Brad's initial special move in particular seems to have a hit radius far smaller than the wide, sweeping kick suggests, which causes wasted special move energy, especially if the move was accidentally executed instead of another of the special moves … which are selected in the same fashion as normal moves. In addition, hit detection is usually solid but has a few gaping flaws, most notably in the special moves. Such execution means you're going to either walk into a lot of attacks, or that you'll never pull off just the attack you want to, when you want to. One problem not evident in Day of Reckoning 2 that rears its head in Urban Reign is subtle: you "target" attacks by pressing a direction on the left analog stick, which is simultaneously being used to move around. The whole ordeal seems quite similar to wrestling games - namely the recently-released WWE: Day of Reckoning 2 - right down to the countering mechanic which seems to be impossible for human senses of timing but is flawlessly executed by the computer time and time again. A third button is the obligatory "run aimlessly" command (which if used in proximity to walls or other fighters, allows you to run up them for a short distance a la Matrix), and the final button is used for countering. Pushing these two together, as expected, causes your character to perform a pain-dealing special move. Controls here are simple, if a bit too loose: One button performs punches, kicks, and the like another is responsible for the multitude of throws and grapples in your arsenal. These missions pit Brad, and later on, one of a variety of AI-controlled partners, against up to five separate enemies of varying power and skill. You do this in an expansive story mode, encapsulating a good 100 missions (read: fights). Your mission? Clear Shun Ying's name by, it appears, beating the living expletive out of the Zaps and pretty much every other gang roaming around downtown. Shun Ying Lee, the sultry Chinese woman who the Zaps suspect to be behind the kidnapping, hires you instead. Someone's kidnapped KG, a member of the Zaps (one of the local gangs) who frankly has the words "pummel me, I'm a walking target" written all over his face. Urban Reign puts you in the shoes of Brad Hawk, tough-as-nails street brawler and Matrix-wannabe who may or may not have a heart of gold. Part wrestling game, part old-school beat-'em-up, part Tekken meets Boyz n the Hood, Urban Reign is a textbook example of a game trying to be too many things at once and ending up as very little of anything at all. On the other hand, it also tries to be "hip" and "edgy," causing the whole effort to fall relatively flat on its face. My point is: Urban Reign, for better or worse, hearkens back to the days of games passed, days where "Winners Don't Do Drugs" was emblazoned proudly on the attract mode of every game in the arcade. Games like Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, and 80 other games all inevitably made by Rockstar personify improper behavior, endorsing violence and drugs instead of, for example, fighting drugs by punching them in the face with a rocket launcher.
Nowadays, the focus seems to have shifted more towards pure violence, sex, and shock value, leaving behind the subtle, sometimes confusing or cheesy nuances of games like NARC (the old arcade game, not the recent PS2 mess) and Streets of Rage for games that, instead of fighting the bad guy, allow the player to become the bad guy. Long ago, the big offenders in video games were drugs and gangs, especially in the early '90s, when anti-drug awareness was at its peak.
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