HEAD BLOG

The game explodes on to your console

When I was 9 years old Santa brought me and my two little brothers one of the best gifts a child could get. A SNES console and Street Fighter II.Before this our only Street Fighting experience had been on arcade machines – now we no longer had to beg for just one more coin to continue playing. Our play was unlimited! E.Honda and I became a formidable team and spent many hours together.

Nearly 2 decades later and Capcom bring us Street Fighter IV – the first sequel that truly lives up to the Street Fighter II legend. This is one game worth waiting for. The nostalgia is so thick that you’ll find yourself searching your pockets for a 20p piece after a failed round.

One of the immediate aspects of the game’s appeal is that all 12 characters from Street Fighter II are included. That makes 25 playable characters (including 4 new ones) in total, although some need to be unlocked. It’s worth-while playing every character to get a feel for which one will suit you the best. Whether you want to play aggressively or defensively, fast or wait for your opportunity, shoot fireballs or grapple, there is a character to suit you.

Of course this will also be many gamers’ first experience with the Street Fighter series. And this is where the real genius of Street Fighter IV comes into play – whether you are a veteran or a newcomer you will find the combat easy and fluid to play. The controls are responsive and very forgiving for new players. Every punch and kick connects with a weight that you can almost feel. There will be little frustration in getting out one of Ryu’s Hadouken’s or Guile’s Sonic Boom.

For more advanced players, many moves can be “cancelled” into special moves, but the timing is very strict and you will have to put in the practice in order to pull it off consistently. If you are willing to put that time in you will be rewarded by becoming nigh unbeatable to the average player. A new addition to the range of moves comes in the form of “Ultra” attacks. This is a heavy hitting attack tied to a “revenge” meter that builds by taking damage, rather than dishing it out. Be warned though – they may be easy to pull off, but if you don’t perform an ultra at the right time then the move will be blocked or countered. However, when you do get it right the explosion of animation is so satisfying you’ll want to leap off your sofa and laugh in your opponent’s face.

It is worth starting a new paragraph to mention the visuals. The graphics are beautiful. While the game plays in a 2D environment, all the graphics are 3D. The characters are rich in detail and colour and are surprisingly emotive. A character may display a wide-eyed look of shock before taking an Ultra-move to the face or a facial grimace when taking an uppercut to the – ahem – package. There is the fine detailing of the “ink splatter” effects during certain attacks, the cinematic Ultra attacks and the beautifully rendered backgrounds. Completing certain sections of the game will also open up original artwork for you to drool over.

The game offers more than just arcade and versus mode. Challenge mode is made up of Time Trials, Survival mode and Trials. The Trail mode is specifically meant to help players familiarise themselves with basic attacks and complex combos. Sorry to say that this mode has a learning curve as steep as the Cliffs of Insanity. Whilst you may whiz through the first few sets of trials you may then find yourself weeping over your controller after spending an hour trying to pass the next set. Some of these linked moves require timing down to a fraction of a second (the frame rate of Street Fighter’s 2D animation is 60 frames a second). You might be able to pull them off eventually, but can you do it in the heat of battle? The trials are a good study aid but they really don’t offer any kind of guidance to help new players or help to develop fight strategies. If you really are determined to become a Street Fighter of legend then I would recommend investing in a proper arcade stick which will make these linked moves less frustrating to pull off.

The only real gripe that can be attributed to the game is towards the arcade mode’s final boss, Seth. Seth must be one of the most over-powered and frustrating game bosses to grace a fighting game. He has many of the special moves of every other character in the game alongside his own arsenal and he uses them almost constantly. He also has an absurdly large amount of health. On harder settings it can sometimes be difficult to even land a punch. Sure, you will feel increased satisfaction when you manage to hit him with Ken’s Dragon Punch, but sometimes it just feels like you are grinding to get through it. His only slight weakness seems to be to hard kicks.

An over-powered final boss is a minor transgression when you take the rest of the game into account though. Street Fighter IV has the capacity to become the favourite fighting game of this generation of consoles. Whether you are a casual or a hardcore gamer I feel confident in saying that there will be something in this game that appeals to you. I predict a combination of friends, alcohol and Street Fighter IV will be creating enjoyable evenings for many years to come.