Street Fighter 4
Xbox 360
I didn't start out liking Street Fighter 4. In fact, I couldn't understand why the people in the game studio I was interning at last June was so high on playing it almost everyday in the games room. Most of the staff would hide in there at 6.30pm sharp (knock-off time) every evening to battle it out. Graphically, I have to say that it looks great. But what's so fun about playing a game that allows players to fight against each other over and over again? I started playing only a while later, when late nights in the studio became the norm. I picked up the controller, and before I knew it, I became like the rest.
Street Fighter IV (SF IV), developed by Capcom, is a fighter game similar to the ones you play at the arcade. It is also one of the few dominating fighter games with a huge fanbase. Most people would consider SF IV the 'proper' sequel to where Street Fighter II left off many many years ago. I remember playing Street Fighter II, I still have the yellow cartridge for my SNES.
SF IV starts off with a magnificently beautiful introduction scene. It shows off its art style, which heavily employs a calligraphic touch. Instead of the usual air rush trail thingy that happens when someone does a punch, calligraphic ink moves gracefully through the air, only to disappear after a while. I was mightily impressed. Character design is top-notch, with characters still dressed in their old uniforms: Ryu wearing a white gi, Ken Masters a red one.
Players can either choose to play in a variety of ways: there is the story mode, versus mode (for 2 players), online Xbox Live Arcade play, or go through a series of challenges and trials. This provides for a good many hours of play, as players have so many options to choose from when they do get bored of one mode.
Controls are similar to that of the arcade version, so players who played SF II will have no problem controlling their characters. On an XBOX360 controller, players can either use the D-pad or the left thumb stick for movement, while the rest of the buttons are used for the different attacks. What I find interesting are the different moves and combos: all characters have basic and advanced moves. While this is typical in every game, I only realised the reason for it when I played SFIV. Having basic moves allow people to pick up this game easily, letting them throw out moves with just a couple buttons. For the advanced players, they have the more difficult moves to master. In addition to the moves which require 3 to 5 button presses, there is the ability to link different moves together. These are called combos, and the game teaches the player how to do this in the training mode. Also new to SF IV is the Super Ultra Combo, which is a character's signature move. it is a level higher than an Super, and costs more, but does significantly more damage.
In story mode, an individual cutscene for each player will be played at the start of the game, narrating to the player the personal reasons why each character is in the game. After which, they will then fight rounds after rounds with different character, till they reach the penultimate round where they will fight against a rival character (e.g. Ryu's rival is Sagat, Sakura's rival is Ryu, etc). The final round will be against a creature called Seth, who is able to biologically change his body parts, similar to that of the T-1000 in Terminator 2. This individuality between characters allow the player to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to them, and creates a pseudo player-character relationship, instead of seeing the different characters only as pixels who can do different moves.
Online play is fun, but unless you play it with friends whom you know and are situated locally, chances are that you will be playing in tremendous lag, and that kills the game. In a fighter game, reaction and feedback time is of utmost importance. It is almost impossible to play properly with high latency, and that is what I have been experiencing in Xbox Live. A neat feature in the game is how they simulate arcade playing: during story mode (or known as arcade mode), players might get interrupted halfway into the match with the words 'A new challenger has arrived!', a prompt signaling that someone else (a real life player) has entered the match and will be challenging you. This happens in a real life arcade when someone puts in a token and sits opposite you. In the Xbox360/PS3 version however, it would mean that someone from either Xbox Live or PSN has entered an online game that you have created, and the single player match is interrupted. Fortunately, the player is able to switch this function off.
As mentioned before, art style is beautiful. It plays in 3D, and character design is impressive. You can see the detail of the character and their emotions during the different stages of fight. In fact, it was the graphics that made me first notice this game. It is done in a stylised manner, and evokes a fun and hilarious feel to it.
All in all, I really like this game and is definitely in my top ten list of games to play, sitting alongside the likes of Doom, Quake, and Commander Keen.
For the record, my favourite character is Ken Masters.
Rating: 9.5/10
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