. Every now and then there is mini game to break up the stages where you compete against other players or the computer if playing alone. These mini games consist of elements of the movies too like catching a fly or dodging a swinging pendulum. To try and add some longevity into the game they have included a level progression system where you earn experience by completing stages. When you level up you unlock perks for each character which can be more lives, different special attacks or the special shield absorbs more damage. If you manage to complete all the stages then you can replay them on a harder difficulty. Or alternatively you can play some of the minigames separately or try the boss rush mode if you fancy a tougher challenge.

Conclusion

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble sticks close to the source material in the way the story plays out and most of their likenesses. The combat is robust and fast paced and great to be played along with friends if you like games like the turtles beat ’em up games. It’s a shame there is no online co-op play but they have provided some ways to replay the game to improve the longevity, and it is quite fun to play through, especially if you are fans of the original films.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox Series X/S (via a Game Pass Ultimate subscription). All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version.