Ranking systems in games: yay or nay?

[trickybus]

The only ranking I don't like is mandatory ranking. Let me engage with ranking willingly because I enjoy optimizing my performance, not because the game locks me out of content if I don't hit a certain threshold.

 

[Turbo Kid]

I hate the ranking system in Streets of Rage 4 as it forces you to maintain a combo for as long as possible, an annoying mechanic that didn't exist in the classic Sega Genesis games, but they annoyingly added it to Streets of Rage 4. It's still a solid game that I can't criticize too harshly, but the stupid combo meter and mediocre soundtrack drag it down below games like Streets of Rage Remake and The Takeover (which has a stupendous soundtrack). Plus, the game was in rough shape before they did multiple balance patches and updates. It's a solid beat 'em up but it's not a true Streets of Rage game (even the art style doesn't fit). I'm looking forward to the real deal from Sega.