Street Fighter IV Review

There isn’t much like Street Fighter, sure you can look at series like Tekken or Dead or Alive but they still don’t have the following that Street Fighter has. So after over decade, Capcom have brought the acclaimed beat-‘em-up back to consoles with the fourth title in the main series. That is probably why almost every gamer who gamed in the 80s has memories of the series in some form. Most of the best memories come from the second title in the series, so to say that SFIV is the answer to what we should have had with SFIII is an understatement.

This new version of the fighter brings with it a sharp return, in which the game takes the genre back to a simpler time. Over the past years the beat-‘em-up genre has become overly complicated with controller destroying combo sequences which has turned off many gamers and meant that only the hardcore has stayed with the genre. SFIV has done away with all that and offers a few simpler combos to enable newcomers to perform some of the expert moves that until now only gods of the series could do. But fear not these gods still have plenty to toy with as they can now hone their skills to confirm their god status with the game.

The style of the gameplay isn’t the only thing to have a revamp the game’s controls have now been toned to the standard console controllers better. That said, still is true that the investment in a fighting stick would offer you better control but for those who can’t or just don’t want to the hundred odd pounds on a new fighting specific controller can relax and still enjoy the game with the normal one. There are a few problems though; the analogue sticks on the normal controllers don’t reset as quickly as a fighting stick and this leads to some unintentional moves, but that isn’t always a problem just an annoyance.

With the single player modes, there is no overt campaign play but instead more traditional modes like time attack, arcade and survival. The arcade mode has very little story except the beginning Cutscene and the concluding one, it just pits you against a random fighter over nine stages. This isn’t a bad thing really as it just adds to the simplicity of Street Fighter IV. In-game the fights feel hard and as realistic as you can get from an anime based game, each punch and kick connect with a feel of power and brilliance that you will be shouting and hollering at your TV in excitement.

Nothing is perfect and unfortunately Street Fighter IV does suffer. For some reason the final boss on the arcade is a strange blue teleporting man that has the appearance that looks very close to that of the Silver Surfer. He is an amazingly cheap character, who spends most of the battle teleporting around and managing to hit you from almost anywhere on the screen. Needless to say this takes the edge off an otherwise brilliant game.

Multiplayer fairs just as well in the stakes as the single as online play is the best that I have witnessed on a beat-‘em-up. The system offers up a status on each player’s connection to ensure lag free play which needless to say is a godsend. Possibly the best touch for online play is the option to have other players join you in an arcade session, this feels brilliant and the closest you can get in the modern world to an legal street brawl.

One of the best fighters around? Definitely. Genre defining? Totally. Is there really anything else I need to say? No.

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