Final Vendetta - Review 

Training mode needing to be unlocked might be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen as an unlockable

The whole world is going flippy for TMNT:SR and here’s Joe doing Final Vendetta 😂

This game has the unfortunate luck of being released a day after a HUGE beat em up in TMNT Shredders Revenge.

This is from a lonely guy working all night on projects. I mean ALL night. It's maddening. But having Joe on the next screen over makes things a little better. You're the best, Joe. We can't thank you enough for what you do.

I love the SNK look of these graphics.

I kind of love how that one enemy you couldn’t hit was named Karen 😂

Streets of Final Vendetta: Dragon Ransom, Featuring Battletoads

Thank you so much for another video! I appreciate all your hard work to get these out to us!

Wanna nitpick? This game has some weird-looking walk cycles. I feel like the animation in SoR4 was more skilfully executed, although this does look nice and smooth. Selling out of the physical release before it's even released is always annoying. Somebody should start a publisher called "Supply Matches Demand Games"

Oh wow, you didn't like SOR4?? Lol. Man as a HUGE SOR series fan i absolutely loved it, it's literally one of my favorite beat em ups of all time, especially after the "Mr. X Nightmare" DLC. That game is amazing in my opinion.

I love the art style in SoR4. The graphics in Final Vendetta aren't bad, but all of the characters just look so bland. None of them look cool or interesting and make me want to play as them.

With all due respect, everything you demonstrated in this video for Final Vendetta made me actually turned off from the game. I personally believe Streets of Rage 4 did an incredible job taking the classic series and modernizing it. The graphics, music, and gameplay are all top notch. It’s beefier size and variety make it an amazing package and I’d say it’s the greatest best-em-up ever made. Final Vendetta was clearly made with a lot of love, but the difficulty, hidden options, and lack of variety make it much worse in my eyes. Streets of Rage 4 just seems like the better package between the two. I grew up on the SEGA Genesis and when I wasn’t playing Sonic the Hedgehog, I was playing Streets of Rage 2. So, while I love that old school feel, I feel Final Vendetta could’ve been so much more. Great video though and I’m really glad I got to watch this!

Thanks for the review dude! Glad you had a fun time with it. Really enjoyed watching this. Wanted to point out for many of those commenters below, the developers are definitely doing all they can to address feedback and are considering adding a casual gameplay option. LRG also have opened some extra physical pre-orders over at Amazon US too! (Also for some of the skeptics, our release date was set in April, there's no way of changing that with a weeks notice when physical is involved.)

This channel deserves so much more recognition, I've only been watching for a year but I've become a huge fan. I like playing these while working or falling asleep.

Bro Shredder’s Revenge has been announced for a while, imagine releasing your dollar store beat ‘em up in the same week as that. RIP… 😬

0:43 the mr x dlc survival mode was really good

Before anybody flips out: You/I/Joe/your dog can like or fanboy over any game they want. With that being said, it still boggles my mind that Joe’s not much of a SoR4 fan…and even moreso that he was fairly high on Final Vendetta. Hyped for TMNT. Waiting until next week to play through it with a friend.

The most surprising thing I learned in this video is that you’re not that much a fan of SOR 4! Shocking! That was my GOTY when released. Final Vendetta looks really cool. Going to have to pick it up.

Funny enough, TMNT Shredder’s Revenge came out close to this game 😜 I would love to hear your opinions on that game as well 😊

Streets of Rage 4 is not nearly as divisive as you claim. I assume Shredder's Revenge is the only project like this faithful enough to please certain OCD 40-year-olds. It's amazing that unless it feels exactly like TMNT 5 by the original devs on MVS hardware, it will be considered "divisive." Now look what you did. They tried to make this game more "faithful" to the stiff, janky crap we had and they nailed it. Nice work everyone...

This game was a huge disappointment. It's more frustrating than fun. Streets of Rage 4 is still my favorite modern beat em up.

sorry joe but i completely disagree about SOR4. It's amazing. I bought it twice it was so good.

No continues is dumb. Gotta pass.

Random tangent. Your comment about eating off the ground made me remember. This one time at band camp... just kidding. This one time on a rafting trip..... we baked potatoes in our camp fire. They were wrapped in tin foil. One potato stayed in the camp fire all night. As we were extinguishing the coals in the morning we found it and looked at it. It was shrunk, blackened on the outside and dry and shriveled on the inside. There was a chiropractor with us that looked at it, popped it his mouth and wolfed it down like the best of Sunday brunches. The skit at the end was gold.

Thanks Joe for this review! The game looks good, but the lack of continues is a deal-breaker for me I think. I'm one of those weirdos that liked the SoR4 graphics. The old style 16 bit graphics are fine. I'm enjoying TMNT: SR a lot, but I think it's nice to see "modern" graphics paired with classic gameplay. As always, I appreciate your candid and detailed reviews! Thanks again!

Enjoyed the game but it's not in the upper pantheon of side scrolling beat ups (in fact it's not even close ). SoR 4 is still the king.

Interesting how you didn't get bored and played thru this game but not SoR4 even tho that game has a deep and engaging combat system even every character plays differently

Once again, I find myself in a position where I'm actually awake when you upload a video! Woo-hoo!

I feel like he may have made this whole episode to talk about how much he doesn't like Streets of Rage 4

We’re all allowed to like (or not like) different things, but I hope you can reassess SoR 4. It’s just so good, especially with the Mr. X Nightmare DLC. To me, it’s the best fighting system I’ve ever seen in a beat em up and it took me a few playthroughs to really get it. Either way, appreciate your reviews!

I do like this channel. Not sure about using the introduction in this video to backhand Streets of Rage 4. It was a great looking, great playing modern update to a classic game that stands with the previous versions and does not deserve to be swept under the rug by Game Sack.

Always great to wake up on Sunday and see there's a new Game Sack episode

Streets of Rage 4's deeper physics and combo capabilities makes it far out class all retro beat-em-ups in my eyes.

Really hope you fully revisit SOR4 in the future. Edit: Wait, your biggest issue with SOR4 is that it wasn't made by SEGA? or because it's not a "90's beat 'em up?"

The graphics for SoR4 were a departure from the classic but I can't say I love the pixel graphics here. It kinda looks like the developers first pixel game. Eyes seem like they are on the sides of heads and the walk cycles are rough to look at. I'm sure the game is great but I feel like the pixel art needed more time in the oven.

The combo/juggle system in streets of rage 4 held me to the end. This type of game is greatly benefited by variaty in the gameplay and I think the combo/juggle system really adds to it. There’s a similar system in TMNT SR, which is also great.

There's a certain amateurish quality to the art and animation that drags the game right down. The problem is that we live in an age where we have full access to the real games that inspired this. These faux retro abominations put me in mind of cargo cult artifacts where they get so far but they are still obvious interpretations assembled from crudely carved wood, mud and coconut shells.

Remember when the original Streets of Rage came out and everyone loved it? But then a couple years later, Streets of Rage 2 came out and everyone was blown away. It felt like going back to the original game was a step backward because they put so many valuable things into the game. I feel this way about Final Vendetta. It has a great foundation, it just needs to build on it more. I'd be really excited if they announced a sequel.

The world could always use more good beat 'em ups.

It's a glorified SuperNES MeToo-style brawler released during a drought/slow trickle of beatemups. SOR4 set the standard for the beatemup renaissance.

Final Vendetta, I found to be boring and completely devoid of any life whereas SOR4 injected so much love and enjoyment into the genre. To each his own I guess?

I'm the one who gave the guy who made the sprites Flash back in 2006 so he could try and make his own custom Iori KoF sprites. The dude grew up loving Streets of Rage and King of Fighters and his sprite work always looks like a combination of these 2 things. His work isn't always the best, he was in all the bottom classes, was in special needs and wasn't very liked. The fact his hard fan work is now being released in a full release is a major accomplishment for the guy and while it may not be great and the animation does appear a little "stiff" and off I definitely can't help but feel proud for him. He had an interest and stuck with it even when people didn't always like what he did. He taught me that anyone can do anything.

Too little too late, TMNT trounces this HARD. this should have been a spring release or autumn, right now it will just be relegated to "could have been"

Ther's a good brawler in there somewhere but it's let down by poor design - cheap hits and enemy patterns, unbalanced difficulty spikes and not enough continues are not a good way to make a game challenging or fun. Even brawlers from back in the 90s knew these were bad design decisions (or at least the good ones did)! I'm enjoying the brawler renaissance but it's strange that half of the modern ones can't capture the magic and fun of the originals.

I'm currently playing through Streets of Rage 4 and enjoying the hell out of it. I didn't know the balancing was off when it first came out.

I think this is the best beat'em'up that I've played in the last 10 years or so. The controls are very tight and satisfying. Btw Joe, the special button can be used when you grapple an enemy, when you dash, or when you hold a weapon.

While this games does look very good; it also looks like a mid tier fan game made on the Beats of Rage Engine.. Funny; I feel the same way about this game that you do for Streets of Rage 4. If this were $7.99 I would buy it right away; but it's asking price assumes there aren't alot of other better best em ups available or comming soon.

Joe: Time for Literacy Corner. Bare Knuckle 3 box: I'm about to end this man's whole career.

Thanks for the review. I wonder if you're do a review of TMNT- Shredder's Revenge too. Love to hear your thoughts of it.

The first thing I thought when I saw the graphics on this is “SNK”. Specifically, it has a real Art of Fighting vibe.

Shredder's Revenge is doing a great job of scratching that beatemup itch!

That end skit is absolutely one of your best!

The graphics remind me of the game violent storm which is one of my favorite beatem ups. If final vendetta included funny background things like that game it would be more interesting

*Bitmap bureau, if you seeing this, I definitely want this in my local arcade* (with continue, of course). it'll be so fun to kicking ass and dumping quarters with friends.

I'm all over Shredder's Revenge right now so if this review lets me know that this game is good, I'm in. I'm in a brawler mood.

Just the best editing and extras. Too good for us!!!

As someone who played games since the 80s, ANY game that had NO continues was Not worth my time. But what was WORSE than a game with NO continues? A game that Had continues, but when you face the Final Boss, the "Continue" option was inexplicably _Disabled,_ forcing you to start All the way back to the beginning. A LOT of arcade/console games (NAM'1975, Time Soldiers, Silent Scope) Did this back then.

The music in this game is fantastic.

This game has awful character designs (especially the main cast). It's so bland and uninspired that it feels like some stock spritework in a tech-demo. The lack of uniqueness makes it highly plausible that no one will remember this game after a month.

SOR4 really shines in COOP. We played the heck out of it. Final V just doesn't make me wanna play it without continues.

Hey Joe, love your stuff. Just wanted to nitpick and point out that every time you have mentioned SOR4 your gameplay footage shows you spamming the same attacks over and over. It makes me wonder if you are aware of all the mechanics, or just choose not to use them. Maybe you'd have more fun with the bigger variety of movesets in SOR4? Not to mention the random sim modes in the expansion are AWESOME. Sorry, I know you hate me now ':)

streets of rage visuals is a worthy upgrade. I dont get why people dont like it. actually this is first time I heard someone not liking it.

How a fan of this genre didn’t like Streets of Rage 4 is beyond me! :P Took me back to my childhood playing on the Genesis while simultaneously feeling at home in 2020. Loved it.

I like the graphics better in this game than Streets of Rage 4. The pixel art style is timeless.

A friend invited me to play it on Steam in COOP, we both died in STAGE 3 only to find out we had to start the whole game again. That was it for me. 90s beat'em up were much better as they let you insert a coin and continue having fun.

Man, that walking animation is so exaggerated. It's like they're power walking everywhere.

Thanks for the review and recommendation, Joe. When I can afford to do so, I'm sure I'll get this one at the PlayStation Store for my PS4. I do love me some beat-'em-ups! \m/

Greeeeaat great outro! Hope you'll never stop doing these! Oh and the rest of the video, too.

Honestly this game sounds like it's unnecessarily punishing and more frustrating than fun.

Streets of Rage 4 is the pinnacle of the genre.

Thank you for doing an excellent review, that tells the pros and cons without beating around the bush. While the game does seem to have its charm, the fact that it doesn't offer any continue is really holding me. There's a reason why most console adaptations of arcade games used to cool down the difficulty compared to their cabinet counterparts, and that's because with arcade, assuming you had enough quarters, you virtually had unlimited continues. I don't think it's a good move to make a game "arcade hard" if you don't keep this feature... or maybe it's just my older self who doesn't have the time or will to play an entire afternoon to beat the game in one rush? Maybe they'll patch it later? I hope they do, that would actually make me consider buying it! Have a nice sunday!

10:53 Precious memories of the PSP reading a UMD

Wish you would do this for TMNT Shredder's revenge. It is an amazing throwback with modern controls. Loving it.

It looks ok and wouldn't have looked out of place in the arcades back in the 90's. The problem with the graphics is the lack of dithering which makes everything look flat, especially the player sprites. There are scenes (12:04 for example) where it's used decently and it looks pretty good. Good dithering is what made Capcom and Square games shine.

i am surprised that you don't like SOR4. For me , it's one of my favourite beat em up in recent years

What an ending😊I hope shredder’s revenge would get a gamesack review sometime in the near future.

To me personally, Streets of Rage 4 is the best Streets of Rage, followed by Streets of Rage 2 Vendetta is available on the PSN, through the ACA games.

I watched a couple of reviews, the best is yours... As always, you seem to be the only one with a videogame culture and willing to talk about the good and the bad! THANK YOU!

Joe, you should play Fight'n'Rage, you will probably love it since you want pixel art and want a more I guess focused experience.

I'm pretty sure I'm person number 299 to mention this, but you can turn on an old-school filter in SoR4 to get pixel-style graphics ☺️

I'm going to wait for a physical copy of this one. Especially considering I just picked up the new TMNT beat-em-up yesterday.

"After playing (SoR 4) for twenty minutes I put it down and never picked it up again." Annnnnd I'm gone.

"Playing single player mode because I have no friends" *cries in Dave*

I love SoR4, imho it's a great update to the formula.

I wanted to get this but after hearing of the difficulty. I dont want it anymore

Yes, literacy corner! I love it. You've got a great ASMR voice, Joe!

Once I heard your opinion on streets of rage 4 I knew the rest of this review wouldn’t do it for me streets of rage 4 is the best beat ‘‘em up since dragons crown which is another game that needs a sequel

I think streets of rage 4 is amazing. Great vid nonetheless ;)

Gotta be honest it looks a bit too old school for me, in a bad way. The core thing I liked about SoR4 is that they actually modernized the gameplay. The combat is way more skill driven than actual 90s beat em ups, it's the kind of game you can actually make it through without taking any damage whatsoever if you're good enough. But not only that there was clearly a lot of thought put into the character attack strings. You can still mash and have fun if you want, but if you really get into all the nuance it's possible to pull off a lot of elaborate combos thanks to the wall bounce system (which is easily one of the smartest designed decisions they made with the game, enemies being knocked/thrown off screen in beat em ups is so annoying.) And it's not just for show as the game has an active ranking system. S ranking each stage requires having an understanding of what all the enemies can do and how to keep the combo meter from resetting. Personally I think beat em ups died because they never really evolved their gameplay, which is why SoR4 is so great, and you can already see its influence spilling over into other games. The new TMNT game actually uses wall bounce in the exact same way as SoR4 and it's so much fun just juggling these enemies with your combos. Not to mention you have a pretty big moveset in TMNT and can cancel your normal into most other actions. Final Vendetta just looks like it's rooted in the past in all the wrong ways unfortunately. I am willing to give it a chance if it's cheap enough, but all the footage I've seen over the last few days is really killing any interest I had in it.

Can't wait for the sequel, Final Vendetta of Rage: Osric's Revenge lol

Not worth 30$ imo. Besides the TMNT is awesome. I'm loving it.

Couldn't be as bad as Shaq Fu or Battletoads, but the Beat Em Ups is flood with games. I think Fight'N Rage is the best indie Beat Em Up if you're already played Street of Rage 4, TMNT, and River City Girls.

How can you possibly be underwhelmed by SOR4? This looks like crap compared to that game.

This game is a game that is a beatemup that people play that people don't really get until people realize it's a game that's a beatemup that takes some skill from said people.

I didn't know people were so uppity regarding SoR4's visuals. They objectively look great. Odd considering 1 looks nothing like 2 and Streets 3 looks like someone threw up on Streets of Rage 2. P.s. GRAND UPPAH!

Thank you for making Gamesack

Thanks for the review Joe. Obviously everyone has their own preferences, but in most cases, I prefer SOR4. Graphics, difficulty, length I feel are all better in SOR4.

It's nice not to see another shredders revenge video! Sick of them

this game suffers from a syndrome that a lot of beat 'em up games that were released in the wake of Final Fight back then suffered from; it really doesn't feel fun to progress through, there's nothing really interesting or captivating to keep me going. and with the way that this game has no continues, i guess it doesn't want me to either.

Wow RU-vid really sucks, I never get any notifications from you guys the bell is even enabled wow... now I gotta catch up binge watching trying to catchup, I thought you guys weren’t around anymore thank god I thought wrong