Renegade is a nice change of pace to the more popular Double Dragon game. It seemed when I was growing up that every arcade had a Double Dragon machine. But Renegade was a rarity. The core idea for both of these games is the same: the player has to rough up tough guys trying to beat him up. The player can punch, kick, run, jump and do some combination moves as well. Unlike Double Dragon, Renegade has the player fight several opponents within a confined area.
The area is not too small, such as a room.
On the contrary: there is a lengthy strip of subway or side walk that the player can move left and right on (differs on each stage). Double Dragon forces the player to keep moving down the street. I like that Renegade allows the player to take their time in the surrounding scene. But don't take too much time - you only have 2 minutes to beat up all the street thugs. This can prove challenging on some levels, as each screen features different opponents with a new skill to “get” you. And each of the thugs has a different weakness; what worked on one guy (or girl) may not work on
another.
After each group of “tough guys” is beat up, the player is taken to a new scene. Some scenes have “pitfalls” near the far left or far right, such as a river or ledge. If you can throw an opponent of the edge they are immediately killed. But watch out! You can also suffer that same doom if you are not careful. Opponents are mostly unarmed in the early stages of the game. You will encounter a few guys with chains or sticks that they can swing and hit you with, but they are in the minority. Once you get to level three (the one with all of the tough girls beating on you), that’s when almost all opponents are armed.
And level four takes it a step further: all opponents are armed with knives and the head thug has a gun that he can shoot at you. One thing I don’t like about Renegade in comparison to Double Dragon is that you can’t pick up weapons that opponents drop. I always liked the idea of swinging a chain or baseball bat. Unfortunately, Renegade will not allow a player to do this. Overall, it’s a very entertaining game, and if you are all “Double Dragoned out”, then this is a nice change of pace.
