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Street Fighter 4 Review
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The Street Fighter series, much like Prince of Persia, is something I am somewhat nostalgic about. I spent a lot of afternoons as a kid beating up my friends on Street Fighter 2. So I reacted with some interest when I heard that Capcom was coming out with a new installment. Would it be as fun as I remembered the old games being? Would they finally upgrade to 3D graphics and environments? And would that, as so many series purists seem to think, somehow "ruin" the franchise? Only time would tell. Well, It's been over a year and the game is finally in our hands. So how does it measure up?
Well, as it turns out that's kind of hard to say. The game is great in some ways and awful in others, which I'll try to articulate as we go. The story centers around an annual fighting tournament sponsored by a shadowy corporate entity called S.I.N. (I know, I'm rolling my eyes right along with you) Martial artists from all around the world sign up for this event to beat the hell out of each other for bragging rights and a giant bag of prize money. There's an exaggerated, comic book feel to the characters, and everything is very bright and colorful, with anime inspired cutscenes explaining each fighter's motivation for signing up. The whole thing has the feel of some bizarre japanese children's show, right down to the crappy themesong in the intro, and I expect this is exactly what the developer was going for. There are many gamers of my generation who associate this series with certain parts of their childhood, and I believe the way the game presents itself is an attempt by the developer to play off this nostalgia. That, or it could just be that the whole thing is terminally stuck in the early 90s presentation-wise, and I'm being a pretentious windbag.
Speaking of anachronism, lets talk gameplay. As you've all probably guessed, the game consists of a series of increasingly difficult martial arts brawls against different computer opponents. Given that this whole game is basically a love letter to early 90s arcade fighters, the developers have chosen to eschew the 3D movement of more modernistic fighting series like Dead or Alive and Tekken.
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The characters and backgrounds are drawn in 3 dimensions, but that's the only concession to modern times that we get. You move up, down, left and right on a 2D plane, and the only environmental interaction is with the guy you're trying to beat. Given the overall retro feel of the game, you may expect it to be rather simple, but it's actually one of the most difficult things I've ever played, which brings me back to what I said about it being both great and awful. You see, its entirely possible to have a great game with cool looking graphics, a neat roster of characters, and a deep, well constructed attack/counter attack/combo system and still not have a lot of fun with it because it's kicking your ass.
This thing may look simple on the outside, but unless you're someone whose prepared to sacrifice their entire social life to the development of superhuman twitch-gaming reflexes, you will be repeatedly and brutally beaten. I've had more bouts of apoplectic, controller hurling rage with Street Fighter 4 than with any game I've played in recent memory. Even when I did finally win, it was generally more due to luck than skill. And knowing the exact button combo for a devastating special move generally doesn't help much when the game has already beaten you into a coma and begun to make angry prison love to your unconscious body. I think I'm done ragging on the difficulty now, though. As hard as it is, it's still an excellent game with cool graphics and a good combat system. I'd recommend it to anyone experienced enough to play it right, but beginners should stay away from this one, far away.
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