{"id":552970,"date":"2025-11-06T13:33:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T13:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/552970\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T13:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T13:33:15","slug":"double-dragon-revive-review-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/552970\/","title":{"rendered":"Double Dragon Revive Review (Switch)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Double<\/a>Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n

The beat \u2018em up genre has experienced something of a renaissance in the last generation, with original titles like Fight\u2019n Rage<\/a> (2019) and more recently Absolum<\/a> (2025) finding new ways to move the genre forward, while releases such as Streets of Rage 4<\/a> (2020) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder\u2019s Revenge<\/a> (2022) show how effectively classics can be modernised. It makes sense, then, that Arc System Works wanted to find a way to bring back Techn\u014ds Japan’s Double Dragon<\/a>, one of the progenitors of the whole genre.<\/p>\n

Yet after the middling response of Double Dragon Gaiden<\/a> (2023), the company decided to go back to the drawing board when it tried again with Double Dragon Revive<\/a>. This release is a much more straightforward entry in the long-running series. Despite having some interesting ideas going for it, Double Dragon Revive unfortunately lacks polish and comes across as a very \u2018okay\u2019 experience.<\/p>\n

\"Double<\/a>Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n

Surprisingly enough, it is very story-driven, complete with fully voiced and partially animated anime cutscenes. The narrative here is set (rather oddly) several years after the conclusion of a nuclear war, with society breaking down into a collection of warring city-states ruled by various groups that have managed to seize power. In Billy and Jimmy Lee\u2019s hometown, a nasty group of thugs called the Shadow Gang run the show, and the plot kicks off with them kidnapping (again) the boys\u2019 childhood friend Marian, leading to the famed duo hitting the streets to get her back.<\/p>\n

Obviously, you don\u2019t usually play a beat \u2018em up for a riveting and emotional story, but the narrative here actually feels pretty interesting and goes a step beyond the typical basic setup most entries in this genre will go for. Those cutscenes go a long way towards setting up a moderately interesting world and characters, even if it does sometimes come off as a bit cheesy and over-the-top.<\/p>\n

As far as gameplay is concerned, this entry plays genre conventions relatively straight, with the addition of the key gimmick that the action plays out on more of a 3D plane than strictly 2D. Otherwise, you still move from screen to screen, comboing waves of baddies and occasionally picking up a knife or sledgehammer to dole out intense street justice. Another new gimmick here is that you can use your environment to your advantage, such as knocking enemies into cars for quick kills that net you lots of points.<\/p>\n

\"Double<\/a>Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n

Double Dragon Revive has all the basics and even has some cool ideas in how it implements them, but the actual execution of these mechanics falters. Movement consistently feels rigid and janky, while the level design is sometimes lacking. One stage involves a forced platforming challenge that the controls definitely aren\u2019t designed for, and there are many encounters where annoying enemy placement can lead to things like getting ganked from firebomb-wielding foes attacking you from off-screen. It\u2019s the kind of game that feels frustrating, and not in the good way that many soulslikes<\/a> and roguelikes<\/a> manage to hit.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, things are saved somewhat by the moderate depth of your character\u2019s moveset, which helps make things feel a bit more dynamic. Alongside the lead brothers, there are two unlockable characters whose unique movesets have their pros and cons that give the moment-to-moment gameplay variety. Carefully determining when and where to make certain moves, such as a screen-clearing special attack that builds up as you combo enemies, makes combat encounters more than a simple button-mashing fest.<\/p>\n

And of course, in classic beat \u2018em up fashion, you can be joined by another player in either couch or online co-op sessions (no drop-in, though) for some good \u2018ol multiplayer fun. In my experience, the online environment on Switch is already a total ghost town, but the local co-op is just as engaging as you\u2019d imagine and it tends to amplify the fun factor when you’re beating up screens of foes in a friendly \u2018co-opetition\u2019. Capping the multiplayer at just two players feels like a bit of a weird decision, but then again it is called Double Dragon, and not Multiple Dragon.<\/p>\n

\"Double<\/a>Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n

As far as replayability is concerned, there\u2019s a decent amount of content here to justify the price tag. You\u2019re given a ranking at the end of each stage based on score and overall performance, and this, paired with the selection of playable characters, means there\u2019s fair reason for repeat playthroughs to try mastering every stage with every character.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve tired out the main campaign, you can then turn to the \u2018Extra\u2019 mode where you can do a series of bite-sized missions that also add little vignettes that flesh out the story a bit more. As long as the core gameplay clicks for you, there\u2019s plenty to do here.<\/p>\n

Visually, Double Dragon Revive leaves a lot to be desired, mostly sticking to a lifeless and generic-looking 3D art style that immediately makes the game look cheap. Environments have detailed but ultimately forgettable designs, while the 3D models of all the characters on screen are stiffly animated and tend to lack charm. Nothing explicitly looks bad, but the visuals don\u2019t leave much of an impression.<\/p>\n

\"Double<\/a>Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the anime-styled cutscenes are more interesting, but they only serve to further contrast how middling the rest of the game looks when you\u2019re actually playing it.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the soundtrack does a better job of supporting the action, mixing together a collection of house, drum and bass, rock, and pop tracks to make for an energetic soundscape. It can be a bit easy to overlook the music amid all the howls and sound effects of a fight, but I thought this music was a pretty solid companion to the action and does a good job of contributing to the scrappy atmosphere the developers are clearly going for here.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n

Double Dragon Revive is the sort of game that\u2019s just damningly mediocre. It doesn\u2019t fumble the ball too hard in any significant way, but neither does it really excel at offering a fun and engaging beat \u2018em up. Interesting gameplay ideas are held back by uneven execution, and the uninspired graphical style kind of takes some getting used to.<\/p>\n

This will have its fans, and it\u2019s worth purchasing on a deep sale someday, but it\u2019s definitely nowhere close to the list of games I\u2019d recommend to someone wanting to expand their beat-\u2018em-up collection. Perhaps Billy and Jimmy will wow us with their inevitable next outing, but this one is just ‘alright’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld\/Undocked) The beat \u2018em up genre has experienced something of a renaissance in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[10281,177010,123,6082,131,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-552970","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-action","9":"tag-double-dragon-revive","10":"tag-nintendo-switch","11":"tag-reviews","12":"tag-switch","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115503013202008690","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}