Mike Moreno's Review:
Prepare yourselves, fight fans! The world warriors return in the latest addition to the franchise that fathered the fighting genre as we know it. In Street Fighter IV, Capcom trims the fat that has built up over the years and brings the series back to the roots that made Street Fighter II into such an immense hit in the first place, while adding enough new elements to give the game a fresh approach. New recruits will likely find a satisfying and memorable introduction to the series, while returning veterans will be welcomed back by nostalgic gameplay with a modern twist.
The Street Fighter IV experience is all about balance; it can most accurately be described as new school meets old school. Capcom learned its lesson with the Street Fighter Alpha and III series, keeping the best aspects from those games while removing all the unnecessary baggage for a streamlined style of gameplay that is both accessible and surprisingly in-depth. Outside of your standard combos players have access to three powered up move types known as EX special moves, super combos, and ultra combos. Ultra combos, a new addition to the franchise, allow you to pull off cinematic moves that do considerable damage and provide an exhilarating visual experience.
Also new to the series is the addition of Focus Attacks. Initiating one allows you to ignore recoil from an incoming attack while releasing an effective counter-strike. These additional skills add a layer of depth to the overall strategy of the game. A casual player can get by with mere button mashing, but advanced players will be able to take their game to the next level by utilizing these new moves properly. The more defense oriented nature of focus attacks forces skilled players to put as much thought into predicting and countering their opponents moves as they do with stringing together offensive combos. It is a subtle touch that adds a new element to battles.
The graphics are beautiful and well done, representing another landmark in the history of the Street Fighter series. While fights take place on a 2D plane, backgrounds and characters are fully rendered in 3D. It may sound like a simple enough convention at first, but the use of 3D models brings a great deal of depth (pun unintended) and substance to the experience. Movements are fluid and well choreographed, giving a realistic appeal to the characters and their techniques. The impact of a connecting blow has a surprising amount of force behind it. The cinematic ultra combos take full advantage of the added dimension, presenting energetic camera work that follows the action and creates dramatic angles that make watching the move play out as rewarding as the damage it inflicts on your opponent.
Special moves are rendered in surprising detail. My eyes widened in pleasure the first time I witnessed one of Ryu’s Hadouken make contact with an enemy. The way the flames rolled off their body like so much mist in the wind really gave me an appreciation for the amount of work put into its visual presentation. Adding to the eye candy are the bursts of calligraphy inspired ink brush strokes, outlining characters and accenting attacks with bold splashes of black. It is a modern and stylish artistic approach that, unfortunately, is underplayed. The ink marks seem to only appear upon connecting with a successful focus attack. They serve to highlight and increase the intensity of the moment, but to only see it appear on the same animation quickly becomes redundant. Capcom missed out on an incredible opportunity to create a modern, avant-garde presentation for their new game. They could have taken it further and applied the same concept to EX attacks and ultra combos to make a real show out of it. Sadly, they fell short.
The title also lacks in other categories. The console version functions well as a port of a game originally designed for arcades. However, the poetry of its control seems to get lost in translation. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360’s D-pad is not the most responsive. Too often will you attempt to perform a quarter-circle roll, only to have your character jump into the air, disrupting both the combo and your strategic flow. Not to mention the awful anime-style cut scenes that sandwich the bulk of your arcade mode experience. The animation is weak at best, and the feeble attempt at creating some semblance of a plot becomes nothing more than a disconnected and confusing waste of time. The only solace is the ability to skip the scenes with a press of a button. Capcom could have followed through with their ink motif and replaced the intro/outro with a similar, stylized product. Once again, the developers failed to take advantage of an opportunity that could have created a memorable and unique style of presentation.
It may have taken nearly a full year for SFIV to make its way from Japanese arcades to the home console scene, but the wait was well worth it. Console and PC gamers have access to eight otherwise unplayable characters, each bringing their own balanced yet individual fighting style to the roster, raising the total head count of playable fighters to twenty-five. Hidden within its coding is a veritable treasure trove of unlockable content, ranging from alternate color schemes to gamer tag titles. The addition of online capabilities creates a real-life World Tournament, allowing players to test their mettle against other individuals from around the world. All of this, coupled with the potential for future game-expanding downloadable content releases creates a title that absolutely sweats replay value.
Street Fighter IV does not change the face of the fighting genre as we know it. However, it is one of the best fighting experience available on a next generation console. Its accessibility, balance, replay value, and top-notch gameplay raises the bar quite high for whatever games may follow. Its remarkable ability to remain non-intimidating to amateurs while providing satisfying gameplay for the hardcore community, to balance simplicity with layers of strategy, and to marry old school style with the demands of a new school market sets a new standard of quality for the genre as a whole.
Street Fighter IV is bound to become the next iconic installment within the franchise. It would make a welcome addition to any video game library. Although the standard $60 price tag may be disconcerting to frugal buyers during this time of economic uncertainty, there is no doubt that through online play; its functionality as a great party game; and the potential for quick, one round “pick up and play” matches; its shelf life will more than pay for itself over time. Just do not be surprised when you walk away from your first encounter with the type of sore thumb most gamers have not seen since the pre-analog stick era.
March 11, 2009
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