Takeover 2 Review – A Stylish Way To Get Beaten Up

Takeover 2 is one of the best-looking side-scrolling beat ’em ups I’ve played, but it’s also not the slickest. As is the norm, I started off playing this exclusively on handheld via DroidDeck and was genuinely impressed at how sharp and vivid it was, considering all the more recent ones aim for a scanlines arcade aesthetic.

It’s a seriously stylish presentation, and even better that there wasn’t any sort of slowdown whatsoever from a technical perspective. That comment about it not being the slickest is more to do with the slow pacing/animation of the characters and evident pauses before an action.

That’s your warning, but the rest of this Takeover 2 review is mostly positive, and I really enjoyed Pelikan 13’s game. So, do you want the premise? It’ll take a sentence or two tops: you play one of four fighters (co-op option available) and roam the streets beating up punks and executing them.

Whoa – hold up: executing them? Yeah. The fighting style is very much like Streets of Rage, with basic moves such as punches and kicks that are modified by pushing up and down, or button mashing. That’s perfectly serviceable. It has that same special move that eats into your energy, but you can also go up to a dazed punk and shoot them in the face.

Punch Punks, Execution Optional 

The action is pretty extreme, not in the spine-ripping Mortal Kombat, but in comparison to games like Fallen City Brawl or Final Vendetta, blood splatters everywhere, everything is combustible, it seems, and it’s just so pleasingly over the top. If you’re a pussy and don’t want that, you can toggle some of the effects, but I think you’re better off playing Unpacking if you’re doing that.

About shooting people, each of your characters carries a gun with limited ammo. Naturally, this is good for crowd control and sorting out those enemies that are about to telegraph a sliding floor attack. I really hate those. With the speed at which you move, it’s quite easy to get caught by a low enemy or those who rush you from both sides.

And that’s where Takeover 2 can be quite frustrating with the fluidity. The number of times I picked up a weapon to crack someone with it, I’d already been hit. It’s almost as if the character is winding up a comedy punch. Granted, it’s not as extreme as that, but considering how difficult Takeover 2 is, we don’t need this.

Hard As Nails

Difficulty is as subjective as humour and, I don’t know… a review; however, this has been one of the more challenging games – even on lower difficulty settings – and with limited to no continues, even unlocking something as simple as a new costume feels like an ordeal, not to mention the other available characters.

Still, challenge is good, as it’ll mean it won’t be over like I had with Blades & Battles. A decent game, but over too quickly. With that in mind, having to redo from scratch even in arcade mode is a bit of a turn-off, so it’s more suited to the die-hards, or those simply with skills.

I haven’t played the first Takeover, though I did want to cover it at the time, but it slipped by during a busy period. Whether it’s better or worse, I don’t know. From my perspective, Takeover 2 is a very solid side-scroller, and if you want something visually appealing, it’s one of the best in the genre.

Stylish Streets, Tough Crowd

Additionally, there are more than enough additional modes for the stronger players – mostly survival and time attacks, but the arcade mode remains the draw and it’s a definite standout. Just be mindful that it isn’t as responsive as similar titles, though still punches above its weight in entertainment value.

Ironically, Takeover 2 would be better suited to casuals, but the difficulty means it’s more geared to the competitive fighters (who may equally be frustrated with those response times). I don’t know, I’m not a competitive fighter at all (aside from Tekken), so from someone who enjoys the genre and walked through enough streets putting punks on their ass, I really like it.