Street Fighter IV is a gorgeous and entertaining brawler that anyone can play. Instead of rebooting the franchise, Capcom tweaked the familiar 2-D Street Fighter II formula and fused it with beautiful 3-D graphics, making it instantly likeable to older fans who want the controls and action they've loved and new gamers in search of visual nirvana. Although it features overused modes that appear in other fighters, Arcade and Versus will have you throwing fireballs until you wear out the controller.
What's here is a wonderful mix of old and new. Street Fighter IV's 25-person roster includes series mainstays Ryu, Chun-Li, Ken and Blanka, as well as newcomers El Fuerte, Crimson Viper and the overweight Rufus. No matter whom you choose, the combat is immediately accessible and addictive. Veterans will perform trademark moves with ease, while gamers that abandoned Street Fighter years ago will find that Street Fighter IV fits like a comfy pair of slippers; if you dominated fools as Ryu in the '90s, he'll feel instantly familiar. Meanwhile, newcomers can execute devastating attacks, either by mashing buttons or learning the nuances of combat in the Training mode.
Street Fighter IV Screens
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 1 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 2 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 3 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 4 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 5 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 6 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 7 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 8 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 9 of 292)
Street Fighter IV has returning favorites Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Dhalsim. The characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D computer graphics (CG), while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. The traditional six-button controls for the game will return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Mixing tried-and-true classic moves and techniques with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter 4 brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. (Screenshot 10 of 292)
For the most part, all of the fighters retain their signature moves like Ryu's Hadoken fireball, E. Honda's Hundred Hand Slap and Zangief's Spinning Piledriver, but Street Fighter IV's new maneuvers add a much needed dramatic flair. Its Focus system enables you to knock opponents to the ground with a well-timed strike, but you may also use it to absorb attacks, making it both an offensive and defensive weapon; you can even pretend to charge up and then cancel the move to fake out an opponent. In addition, there are two meters that charge over time: The Super and Ultra meter. Street Fighter IV's Super Meter gains energy with each successful attack. Fill it, and you can bust out bone-crushing Super Combos. On the flip side, the Ultra Meter fills as you take damage. This lets you execute a character's Ultra Combo, a flashy move that'll destroy an opponent's health bar. While it's a cheap way to get back into a fight, knowing when and how to use it separates the novices from the experts.
As you pummel fools into oblivion, you'll enjoy the game's outstanding graphics. All of the fighters sport remarkable detail, from Ryu's rippling muscles to Chun-Li's gorgeous legs. During fights, you'll see clothing flutter in the wind, humorous facial expressions and plenty of slick special effects from fireballs, lightning-fast Super Combos and various explosions of color. Even the stages look incredible, as you square off in front of a live volcano, amidst a crowded marketplace and our own personal favorite, Blanka's jungle stage, a board with animated monkeys, bats and other creatures in the background.
A catchy soundtrack compliments the stylish visuals, merging old school tunes with new themes that perfectly capture the essence of Street Fighter. We chuckled at the boy band style intro as well as the cheesy English voices, but unlike most fighting games, you can change individual languages per character, allowing you to make Sagat speak Japanese while leaving Dan his old corny self.
Similar to its competition, Street Fighter IV has standard issue modes. Arcade (or Story mode) forces you to defeat a series of opponents, including the selected character's rival and the boss, Seth. It also includes individual anime style intros and conclusions for each brawler. While a nice touch, they're too ambiguous to figure out and don't look nearly as good as the opening cinematic. As for the rivalries, Capcom never explains why certain characters (Ryu and Sagat, for example) hate each other. You'll need to do some investigating.
Aside from Arcade, Street Fighter IV delivers a standard issue Versus mode, Network Play (online fighting with varying amounts of lag, depending on the strength of your connection) and a decent online and a Challenge Mode that includes Time Attack (beat a series of opponents before time expires) and a helpful Trial Mode that walks you through various special moves. That's it. No crazy role-playing adventure or Tekken-style bowling game. The best part of this game, next to the fighting, is actually the wealth of hidden items that you'll unlock (cut scenes, artwork) by beating Arcade/Challenge mode.
Our biggest issue, however, has to do with the command lists that display each character's moves. For whatever reason, the text is much too small to read. We had to squint and get close to our TVs to read them. Since we reviewed a pre-release copy of Street Fighter IV, we'll examine the retail version to see if it suffers from the same problem.
Regardless of the platform (PS3 or Xbox 360), Street Fighter IV will keep you punching well into 2009. In some respects, the game feels too old school for its own good. Time Attack, a final boss that copies moves and head scratching cut scenes left us screaming for change, but then we'd play a few matches and before we knew it, hours had passed. So rush to the store, pick up the game and even an arcade stick. The best fighting series on the planet is back.
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