Street Fighter IV
by Capcom
Genre: Fighting
Players: 1 or 2, locally or over Xbox LIVE
Rating: Teen (alcohol reference, suggestive themes, violence).
review by Wade Manns
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I’ve always been a fan of the Street Fighter series of games. Whenever I needed to beat something up, to blow off steam or to otherwise have a good time, the series was always there to fill my needs. This version is no exception, but there are a few things about it that I have issues with.
First, the story has never really been a major factor in the Street Fighter series, but we do see a few anime-inspired cut scenes at the beginning and end of each character’s story. They have to do with the criminal organization, Shadoloo, run by the maniacal M. Bison, and their attempts to create the ultimate World Warrior, who turns out to be someone with the decidedly uninspiring name of Seth. This character has the ability to absorb all the abilities of every warrior that he fights, and augment their strengths with his own, turning himself into a nearly unstoppable killing machine.
You fight Seth at the end of every character’s story, but, and this is one of my major products when the game, you may find him impossible to defeat. The rival that you fight just before you fight Seth is different for each character and he or she is hard enough, but Seth is unbelievably cheesy, which means that he repeats moves over and over and he is incredibly powerful, with the end result that your character is pummeled to submission in an average of 15 seconds.
Besides that, this game is very good; the graphics are amazing and utilize a wonderful art style that totally evokes the characters, whether they be normal human in the case of Ryu or Guile, or bestial in the case of Blanka. The control is everything I would expect for a game of this type very tight and responsive, but it can be very hard to pull off certain special moves, all of which require a certain artistry with the controller, but some of which are easier to execute than others. The gameplay simply involves beating your enemies to a pulp, by whatever means possible, while avoiding getting beaten yourself, in the best tradition of old-school fighting games. The game is rendered in 3-D, but gameplay is 2-D only, meaning there is no sidestep maneuver, which would have been helpful.
Graphics: 10 out of 10.
Sound: 9 out of 10. The opening theme is really cheesy, but catchy. The rest is a sound is basically what you’d expect, lots of hard punches and special moves sounds, but the character voices you hear during matches can get a little annoying through repetition.
Control: 8 out of 10.
Gameplay: 9 out of 10.
Overall: 9 out of 10. At most, I think I would give this game a rent for players who are not really seriously into fighting games; for all others, I’d say buy it. It’s just not worth $60 to me.