Urban Reign

I planned on creating this topic a while ago, but as this is one of my favourite games I thought I'd wait until I had more free time to do a bit of a write-up. I'm not an expert by any means, but I'd imagine I've put more hours in to this game than most other action games combined. I played the game religiously in my early teens but didn't have any interest at looking deeper in to combat design and mechanics, so it'll be interesting to see what gets uncovered as I play through the game again. The format for this post will be pretty rough, but hopefully it's still informative.

Namco's Urban Reign is probably best classified as a beat 'em up, although it shares many gameplay similarities with fighting and action titles, making it sit somewhere between the 3 genres. The game received a mixed reception from critics, with most reviewers awarding the a game a very average, middle-of-the-park score. The game suffered a similar fate to God Hand (the two games released roughly 12 months apart in Europe), gaining a reputation for being too difficult and perceived as unfair. Sadly, Urban Reign didn't go on to gain the cult following that God Hand did, leaving the title unknown to a lot of gamers.

I'll start by introducing the single player modes and glossing over some of the player character's abilities before explaining them more thoroughly in a mechanics overview. This write-up won't be in depth enough to be classed as a guide, although it may provide the foundation for one if I ever decide to expand on it.

Single Player Modes

The main single player mode is Story Mode, which sees brawler-for-hire Brad Hawk employed by the Triads to find a missing rival gang member with the intent of putting a stop to the war between them. The story isn't particularly interesting, and as expected from the genre, exists purely to transport players from one fight to the next. The developers tried to add a few twists and turns that are appreciated, but it's hard to become invested in the plot and characters with such little development.

Story Mode is made up of 100 missions, which sounds ridiculous until you know that each mission is a single encounter within a small arena. You could compare a mission in Urban Reign to a “Verse” in Bayonetta, or a stage of the arcade mode in a fighting game. After completing a mission, players earn ability points which can be used to upgrade Brad's attributes, which are:

Offensive Abilities
- Strike
- Grapple
- Regional Attack (I'll explain these in the next section)
- Special Attack
- Weapon Attack (locked until enemies start using weapons)

Defensive Abilities
- Toughness (General endurance against strikes)
- Head Endurance
- Upper Body Endurance
- Lower Body Endurance

Ability points have to be assigned, so “No Upgrade” runs aren't possible (sorry Raeng!).

In addition to having upgradable stats, Brad can unlock a variety of moves and abilities. These include new Special Arts (which are either super moves/combos or buffs of various types), the ability to grapple enemies in mid-air and the ability to modify grapples by inputting another command mid-animation.

Also unlockable is the ability to bring an AI partner as backup, with several different characters made available over the course of the game. AI partners can be interacted with – you can instruct them to stay close to you, keep their distance, pass you their weapon or even throw them your own if you don't need it. A particularly important feature for the Very Hard difficulty is the ability to swap between characters on the fly. Towards the end of the game, partners have a tough time keeping up with the enemies the game throws at you, so it pays to manage swapping between characters to keep them both alive. If your partner is KO'd, Brad will continue to fight solo. However, the mission is failed if Brad is KO'd, even if your partner is still able to fight.

The replay value in single player comes from “Free Play” mode, which allows you to replay any story mission on any difficulty as any character (as long as they aren't an enemy or specific partner already featured in the mission). In Free Play mode, players are ranked based on performance, with S being the highest grade available. Points are awarded (or deducted) based on the following criteria:

Clear Time (quicker time = more points)
Max Combo (the highest number of hits you land consecutively without taking damage)
Damage Taken (less damage = more points)
Partner KO (Losing your partner = point deduction)
Recovery Item (Using items dropped by enemies = point deduction)

Score multipliers are adjusted depending on the which characters you choose (the weaker the better) and what difficulty you play on. Free Play mode is where you have the flexibility to come up with your own ideas for challenge runs – maybe a Very Hard no partner run, or if you hate yourself, S-ranking every mission on VH as the 0* character (I'm not sure the human spirit could withstand such torture, but I assume it's possible).

Combat Mechanics Overview

The combat system, in my opinion, is where Urban Reign truly shines. This game is how Tekken's Force/Devil Within modes should have played. In this section, I'll run through the game's controls, detail how commands are performed and give a bit of insight on the game mechanics.

Strikes
Strikes are executed by using the Circle button. Each character has a multi-hit combo string that can be performed by pressing Circle without a direction (or neutral). When combined with a directional input, different strikes can be performed to target different regions – Up + Circle will target the head, Left/Right + Circle will target the upper body, and Down + Circle will target the lower body. These are referred to as “regional attacks”. Regional attacks add depth to each characters move set, adding additional combos, launchers, sweeps and knockback attacks.

Grapples
Grapples are performed using the Triangle button. Pressing Triangle with a direction performs a regional grapple, just like with strikes. Certain characters have additional abilities with grapples, such as the ability to catch enemies with grabs in mid-air, or pressing Dash during a grapple animation to execute a different grab altogether. Mid-air grapples are dependant on where on their body the enemy is caught – for example, wrestler Jake can catch enemies with a Powerbomb if he grabs their lower body, or a Stunner if he grabs the enemies head. Certain grapples can do more damage if performed against a wall – a running Powerbomb becomes a 2-hit grab, throwing the opponent against the wall twice. It is also possible to perform a grab on enemies who are downed, although most characters have exactly the same moves in this scenario.

A neutral grapple will see your character grab an opponent and hold them in place. This can be performed from the front or back of an enemy. From here, you can choose to strike the opponent up to three times, press neutral grapple again to push the enemy away, or perform a regional grapple move. A neutral grapple can be useful for holding an enemy in place to prepare a double team attack with a teammate. Enemies will break out of a neutral grapple if you don't act quickly enough.

Double team attacks can be performed by grappling an enemy while your partner is close by. These are performed automatically providing your partner is within range. Double team attacks cannot be reversed, and provide the attackers with i-frames throughout the grab. Similarly, you can throw two enemies at the same time by initiating a grapple on one while the other is close by. This type of attack cannot be reversed either, and also provides the attacker with i-frames throughout. Making use of these moves will give you a huge advantage in battle, and makes many of the harder missions much easier.

Special Arts
Pressing Triangle and Circle together performs a Special Art, or SPA for short. Each character has access to at least 5 different SPAs. A neutral SPA can be performed while standing or laying face up. These require the least amount of meter to use, and deliver a knockback attack in all directions surrounding the player. These are similar to the sort of special attacks seen in old school beat 'em ups, where some life is lost to perform a crowd-controlling attack.

SPA + Up performs a strong attack. These do a lot of damage, but typically have a long and obvious start-up animation while the character charges their attack. Left/Right + SPA performs a quicker multi-hit combo that lacks the obvious tell of the stronger attack. Down + SPA activates a “status effect”, which is essentially a buff to a character's property or stat(s) and makes the SPA gauge glow a particular colour while active. The main status effects are as follows:

Power Up (Red, 50% increase in attack power)
Concentration Up (Blue, automatically performs deflects/grapple breaks)
Super Armor (Yellow, reduces damage received and negates hit-stun)
Arcanum (Green, changes/expands the characters move-set while active)

Some boss/special characters have a purple status effect, which combines 2 of the above effects together.

Characters are invulnerable during SPA attack animations. Normal attacks can be freely cancelled in to SPAs, which opens up more combo opportunities. This adds some depth to the combat system, as SPAs can be used to provide i-frames and negate damage when it would otherwise be unavoidable.

Dodges/Deflections/Reversals
The square button is used for a range of defensive techniques. The first is the dodge, which is performed by pressing Square without a directional input. Dodging is used to avoid damage from strikes, and briefly makes characters invulnerable during the dodging animation. If you press Square with a directional button to defend the same region that your opponent is attacking, you'll perform a deflect, where you will parry the move and place the opponent in to a vulnerable position. Deflects can be performed to counter grapples (which I think are referred to as reversals in-game), as well as to break out of juggles.

Dash
A Dash is performed by pressing the Cross (or X) button. This causes the player to sprint, allowing you to cover large distances quickly, but massively reducing the turning circle of the character. Whilst in a dash, you can press Cross again to stop and return to your neutral stance. Additionally, you can perform grapples straight out of a run, or perform a variety a strikes using the Circle button, either with or without a directional input. Certain characters can dash in to enemies and walls to run-up them, which can be followed up by a strike or a grapple depending on the character.

One of the most important uses of the dash is that it gives you access to the evasive roll, performed by pressing Square mid-dash. To my knowledge, the entire rolling animation is made up of i-frames, making the roll an essential method of avoiding damage. The opening frames of the dash can be cancelled in to the roll, strikes or grapples, so you're able to press your next input as soon as possible after pressing dash.

Lock-On
Like many other action games there is a lock-on ability, performed by holding R1. If you input a Dash while locked-on, you will sprint towards the enemy.

Taunt
Pressing L2 will perform a taunt. Taunting enemies while they are stunned will cause them to stagger towards you. A handy use of this would be to lure 2 stunned enemies towards you for an easy 1-on-2 throw. I don't have a full understanding of the stun system, but it seems you cannot be stunned while your regions are still in the green state. It seems that throws, wall impacts and certain strikes can trigger stuns. If you find yourself stunned, you can use an SPA to cancel out of it.

Picking up Items/Weapons
L1 is used to pick up weapons and recovery items. Recovery items can be used by pressing Circle (while neutral) and can increase health or SPA, although these don't appear in many missions.

Having a weapon equipped modifies the character's striking move set. Some characters can only perform single hit strikes with weapons, while others have combo strings. Some characters have access to special grabs and and weapon SPAs.

Issuing Commands
The R2 button is used to interact with your AI partner, as mentioned in the previous section. Pressing R2 on it's own will call your partner to stand near you for a double team attack. Holding R2 and pressing Triangle will instruct the AI to attack opponents that are targeting you. R2 + Circle will instruct your partner to split up from you and draw the aggro away. R2 + Cross allows you to switch characters and control your AI partner. Finally, R2 + Square lets you throw a weapon to a partner (or if your partner has a weapon and you don't, request theirs). If you throw a weapon to a partner, enemies can intercept it and catch the weapon, so make sure your line of sight is clear.

Other notes
The amount of damage a character takes depends on their toughness stat, as well of the offensive stats of the attacking opponent. Another factor to take in to account is the endurance system. Characters will start fights with each of their regions in green, and as they take more damage, the regions will change colour to yellow, and then to red. Characters have individual stats for head, upper body and lower body endurance, which determine how much punishment a region can take before moving to the next damage state. If you're familiar with the endurance system seen in WWE wrestling games on PS2, you'll already have a good idea of how this works.

Like in Tekken, launching enemies and keeping them juggled is useful for extending combos and maximising damage output. However, it should be noted that guaranteed or “true” combos are difficult to perform, as enemies are rarely ever completely defenceless. All normal attacks and grabs can be dodged or reversed, even when in mid-air. SPA attacks are unblockable against standing enemies, but damage can be avoided by performing the dodge roll. It's useful to remember that SPA attacks provide i-frames up until the recovery animation. Because of this, the neutral SPA is a great way to avoid otherwise certain damage at the cost of a very small amount of meter.

Here a couple of videos to demonstrate some gameplay. The first is a compilation of promotional combo videos made by Namco to show off the game in the run up to it's release, and the second is a fan-made double team exhibition demonstrating some of the cool attack animations.







That'll be the end of my summary for now. I'm not an expert like I said, but happy to try and tackle any questions if my explanations have been a bit wonky. There is still quite a lot that I haven't covered (versus multiplayer, challenge battle etc.), so I might post some updates over time. If you haven't played the game before, I hope you'll consider giving it a chance!

Nice. A lot of info in there I wasn't aware of.

Really great write-up, I've been eyeing this game for a while now and the footage looks good too. Sad to hear the game is basically God Hand in terms of reputation...without the good part. About the single player, it is basically 'verse' to 'verse' then? Or is there exploration too? I think the game could've benefitted from better direction in terms of art-style. It is really 'real', almost reminding me of def-jam in some respects. Doesn't age well.

Do other characters also have different movesets? I saw a few S-rank runs just now of missions and some had a different player-character.

I'm currently working on a game about Ranking Systems in Action Games, and would like to give this game some exposure by mentioning its system in it. I always like to give lesser known games a little shout-out! Maybe it gets someone's attention! Do you have anywhere where there are more indepth notes on how its ranking system works? You can PM me if you want!

NOTE: I edited your comment to fix the youtube videos. Just press the Youtube button in the text-editor :)

'Verse' to 'verse'
Yes, each mission is essentially a combat scenario. There are no exploration elements whatsoever. It's sort of like a much longer version of arcade mode in a fighting game, but there are occasional cutscenes and each mission has a voiced introduction to give some context.

Do other characters also have different movesets?
Yes, characters do have their own movesets. However, some characters are grouped together as they have the same fighting style. For example, Kadonashi and his students all fight with karate, but they have different movesets. I'd imagine there are a few moves shared between characters fighting with the same discipline, but I don't think there is a single character who is an exact copy of another. Quite impressive given there are over 50 characters!

Another note on the characters is that, generally speaking, a characters star rating is not just a measure of their stats, but also reflects the quality of their moveset and abilities.

Do you have anywhere where there are more indepth notes on how its ranking system works?
I'll drop you a PM regarding this one.

Also, thanks for editing the comment, wasn't aware of the YouTube button!

I love this game, but I did not enjoy the "story mode". I would liken it to a multiplayer shooter bot mode. It just doesn't feel right.
1v1 multiplayer though is fucking awesome. Depth of a fighting game with the controls and feel of a beat em up.
Some of the characters are straight broken though, they have spells that make all of their hits un parryable.
We would usually ban those charecters or moves.

Game is surprisingly expensive. Usually old ps2 games are quite cheap here, not a big market. But it sits at 30 bucks used via most sites over here.

Royta/Raeng wrote:Game is surprisingly expensive. Usually old ps2 games are quite cheap here, not a big market. But it sits at 30 bucks used via most sites over here.

Are you based in a PAL region? Assuming a UK copy would work on any European console, there's quite a few on ebay for around £10-15 although I'm not sure what the postage would be. Might be worth a look!

I runs great on pc

hedfone wrote:I runs great on pc

I'm playing it on PC too, runs great through PCSX2!

I realised that I never did a post on the scoring system, which I made some notes on for Raeng's article on the topic. I'll have to dig my notes out on that soon.

I'm also intending to record a playthrough of a new game on Very Hard, and then maybe S Rank runs of each mission (they're quite short, so I'd maybe record them in blocks of 10). While you can't really do much in the way of challenge runs during a new game, there's probably a good variety of challenge runs you could attempt in Free Mode, where you can choose to play as the weaker characters.

I've been looking through some of the content on YouTube and came across the below channel. This player uploads videos on the game pretty frequently, playing through the Free Mode on Very Hard with a variety of characters. If you watch even just the first few missions, you can see the player does a great job of manipulating the AI and exploiting the double throws. He/she is able to do this with pretty much every character.

Honestly, I was shocked. I've played a lot of this game, and don't consider myself a high level player or anything of the sort, but I couldn't believe how quickly these missions were being beaten. Something didn't seem right to me though - the AI looks far less aggressive than I remember it being. It occured to me watching this today that the player is playing the Japanese version, and I know there is a history of Japanese releases having the difficulty toned down compared to the Western versions. I don't know if there's any truth to it in this case, but it might be a new thing I've learned about the game.



I hope to record some gameplay soon, maybe even this weekend. Hopefully, the footage will help me conclude if there's any truth in my theory!

Game still looks fantastic to me. I'm curious about what I see in that video regarding the gameplay though, is there barely any loading? Or did the player splice gameplay together? The fights are pretty short, would be a waste if loading would take up the bulk of the game.

The game is pretty expensive here (nearly full price, used), going to see if I can find a deal somewhere.

The gameplay is edited to remove a few menus in between fights. After seeing the ranking screen, you return to the mission select screen, then pick a difficulty, and then your character(s). The loading times are pretty comparable to fighting games, I'd say. They've never bothered me, but now you mention it, it would be nice if they were shorter.

Would you be playing on a PAL console? If so, am I right in thinking you could buy a UK copy? I'm pretty sure the game is still reasonably priced over here. I'd check eBay, I've found a few good deals on there.

I am indeed playing on a PAL console, that is correct! Just took a peak on ebay.co.uk and it indeed looks a lot better concerning the price! Going to check around! Cheers :)

Took a little longer than I'd hoped, but part 1 of my Very Hard playthrough is up! (It's surprisingly complex adding text to a video with the editing software I'm using...)

It doesn't seem to be available in 1080p yet (the video is in 1080p, but the game is running in it's original resolution). Hopefully that will change soon.

Damn, the enemies are insanely aggressive and don't miss a chance to punish. They knock you away then are instantly up in your face again.

So much cool stuff in this game. And WTF was that bottle thing HAHAHA!

Looks pretty good. That's another game I'll be giving a run on PCSX2!

> Bottle thing

I probably went a bit overkill on the slow-mo but I wanted to make sure I pointed it out.

I might not get to show it off in the playthrough but there are some cool (but impractical) attacks you can do by hitting stuff in mid-air. For example, say an enemy is behind you in the distance and you have a baseball bat equipped. You can can unequip it, making you throw it up in to the air over your shoulder, and then as it comes down behind you do a spinning haymaker to hit the bat across the arena. It's not particularly useful but it is a lot of fun!

> PCSX2

The game runs great on the emulator. For years I've been playing it on an i5-3570k and it's been near enough console-perfect already, but I've recently upgraded to a Ryzen 7 2700x and it's a beast of a processor for emulation.

Fantastic video Greg, for real! Great insight into this game, really made me excited! Fact that it is not built for no-damage runs already makes me very excited, simply because that isn't my jam. It mostly being combat is even more fantastic, no weird minigames, just combat. Enemies also seem extremely agressive which I love!

Are you playing this on an emulator or a regular PS2?

Thank you! Glad you found it insightful, if I've helped to shine some more light on the game then I'll consider it a success. The combat opens up more as you unlock new abilities, so unfortunately you see a lot of the basic combo string to begin with.

I'm playing on a PC based emulator called PCSX2. It's been years since I've played the game on the original hardware but I haven't noticed any issues with the emulated version. In fact, I'd prefer to play it emulated as I'd have to buy a HDMI adapter for my PS2 and the input latency that would add would be pretty frustrating.

Why can't you play with the VGA cables?

My TV and PC monitors don't support them, unfortunately. I didn't consider the PS2 when I bought them

>It's not particularly useful
Even so, it's a cool mechanic. I never knew such a thing existed in this.

Part 2 of my playthrough is up. Not as many notes for these missions, but some brief explanations on the "status effects" and a few other bits:



I've recorded gameplay up to Mission 50 so far, so I'll try and get another part uploaded this week.

Is the whole campaign just with Brad, or is he your favourite character?

Yes, you have to use Brad for the whole story mode (although you do unlock partner characters who you can swap to in-game). You can only choose to play as other characters in free mode.

Since you mentioned it, Brad may be my favorite character to play as given he probably has the best all-round moveset in the game. He's easily the character I've used the most, so it might just be the case that he's the one I'm most comfortbale with.

And the Free Mode is akin to combat challenges?

Brad looks fantastic to play as btw, fast, but also bulky. Good grapples. I can see myself enjoying that game!

Free Mode allows you to replay any story mode mission with any character (as long as they aren't an enemy in that particular mission). It's also where the ranking system in introduced.

That's a really good way to describe Brad - if you did a breakdown of his move-set and compared it to the other characters, I think it'd be quite obvious which one was supposed to be the most balanced one for the player to use in story mode.

I'd recommend the game if you get the chance to buy it! Would be great to hear your take on it.

Currently I'm a bit handicapped since my PS2 broke down, so I have to look for a replacement. I prefer an original PS2 over the Slim, since the latter tends to have issue with dual-layered discs over time, such as God of War. Which makes it a bit harder. It's on my shopping list! I'm not going to lie to you though, while I am excited, Haunting Grounds is higher on my list currently of PS2 classics to explore. But only just!

>But only just!
It's enough to stave of my wrath...for now.

I'm a bit behind with my planned editing and uploading schedule. Here's Part 3:

Parts 4 & 5 are now up:

I recently finished and uploaded the rest of my playthrough, so I'm having a think about doing a challenge run next.

I mentioned in my write-up about the game sharing similarities to Tekken - you can see them very clearly in this video:



Interestingly, some moves (like Jake's wrestling moves) have been animated from scratch but weren't used for later Tekken games. Some of King's grabs in Tekken 7 look like they still use animations from the PS1 games, and the same moves appear in Urban Reign with much more natural animations.

>Urban Reign doesn't really cater to no damage runs as some grab reversals that enemies can perform will damage you

Is this random? No way to prevent a grab reversal?

Birdman wrote:>Urban Reign doesn't really cater to no damage runs as some grab reversals that enemies can perform will damage you

Is this random? No way to prevent a grab reversal?

It's a good question - I've seen tool assisted speedruns where the player reverses standing grab reversals, so these are possible but extremely difficult to do consistently given you have to predict them, rather than react to them.

Something that might be unavoidable is the reversal animation for when you go to grab a downed enemy by their feet. The reversal animation sees the downed enemy kick you in the face, creating enough distance for them to stand back up. This deals a small amount of damage, and I've never seen this reversed. That's not to say it definitely can't be done, though.

In short, no damage is possible if you're careful with your playstyle. However, it can be extremely difficult as enemies have most of the same defensive options as the player:

- dodging strikes which leave you open to attacks from other enemies
- grab escapes, which do the same
- grab reversals that do damage and can be difficult to predict/react to
- cancelling stun animations by performing super moves (the AI can be surprisingly intelligent with this one)

Just a few bits and pieces from my notes on tech and interesting stuff, in case anybody fancies a read:

- You can cancel your neutral grapple strikes (Neutral triangle to grab, then circle to strike) with a regional grapple (triangle + any direction). Probably not useful against an AI opponent, but makes for less predictable offence against human opponents, as you can play around with the timing of your attacks.  The only exception to this is after inputting a third strike, which you must commit to.

- Grab range (to both standing and prone enemies) is slightly extended while in a dash. You can also cancel the start of the dash animation with a neutral grapple to perform the run up enemy animation slightly faster.

- If an SPA triggers a wall splat, you'll gain a small amount of meter from it. The higher your combo count, the more meter you will gain. For example, if Brad is on a max combo (100+ hits), his Up SPA (which costs 3 bars of meter) will recover 2 bars with a wall splat.

- Wall splats count towards your combo number – e.g. a 1-hit knockback attack triggering a wall splat is a 2-hit combo

- Wrestling/Submission characters only – pressing Triangle while in neutral front grapple will switch to the back grapple position. You can't transition from back to front neutral grapple, though. Submission characters can do it holding a knife or unarmed, while wrestlers must be unarmed.

- While dashing, holding a direction will make you perform the corresponding grapple once you reach the enemy (no grapple button required). Don't input the direction too early, as you might redirect your run away from the enemy. As mentioned above, grapple range is increased during a dash, but only when pressing the grapple button, making this tech not particularly useful.

- Teammate commands still work in Challenge/Multiplayer modes when teaming with the AI, including swap character. Be aware that there are no on-screen HUD elements that display your commands in these modes.

- When striking a weapon in mid-air, the damage and property of the attack you use will transfer to the weapon (e.g. hitting a bat at an opponent with an attack that launches will make the weapon launch the enemy if it hits them)

- Holding R2 (teammate commands button) after performing a German Suplex grapple will make your character delay and wait for a double team attack. If no attack is initiated, your character will push the enemy away instead of hitting a Suplex. Unusually, wall splats cannot be triggered by this push.

- When taunting an enemy to bring them back to standing, cancelling the taunt early will make the enemy rise in place. Allowing the taunt to continue will make the enemy walk towards you, tracking your movement.