The storyline of Urban Reign is as follows: gang wars are tearing the city apart and now the boss of China Town is accused of taking out a rival gang member. Now the China Town boss must protect her turf from imposing threats and looks to Brad Hawk, a brawler for hire, to take on the gangs and protect China Town and bring peace to a crumbling city.

The introduction into the game starts out very promising with action packed cut scenes with heavy music blistering away. Once that is out of the way you are treated once again to a few scenes which basically outline the main point of the story, followed by introducing the main characters Shun Ying Lee (China Town boss) and Brad Hawk. Once you start getting into the missions you find that the storyline falls away and you only see glimpses of the storyline throughout the 100 missions you have to get through. A bit disappointing seeing as so much effort and hype has gone into bringing the storyline alive.

Following on from the lack of a storyline, is the lack of variety this game has to offer. With 100-odd missions to get through, nearly all of it is much of the same thing. You start off with taking on about 2-3 guys and as you progress the number of people you take on increases and obviously the difficulty does as well. To their defence it does throw in the odd time trial and the difficulty does challenge you, but it doesn't really lift the game to a level that would keep the average gamer entertained for hours on end.

On the upside, Urban Reign is not difficult to learn. The controls are very straightforward and because the fighting sequences are so fluid, it is a lot easier to time attacks and counter attacks. The combos are also very straightforward and range from power punches to round house kicks that take out opponents at close range. To add to your arsenal of attacks is the ability to grapple your opponents (even in mid air), carry out mid-air attacks by running up walls or pull out those wrestling moves like pile drives and body slams. If all else fails then grab anything you can find from bats, knives, poles and many more. If you like cheap shots, then while your opponents are down you can jump on them and smack them around.

Another upside to Urban Reign is that you can also fine-tune Brad Hawk to suit the fighting style you prefer most. As you complete your missions you are rewarded points which you can apply to his abilities such his striking, grappling and so on. This way your character grows with you and you can concentrate on the type of attack you like most. The points vary from each mission, but to have any chance you are probably better off balancing it out so you can cater for the different techniques of fighting.

Another bonus to fine-tuning Hawk to your fighting style is that you can focus on certain body parts on your opponents, such as the head, legs or body. With an on- screen body indicator for each opponent, you can up your striking ability continuously and inflict massive amounts of damage to the body or head and your opponent takes a lot more damage than normal and you can dispose of them quicker.

The counter attacks are another good feature that Urban Reign has to offer. As you are being attacked by one or two opponents you can deflect punches, kicks and so on, and at the same time Hawk gives the opponent a slight nudge to give you the upper hand to grapple and throw your opponents to the ground. Learning to use this feature will be the difference and will benefit you in the long hall.

Once you get through the story mode then other modes become available such as Free and Challenge mode. These are not much different from Story Mode, in fact one of the modes allows you to pick and relive a mission from the story mode. It also unlocks other playable characters, but in some ways it is just Hawk with a complete makeover… so again much of the same thing.