Firstly, forget the title. Urban Reign's about as authentically 'urban' as a Madonna video, and they've only tagged the 'Reign' bit on because 'Strike', 'Chaos', 'Warfare', 'Runner' and 'Dance Uprising' have already been nabbed by other games. This is how realistic Urban Reign's portrayal of ghetto life is: at the start, the mayor of fictional city Ragtown announces that he's closing off all the streets with big metal fences to 'combat crime'. You play Brad Hawk, a 'trouble-shooter' who wears a snakeskin jacket and beats up people like Chris, 'the middle-class Capoeira master'. This is street thuggery from the brains of Namco, the people who made Tekken. It doesn't have to make sense, and sure enough it doesn't.

Secondly, yes, similarities to Tekken are undeniable. The combo physics and 'juggling' - where you keep your opponent in the air with a string of moves - are almost identical. The unmistakeable lightning effects are virtually the same too, despite seeming out of place in gritty street combat. Iron Fist fans will recognise huge chunks of motion-capturing lifted directly from Eddie Gordo and the gang, and Tekken's Paul Phoenix and Marshall Law actually make guest appearances. What's changed though, is the control system - instead of Tekken's one-limb-per-button set up, this is conventional punch/grapple/run stuff, with wall-flips and double-teaming added to spice up the mix. There are also special moves, which are charged up by (a) hitting other people, (b) getting hit or (c) hammering buttons when you're on the floor. These effectively 'break' any other move - including specials - mid-flow, so whenever you're trapped and taking a kicking, you'll automatically be 'given' enough power to save yourself. This is a good thing and clever game design, but the trouble is, it also works for your opponents. In later stages of the game there's just no point in nailing anyone with a multi-hit special because they'll only break out of it halfway through with a more damaging special of their own. To put that another way: hit someone enough, and they will, in fact, get stronger. To put it another way: AAARRRGGGHHH.

Making matters even worse, every character can reverse any move if they choose to. Sometimes grunts will just flip out of air-throw combo - so by the later stage, the only way to win is if they let you. You aren't using clever tactics, they're just choosing not to exercise their ability to perfectly counter whatever moves you pull off.

Because of this, there's very little strategy and no incentive to change tactics. Sometimes you'll be mobbed in seconds; other times your opponents will just sit back and take a kicking. The flipside is that combat does occasionally flow beautifully, as you ping off three men's heads, then air-juggle another one and combo-air-grapple him into a powerbomb onto a car bonnet. The liberal move 'borrowing' from Tekken has left the developers free to concentrate on jamming in dozens of counter animations, along with plenty of leaping knee and elbow attacks. And things get ever better about a third of the way in, when you're introduced to allies that can help you gang up on enemies the same way they've been ganging up on you. Collisions are pleasing, though not quite as solid as in Def Jam: Fight For New York.

Yet somehow, the game never really gets going. See, there's a reason for those fences the mayor mentioned. Instead of free-roaming levels, Urban Reign offers up 100 mini-scraps against six or less opponents - think Edge Master mode from the old Soul Calibur games for an idea of how it works. Some levels force you to break an opponent's legs (more tedious than it sounds!) and some include weapons (much more tedious than it sounds), but the majority are just straight fights against very similar opponents. Scenery breaks pleasingly, but there's a disappointing lack of stuff to pick up - despite all the stools, fenders, planks and bits of metal littering every arena, only two of the first 50 levels even include a weapon. And those are tedious, because weapons are incredibly difficult to pick up, even trickier to hold onto, yet really easy for those computer characters (with their flawless timing) to counter. It's best to just grit your teeth and get through them, cheating as much as you can in the hope of getting to the next bit. Which is, inevitably, even harder.

And that's the game. Hit a series of enemies that gradually take less damage and dish more out. Beat down karate masters and badly dressed bikers and they eventually drift over to your 'allies' list, despite the fact that you've been hammering them in the face for hours. Curse and cheer your way through fight after fight, sometimes pulling off a spectacular move that you secretly know you didn't plan, until you notice that you're 75 missions in and nothing's changed from the start.

Like eating an entire tube of Pringles instead of a proper meal, this just about does the job, but get to the end and you feel oddly empty and a bit stupid.

Graphics 90%
Tekken with a grungey makeover

Sound 60%
No commentary and dodgy music

Gameplay 50%
Flawed. The game has to want you to win!

Lifespan 40%
Five hours of hitting, in bite-sized chunks

Overall 60%
Apparently, monks chant the same phrase hundreds of times to reach a meditative state. This is like that, but with punching.