Video Game Review, Street Fighter IV (PS3, 360)

Ryu, Ken, Guile, Plenty of Fresh Faces in Newest Installment!

Feb 25, 2009
Nicholas Morine

Watch out, Blanka! - gabbo, sxc

After all the hype surrounding its release, Street Fighter IV certainly does not disappoint. Capcom pulls out all the stops with impressive new artwork!

An all-star cast reunites to discover who will be the leading fighter, the world warrior, in Street Fighter IV. Capcom has pulled out all the stops in attempting to deliver a true to life arcade experience with this latest installment of their most popular series.

Spare yourself the long lines at the local arcade, because the console version of SF IV delivers in full!

Same Classic Feel with a New Polish

Street Fighter IV is a 2D fighter, the very same as its primarily predecessor, Street Fighter II. However, instead of animated sprites, we are now treated to our cast in full 3D rendering. The animations are extremely smooth and well animated, and the super and ultra moves afforded to each combatant add a great deal of visual appeal.

Additionally, players are treated to the additional several new characters – Abel, C. Viper, Rufus, and El Fuerte. Abel is essentially a hybrid of Zangief and Balrog with some interesting rolling manouvres adding to the mix, C.Viper represents an intelligence operative with a very unorthodox fighting style, Rufus is a heavy hitter with some oddly-timed combos, and El Fuerte is a mexican wrestler, or luchadore, who is lightning fast and unpredictable.

The hit detection is excellent, the gamespeed is perfect and the cheese factor has been toned down significantly for hardcore fighting fans – allowing for a much greater degree of diversity in combos as well as in the pace of gameplay.

Also of note is the use of the new focus attacks, or saving system, introduced in Street Fighter IV. Very similar to the guard impact system in the Soul Calibur series, the focus attacks allow your player to parry an opponents strike and retaliate with a stunning blow of your own. These attacks are performed by pressing the medium kick and medium punch buttons simultaneously in expectation of a blow.

Upcoming DLC and Peer Reviews

Street Fighter IV has been the beneficiary of rave reviews and universal acclaim, IGN having rated it 9.3/10 and Metacritic holding a score of ~94% consistently for the title. Online play has been fairly successful and streamlined on the Xbox Live service, with an option during the typical Arcade Mode that allows players to challenge you from around the world during your play-through against the CPU, complete with the legendary “A New Challenger Approaches!” splash screen and voiceover.

Upcoming DLC or downloadable content for Street Fighter IV has also been announced for both the Playstation Network and Xbox Live services, particularly clothing packs and alternate costumers for the world warriors. Beginning on February 17th and continuing for a month thereafter, new costume packs will be available for download.