February 26, 2008

Street Fighter IV (360/PS3)
Capcom, Feb 17, T
By Glenn "Psycho Crusher" Given production@hippopress.com

Don’t believe you can handle high-end fighting games? Sure you can.

Street Fighter IV, the 21st game in the series — not counting crossover titles like Street Fighter vs. X-Men — steps into the third dimension and then half steps back into the second for a tightly rewound traditional fighter. Gorgeous graphics at 720p presentation don’t get in the way of a smoothly running, weighty-feeling brawl. Large characters nimbly flip about misty Asian barges, snowy rail yards and “Historic Distilleries” landing bone-cracking blows and tricky but not impossible combos. While SF3’s signature parry mechanic has been removed, the flashy ultra and super combos return along with two important new techniques. Two-button Focus attacks offer a guarded counter and the ability to stun or break the defense of opponents. Players can also consume portions of their super gauge to add focus armor to special moves allowing you to absorb one attack and still execute your special. The effect of these additions has shifted gameplay away from SF3’s twitching parry-fest and into a nice balance between jumping mix-ups and a fluid boxing-like ground game.
The 25 pugilists that grace the home console versions include your core 12 of Ryu, Guile, Bison and the like with four newcomers unique to SF4: the gadget-oriented C. Viper, Kung Fu tub-o-lard Rufus, luchador chef El Fuerte and MMA Frenchie Abel. Completing the game’s arcade modes with various characters further unlocks SF also-rans like Fei Long, Gen and Cammy as well as the game’s new boss, Seth, and hidden bosses Akuma and Gouken. In all, any playstyle can find its go-to guy. Rushdown button-mashers will gravitate to speedsters like Rufus and Chun-Li while technical wonks will explore the finesse requierd for a successful Zangief or Vega performance. The other eight out of 10 people you play online will play as Ken.

SF4 offers a wide selection of modes including traditional versus, online match-making, arcade-style fights (where the inclusion of online challengers can be enabled) as well as training modes for each character and challenges like survival gauntlets and time trials. Capcom has delivered a title that offers accessibility and depth, carving out playstyles for any end of the fighting gamer specturm to feel at home with. Capcom wisely sticks to the second format, having seen the “realism” of a z-axis just doesn’t play to its design strengths. The only complaint is that the prologue and ending animations for each character are so laughably atrocious in both dialogue and “plot” that they sully the surrounding material A — Glenn Given