Graphics and sound go a long way is showing exactly what to expect from Beatdown. As with nearly every aspect of the game, a few neat visual elements are overshadowed by a generally poor showing. Overall, Beatdown is a good looking game. Had it been released a year ago, it would probably be considered great – but this isn’t the case. City environments are very small and confined, taking away the feeling that you’re in a big city. In addition, environments are very dark, so it’s easy to get turned around and not know where you are in some areas. Character models fare slightly better than the environments, but only because of the depth of customization available and real-time bruising that shows just how messed up your character is.
Things aren’t much better on the audio side of things. The soundtrack is sparse, and what few songs that pop up are overly generic. The same can be said about the vocal performances, which feel phoned-in for the most part. A poorly written script doesn’t help the cause. At times, it feels like the game is trying too hard to be “dark and cool”, making it sound silly and played out. This is especially apparent with the game’s deliberate use of profanity throughout the script. I generally don’t have a problem with these types of things, but only if they enhance the experience. Here it just feels like they were thrown in for the sake of saying it.