Street Fighter IV

Does This Next-Gen Street Fighter Deliver? Yes...Yes It Does.



February 22, 2009 - I remember the first time I played Street Fighter. It was 1989, I was nine years old, and had one quarter left from my weekly allowance. I walked into a convenient store and saw the original Street Fighter game, you know before Ryu put that scar on Sagat's chest. A few years later Street Fighter II came out and completely blew my mind. Nothing can compare to those countless quarters spent at the arcades trying to do the Shoryuken but failing each and every time.

Well 20 years later, I feel like a kid again. With all of the many entries into the Street Fighter series, none of them compared to Street Fighter II but this one. Street Fighter IV is giving back to its fans what we wanted all of these years; classic Street Fighter II fighting with easier controls, characters that have meaning, and online play.

Let's start with the positives. Street Fighter IV is gorgeous. The special effects look amazing, and all of the characters you know and love look great for this gen with 3D graphics(Although some may criticize the World of Warcraft look of the models).

The fighting is where it's at though. If you are a Street Fighter fanatic, you will feel right at home with Street Fighter IV. All of the move sets you've grown to remember by heart are all here with even more ease of performing them. The Ultra and Super combos are fairly easy to perform, although some characters like Guile may be tricky to pull off.

Never played a Street Fighter game? First of all shame on you! But it's ok, Street Fighter IV has a Training Mode as well as a Challenge Mode to help those just starting out. I suggest the Trial Mode since it has you pull off easy to hard combos to complete each challenge. Definitely good for novices and hardcore players alike.

Now on to the negatives of Street Fighter IV. For novice players, you may find that even the Easiest setting is a bit difficult, which is a shame since it probably will turn away many newcomers. The end boss, Seth, is very cheap. I feel that Capcom got very lazy with Seth and just decided to give him every move from every character. Bad idea. I would have loved to have a unique boss to fight with a unique move set.

And OMG what is up with the Anime? Seriously Capcom? Anime? First of all none of the cutscenes make any sense, and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say they could have left out the corny storylines altogether. Seriously none of it makes any sense. Ken has to have one of the most corniest endings of them all. LOL. Do yourself a favor and just skip them and get to unlocking all of the characters.

And if I hear "Indestrucible" one more time! That song is the ONLY song that plays during the menu screen. It's driving me crazy and I know I can't be alone on this! Next time Capcom, add more songs please thanks!

The multiplayer is my biggest gripe thus far. This is, in my opinion, the most important part of Street Fighter; playing other players. Capcom failed in this department. Out of 100+ matches I've played so far, I think 75% of them has gotten disconnected midway into the match. The other 25% of the matches were a pain to join since there is no lobby. You have to manually search for games and hope that you can actually connect to an online player. If you don't connect, you have to search AGAIN for another player and rinse and repeat. If you decide to create a match, you have to sit there and wait for someone to join. I hope Capcom sees these issues and either add a lobby or find a way for us to join matches easier, because right now it's a P.I.T.A.

However, once you have joined a match, there is NO lag whatsoever. Moves happen the minute you enter them, and fights feel as though your opponent is sitting right next to you. It is also pretty cool to have online players challenge you while you play through the Arcade mode, but it would be nice to be challenged at anytime if you have the option on.

In closing, Street Fighter IV is a must-have. Period. Even with the issues with multi-player and the Arcade mode, every Street Fighter fan will play this game nonstop for hours trying to rank up and get the highest scores on the leaderboards. This is how you update a classic fighter. Go get it!

8.5 Presentation
If it weren't for the cheesy anime cutscenes and unintuitive multiplayer search options, this would have gotten a 10 easily.

9.5 Graphics
Beautiful game. Period. Gorgeous stages and special effects. Characters are slightly on the buffed side but still look great in 3D. This is how you update a 2D fighter for next-gen.

9.0 Sound
All of the sound effects we have grown to love over the years are here and never sounded better. But if you enjoy your sanity you will mute your TV when you are on the menu screen..INDESTRUCTIBLE!

9.5 Gameplay
Best fighting game out currently. Smooth controls and absolutely no lag during an online match. This is how Street Fighter was meant to be played. Docked .5 for some cheesy fights in Arcade mode.

10.0 Lasting Appeal
I'm sure Capcom will work out the multiplayer portion. In the meantime, this game will be played for years to come. With the leaderboard, there will be countless hours wasted trying to top the charts.

9.6 OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)







See More Street Fighter IV Screenshot at IGN.com