Preview: Tokyo Beat Down

2:00 PM on 01.29.2009   |   Dale North

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I had never heard of the DS game Tokyo Beat Down before Atlus sent along review copy. Sure, the name alone sounded like something right up my alley, but I had no idea what to expect other than that I would probably be beating down something or someone.

What happened is that I was beat down, my workday ruined by this over-the-top Tokyo-based crime story/brawler. While I should have been working and writing, I was lost in cheesy cop show humor and intense button mashing, and before I knew it, my work day was over, and all I had to show for it was a fondness for this game and a bunch of unfinished work.

I'm hoping the boss doesn't read this preview, but you should.

Tokyo Beat Down is like a mix of side-scrolling beat-'em-up Streets of Rage-style brawler and a Japanese television crime drama show. Add to that a Tokyo backdrop with scenery and locations that give it a kind of Yakuza or Shenmue exploratory vibe, and you've got a great combination.

The problem with your typical old-school beat-'em-up is that you don't really have anything else there to entertain you than other constant jump kicks and picking up whole roasted turkeys out of smashed mailboxes. You find yourself wanting one of the constant flow of enemies to say something to you. Any kind of story would be fine. Just...talk to me!

Tokyo Beat Down has a boatload of character and scenery to keep things interesting. Like any other brawler, you're out to take down the biggest crime boss, this time based in Tokyo, Japan, of course. You play as a member of the so-called "Beast Cops," a member of a Tokyo police department that is known for punching first and asking questions later. As you go about your missions you'll get a virtual tour of Tokyo, as you smack down punks in fashionable Shibuya and body slam gangsters in the geeky Akihabara. 

As you'll see in the opening movie for Tokyo Beat Down (above), the game is presented as an over-the-top Japanese television drama/comedy.  The cast of characters deliver silly, off-beat humor that really keeps things moving. You've got the all-white wearing rebel cop, the bitchy and under-dressed woman cop, the suspicious rookie, the serious and responsible one, and all the other character types you'd expect, all dishing out knee-slapping one-liners in between brawls. This is one game where the story sequences are just as fun as the action ones are.

So how is the fighting? It's great. Although TBD is in 3D, it's still a side-scroller. You can move from front to back a bit, but you'll still be moving left to right, taking down waves of street thugs and gangsters. The fighting ramps up from simple to pretty damned challenging in the later levels. The last boss fight I completed left me with just the smallest bit of life on my health meter.

There's a pretty simple kick-and-punch combo system at the heart of combat, but guns are also scattered about. Being in Japan, these are rubber bullet guns, of course, but they still pack a punch. You'll find guns with finite ammo, but pulling of a sweet combo gets you a free shot. Plus, it looks kind of cool.

Tokyo Beat Down was a pleasant surprise. What a hilariously fun beat-'em-up we have here. Here's a game that's out for pure entertainment, not caring that it's on a system with two screens and a touch capability. It's not trying to do anything new or fancy, it's just trying to be a kick-ass game. And it's succeeding at that so far. Look forward to our review in March, right around its March 10 release date.