I remember a time long ago when I heard the oh-so exciting news that my local arcade acquired a Street fighter III cabinet. This was back in 1997, long before that black void took the place once occupied by my soul. I rushed to the arcade, full of hope, and excited at the prospect of a bigger, better Street Fighter experience. Hands shaking with anticipation, I dropped a quarter in the machine, and prepared myself for a new challenge. Alex? Dudley? Yang? Who to pick? As it turned out, they all sucked. Every last one of them. After a very short time with the game, my shoulders slumped, and my head hung low as I made my way back over to the ever faithful Super Street Fighter II Turbo cabinet I had known and loved for so long. The new game was an epic disappointment. I guess after telling you that story, it’s probably pretty obvious that I was skeptical about a new Street Fighter game.  I’m happy to report that Street Fighter IV has hit my skepticism with a devastating hodoken.

The character roster contains all of your favorites from previous Street Fighter games, as well as four new comers: Abel, Crimson Viper, Rufus, and El Fuerte. It’s also worth noting that Gouken, Ryu and Ken’s master, is playable for the first time in the console versions of Street Fighter IV, as is Seth, the final boss. Each character has their own style of fighting, as well as their own individual special moves. Anyone familiar with the series well know that every attack from an opponent merits a different response, and that response may vary depending on who you’re playing as. Moves can be chained together into combos, and the right combo can deal heavy damage. As you successfully pull off combos, your super meter will fill up, giving you the opportunity to pull off various super moves.You also have an ultra meter, which works a little differently. Every time your opponent blocks an attack, and every time you take damage, your ultra meter will fill up a little bit. Once it fills up, you have the opportunity to do an extremely devastating ultra attack, some of which can take up to 60% of your rival’s health. A well executed ultra move can turn a fight around, and help you gain an unexpected victory.

Street Fighter IV is a visual, and auditory treat. The classic 2D sprites have been replaced with superb 3D character models. The style stays true to the character designs we all know and love, while bringing them into the third dimension. The soundtrack got a similar upgrade. Many of the tracks are upgrades of songs from previous games, with a few new comers thrown in, all of which are highly bitchin’.

Bla bla gameplay bla bla graphics bla bla sound…. yea, I know why you’re still reading, you wanna know how the online play is. Well, it’s great. I played quite a few matches, and only experienced lag once. Even then, the game seemed to do a fair job of correcting for it, although a few kicks did go straight through my rival. The only downside to online multiplayer is that it reminds me that, while I may be a champ at my local arcade, my talents pale in comparison to some of the people I met on XBL. Just before sitting down to write this review, I was defeated by someone playing as Dan, and anyone familiar with the severely underpowered attacks he has to offer knows just how humiliating that is. To make matters worse, the guy actually messaged me to remind me that I had been “DANNED”. I can’t really blame the game for my relative inferiority though, so my final conclusion on the multiplayer is that it rocks pretty damned hard.

This is it. This is the fighting game to define fighting games in this generation of gaming. If you’re not a fighting game fan, SFIV isn’t likely to convert you, however, if you are, then you should stop reading right now, and go buy it. The gameplay is as solid as any other Street Fighter game. It’s easy to learn, and hard to master. It sounds good, and it looks great. It is less filling, and it tastes great. This game is sure to make me a stranger to friends and family alike.

-Mike Kurz

Tags: arcade, Fighting games, PS3, review, SFIV, Street Fighter, Xbox 360

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