Street Fighter IV Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 25th February 2009

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The Street Fighter series returns.

Street Fighter IV Details:

	Beat 'em Up
	PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	Capcom
	Capcom

12+

Out Now

1-2

Street Fighter II provided me with one of my earliest fighting game experiences, back in the early 90’s I played the game for hours on end on the SNES as did many other gamers. Subsequent versions and sequels however failed to make the same impact and many felt the series had lost its way. With this in mind Capcom set out to reinvigorate the franchise with Street Fighter IV, and they have truly succeeded.

You could say that Street Fighter IV pays homage to the franchises history, all the best known characters return, special moves are performed in a familiar way and of course the game has stayed faithful to the series 2D perspective.

Street Fighter IV is very much a hardcore beat ’em up and this is very much reflected in the games difficulty, which the more casual beat ‘em up fan, such as me may struggle with. However, though the games difficulty doesn’t stem from a difficult control system, or from pulling off special moves, which is something that affects many games in this genre! Pulling off each characters special abilities is fairly straight forward, with more practice obviously required in order to perform the Super and devastating Ultra combo’s. Street Fighter IV’s real challenge lies in the fact that the characters you come up against will actually try to beat you offering a good test for most beat ‘em up fans.

Street Fighter IV introduces all the usual new features you would expect to find in any beat ‘em up, extending the fighter roster with several all new characters such as mixed martial artist Abel, sexy super spy Crimson Viper and Mexican wrestler El Fuerte. The game also introduces several new moves such as focus attacks that allow you to focus your energy into a single hit which results in your opponent’s knees crumbling beneath them, Super Combo’s that decimate health bars and Ultra Combo’s that are revenge driven and allow you to recover after a particularly bad spell during a bout, of course this can also work against you as CPU fighters will also utilise the system to try and claw their way back into a match!

The game features several modes to prolong the title, none of which do more so than the online mode, which allows you to fight equally matched players thanks to its excellent match making system. Other game modes include Challenge Mode, in which you have to meet certain criteria in several game types. In Time Attack you have to score the best time you can, as you battle a series of computer controlled opponents. The Survival game type pits you against a series of opponents that you have to vanquish without your health bar running out. The final game type in Challenge Mode is Trial in which you have to complete a series of objectives in order to progress.

Whilst the visual style is reminiscent of the games past, it has of course considerably been updated for today’s technology. Characters are presented in 3D and have been re-imagined in an anime cell shaded style that looks absolutely superb. Areas in which fights take place are varied and highly detailed, with some paying tribute to those featured in Street Fighter II. Few cut-scenes are included in the game, but what is there is brilliant and upon seeing them you’d be forgiven if you thought you were watching a anime TV show or movie. The game’s audio is also of the highest quality with an excellent soundtrack that is very fitting to the game. Sound effects stay true to the series whilst voice acting is performed very well.

Many beat ‘em up games have disappointed hardcore fans recently, Street Fighter IV most definitely won’t! It may not be the most accessible of fighting games but it’s exactly what beat ’em up fans have been waiting for, offering a real challenge and plenty of replay value! Another classic from Capcom!