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STREET FIGHTER IV XBOX 360 REVIEW |
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Capcom's
legendary franchise Street Fighter has come a
long way since 1987, the year the first Street
Fighter game was released. However, the series
didn’t make waves until Street Fighter 2 made
its way onto the arcade scene that had teenagers
lining up their dirty quarters to get a chance
to crack at its immersive characters and
amazingly deep gameplay. It’s only natural that
Capcom would make more games in the series.
Street Fighter III brought the series to new
heights in every respect, and ramped the
gameplay complexity up; a questionable move that
led some gamers astray. It’s now 2009, more than
two decades since the first game in the series.
Street Fighter IV is the perfect game to
celebrate this lineage.
Street Fighter IV takes place not too long after
the second game was released, and you can expect
to see the return of practically all of the
Street Fighter 2 crew. The original twelve
fighters, such as Ken, Dhalsim, and Chun-Li
return alongside four new characters: Abel,
Crimson Viper, El Fuerte, and Rufus. What’s more
is that Capcom graciously decided to add a
whopping eight more characters for the console
release, including Alpha favorites Dan, Rose,
and Sakura. All of the characters handle
exceptionally well, and old classics have
heavily tweaked moves. Ken’s knee bash and air
throw have been removed, for example, but his
normal kicks have been improved for better
ranged play. The basic gameplay in Street
Fighter IV isn’t much different from the system
in Street Fighter II. There is no parrying, no
super selection, etc.
Some might see the removal of techniques
mentioned above as a setback, but this lends
Street Fighter IV some room to add beautiful new
innovations while keeping it simple. There are
two main additions to the core gameplay, both of
which heavily affect how a battle plays out: the
Focus Attack system, and the Revenge Gauge. The
new Focus Attack gives every fighter in the game
a special attack that can be charged up to three
stages, going up to an unblockable state. The
charge process is easy to counter with quick
reflex, but if the Focus Attack connects, the
victim crumples to the ground, vulnerable to a
combo. The Focus Attack shields the attacker
from one hit – the health lost from the hit
regenerates over time if not followed up.
Dashing in either direction cancels this attack
either before or after it connects, and it can
also be used to cancel character-specific moves,
such as Ken’s infamous Dragon Punch.
In short, the Focus Attack adds an entirely new
layer of depth to the gameplay that gives
players the opportunity to create unique
strategies with each other as it promotes an
amazing high-risk, high-reward function.
Experience players will discover more advanced
combos hidden in the Focus Attack’s cancel
system. The other new features is the use of the
Revenge Gauge, which builds up as a fighter
takes damage. Once built up to the halfway
point, an Ultra Combo is ready to use, similar
to a Super Combo. The big difference here is
that the Revenge Gauge is depleted at the end of
every round, and can build up to halfway or more
shortly after a round begins. The farther the
gauge is built, the more damage it does – it can
take away one sixth of the opponent’s health!
This system synergizes with the Focus Attack,
where absorbing enemy hits with the Focus Attack
builds up the Revenge Gauge in return. These two
fighting mechanics are more than enough to keep
players’ adrenaline pumped for a long while.
The one feature that hurts Street Fighter IV is
the online functionality. Everyone expects it to
have at least a basic matchmaking service where
fighters can choose to play with a friend or
play against a random opponent for keeps.
Unfortunately, that’s all it offers. Lobbies in
Street Fighter IV aren’t even lobbies; they’re
just a screen where two people can chat or
switch around an emoticon. Have two friends? Too
bad, Street Fighter IV makes you connect to each
other selectively game after game, and there’s
no observer mode. Street Fighter II and Street
Fighter II Turbo HD Remix had these functions,
and were quite enjoyable because of it, which
waiting in line provides some diversion. Capcom
took a massive step backward in not including
this functionality. Another flaw, albeit very
minor, is that character selection is not
anonymous. |
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PRODUCT
OVERALL RATING: 9.5 OUT OF 10 |
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Every once
in a while, opponents will wait and see what
fighter their rival chooses before they choose
one themselves, which is not a problem for
experienced players, but a little annoying for
first timers. The actual online gameplay is also
slightly disappointing where even just a tad bit
of latency screws up many of your favorite
maneuvers. For instance, pulling off reliable
combos becomes very risky, and sometimes what
feel to be successful move executions don’t
actually happen during the fight. However,
Capcom did add a very cool feature to the online
functionality: the Arcade Mode, which can be set
to accept challenges from other players online
randomly, at any time. This little addition
makes Street Fighter IV at home behave as if it
was at the arcade, where people can pop in
quarters and challenge anyone at any time.
Street Fighter IV comes with a very high replay
value thanks to the additional side components.
For instance, those individuals willing to put
in the time to learn are treated to various
training sessions in which they can study the
forms of each character, including all of the
unlockable fighters. These sessions teach you
from basic normal attacks to extremely highly
advanced combos that require hours of practice
to master. Survival modes are also available,
and they range from easy challenges where
opponents cannot block to incredibly difficult
levels where player's health hardly gets
replenished between fights. Completion of these
trials and ranking high in the survival modes
unlock titles and icons, which are used to
customize your online ‘fighter card’, which is
simply an ID. Unlocking all titles will take
full mastery of the game and tremendous amount
of patience, and unlocking every icon will take
even more work.
Graphically, the games looks very impressive,
and the animation is running consistently and
flawlessly throughout at a full sixty frames per
second. However, there is a little annoyance in
how the game scales down to 4:3 SDTV screens:
the HUD is squished vertically, and many of the
actions in the command lists are illegible. The
text is somewhat small, but still readable by a
tiny margin. However, the game is beautiful on
practically all widescreen display. Capcom
really did an incredible job pumping up the 3D
graphics as they modernize the 2D gameplay. All
the effects from Street Fighter II and III are
here, including the bones flashing from electric
attacks and the flashy burns from flaming
projectiles. The ‘ink’ style that was popular in
the trailers lends itself well in-game. The
Focus Attacks cause the character to become
outlined in ink the stronger the attack is, and
if it connects, the victim is splattered with
ink throughout.
Character move with fluidity and realistically.
You’ll see a number of fighters will bulge their
eyes out when taking strikes to the solar
plexus, for example. The arenas in which the
battles take place are just as full of details
as the characters themselves. Many special moves
affect the background in several ways; for
example, Honda’s Sumo Splash causes items in the
background to thump or fall over, irritating the
crowd (if there is one). Details such as these
ones bring Street Fighter IV to life; it feels
as if the characters are really fighting rather
than being controlled, and more over, the
spectators react to the fight with tremendous
energy. It’s not only the visuals that make the
SF experience dramatic, the sound and music play
a big role in making this package a complete
must-have title. The sound effects are superb
and spot-on.
Focus Attacks charge up with thunder-like
sounds, and impact with something akin to a
meteor crashing into the ground. Characters
voices are nicely done, both in English and
Japanese. You can toggle between the two
languages in the options menu, so fans can enjoy
listening to different taunts of each fighter.
The announcer’s commentaries bring in a nice
pitch to the action sequence as it adds a grip
to battles on counterattacks and spellbinding
finishers; every line feels appropriate for the
context, and certain ones are surprisingly
memorable! Just like in Street Fighter II,
Capcom delivers another outstanding soundtrack
as well, bringing the aural experience full
circle. It’s loaded with plenty of modern
breakbeats, four-on-the-floor,
thumping-bass-drum scores determined to drill
the fighting spirit into both players and
onlookers. The incredible sound system that
Street Fighter IV carries is nothing short of
mind-blowing.
Street Fighter IV is simply an arcade benchmark
in the fighting genre. Whatever love that faded
away since the inception of Street Fighter II is
found here once again. If you were too young or
have never been taken by the hype of Street
Fighter madness in the late 80's, chances you'll
have a hard time trying relate to all the fuzz
surrounding Street Fighter IV. You might find it
very difficult to adapt. After all, this is not
your typical Chuck Norris action flick. However,
with a little bit of practice and perseverance,
you'll soon discover that this is mixed martial
arts at its best. Here you have a fast fighting
game that combines 3D technology of today with
an unforgettable 2D gameplay of the past. For
long-time fans, it's a feeling of reminiscing
those ‘old school’ three and four hit combos
while continually challenging themselves with
modern super moves and mastering new characters.
Suffice it to say, Capcom has done an remarkable
job with this game. Despite some lagging online
transmissions, it's still a masterpiece on its
own. |
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