On Reflection

This section should be relabeled: X360 disagrees with itself for shits and giggles, because, quite frankly, in your current correspondent’s opinion, this game was never deserving of a six, unless it was being reviewed when it hit the arcades circa 1988. It’s aged badly since then and even worse since we last looked at it, when, as stated, we were far too kind.

The Score

Ignore the ignorant forumites that are pissing and moaning because Microsoft has given us Tecmo’s Double Dragon and not Sega’s Streets Of Rage 2, and just relax in the company of one of gaming’s most important beat-‘em-ups.

Alright, so the game can be completed by just tapping the D-Pad in the same direction, and the enhanced graphics look like they’re the mutilated survivors of a Flash factory explosion, but there’s no denying that Double Dragon still possesses plenty of earthy charm.

It’s not going to take long to beat, especially if you use the head butt and devastating elbow, but the well-thought out achievements will ensure that you’ll constantly return for one more go. And amazingly, unlike other coin-op conversions that have appeared on Live, the online experience provided is virtually flawless and is pleasingly lag-free (Digital Eclipse take note). What’s really impressed us about DD though is the sheer amount of care and attention that Razorworks has put into this actual conversion. Beautiful presentation and nifty extras like the original artwork means this is well worth the 400 point asking price and instantly makes us question why we haven’t seen more on live from these obviously talented developers. Let’s hope Empire Interactive continues to use them in the future as we’d kill for the likes of Bubble Bobble, Chase HQ and Rainbow Islands.

6 out of 10