THE GAMER REPORT REVIEW: STREET FIGHTER IV

If I had saved all the money that I spent on Street Fighter 2 as a child, I would be in a mansion somewhere in the Bahamas. Countless days were spent at the bowling alley and the local 7-11 throwing quarters on the edge of the screen and doing battle. I got quite good, and was one of the local legends for tournaments at a local water park in Irvine. Through the many variations, whether it was Turbo, Hyper or Championship edition, I stayed loyal. Throwing Hadukens and busting Hurricane Kicks was daily ritual, and Sonic Booms were as common as putting socks on. Years went on, and the franchise grew expanding to numerous iterations of the original. Street fighter 3, Alpha, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, SNK vs. Capcom etc. released, but none compared to the original in my opinion. Next Gen consoles came out, and after a brief Hiatus, Xbox Live released Street Fighter 2. I was happier than an Ethiopian at a Pizza Party.

To my surprise, relatively close to the release of Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix, Street Fighter 4 was announced. What were they gonna do to make this already solid game more solid. After playing Street Fighter 4, the answer is quite simple, A LOT!! Everything in SF4 has been revamped and improved, without straying from the original Street Fighter formula that so many love. Let's start with the cosmetics. This game looks absolutely AWESOME! The vivid colors pop off the screen and do a really nice job of showing off your HDTV's color capabilities. I have not been this impressed with the graphics and colors of a fighting game since Soul Calibur 4. When projectiles are thrown, they seem to materialize out of the player. When Guile throws a Sonic Boom, rather than a cheesy little disc appearing in front of him resembling one of those little Yellow things in the middle of your old Def Leppard records, (don't lie, you know you own them) instead, as is arms rear back the projectile seems to form around his body before he releases it. Same carries over for Ryu and Kens fireballs etc. It's a small thing to go bananas over, but man it looks cool! Same goes for any sort of fire or energy in the game, it just looks flat out amazing. Another cool aspect is the animations in this game. Capcom has never slumped in this department in my book. Each fighter has unique and near perfect animations to compliment their fighting style. A great example of this attention to detail is one of the new characters, Abel, who is modeled after the modern day Mixed Martial Arts fighter. You can't help but see how much time was spent ensuring this dude looks and acts like the fighters you see in the cage nowadays, and its a great addition. All in all, the game looks great. Levels from the classic are re-done in incredible fashion. When someone hits the ground hard, the level will react to the action. Remember that dude on the bike in Chun Li's level? You know the one who would move super fast after you won a round and mashed the buttons? Well, throw down a 360 piledriver with Zangief and watch him fly off his bike and hop back on! It's a nice touch, and a nice throwback to those nerds like me who remember useless stuff like that. There is one level in particular that is set in front of a erupting volcano, it looks absolutely stunning! Subtle zooms on the action from time to time add another subtle but awesome addition.

For the most part, the arcade style of play is pretty straightforward. Each character has a story, (usually linked to one or more characters) that play out in the form of anime-style cut scenes. While it doesn't really enhance anything to make street Fighter's story mode more enticing, it's a nice touch. I mean, c'mon... who really plays Street Fighter for the story anyway? I will say this to anyone ready to dive in. The boss in Street Fighter 4 may be the cheesiest character ever! His name is Seth and he looks like the Silver Surfer on steroids. He basically takes all the best moves from all of Street Fighters OG heroes. Guile's Sonic Boom, Ken and Ryu's uppercut, (but it hits you ten times), Chun Li's tap kick, (which is 17 hits if it connects), and even the dreaded Zangief 360 pile-driver. It's not just these moves that make him Velveeta-esque, it's the AI of this beast, he knows right when to do everything including his Ultra move which takes close to half your life. Give it a go, you will see what I mean. It's a small hurdle in the actual beauty of this otherwise masterpiece of a game. The new characters each add a fresh style to the classic formula, and everything has been balanced quite well as far as gameplay goes. Hit detection is better, and cheesy stuff like jabbing people out of dashing attacks and roundhousing people out of a jump-kick seems to be gone from what I could tell. There is plenty of cool multiplayer modes to play along with some challenge modes like survival and time attack to help playback. There is even a mode or option you can set to have online match challenges come in while you are playing arcade mode. I must say a couple things on that note. I had a lot of trouble finding matches without turning this option on, or hosting the matches myself. Maybe it was just that the game was still quite new when I played it, but I still got my online fix on nonetheless.

A couple small problems and suggestions. First and most importantly, if you plan on being competitive at this game, the Arcade-style gamepad is a MUST. The Xbox controller simply does not provide the accuracy needed to pull off the right move at the right time in most cases. This is especially true in the half-circle/quarter circle and Down/up style special moves for characters like Ken, Ryu and Guile. Having buttons mapped to the bumpers and triggers just doesn't offer the same experience for me personally. Another small complaint is that some of my favorite dudes and dudettes like Blanka and Chun Li (man hands) have been changed dramatically and I am not sure what for. Character unlocking is a bit odd, and I would have liked to see more diversity in the unlockable guys and gals as well, but again, a great game through and through. Get ready to blister your thumbs and give this one a go if you are a fan of fighting games at all!

-DIGGITY OUT