Those anticipating this release to be a true revelation for fans of the original classic, will be left rather disappoint
For those that are initiated with the series. "Street Fighter" has been around for quite a while. Initially released in arcades in arcades in 1987, the first game "Street Fighter wasnt necessarilly the revelation or the house hold name that the series has become now. It was the release of "Street Fighter II: The World Warrior" which released in arcades in 1991, that brought the fighting genre to a whole new level of amazing quality. It delvered amazingly memerable characters like "Ryu, Ken, Guile, and E. Honda" to the fighting mix. As well as had an absolutely amazing fighting engine. One that even holds up amazingly well after all these years. There have been many many version of "Street Fighter II" released when it began beeing ported to home console systems. However, the arcade version of "Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting", which made its release in 1992, was absolutely the most amazing and definitve version of the game. It was the perfect form of "Street Fighter II" for the arcades. It added all of the extra features that was added to the core game from the other versions of the game. It added the boss characters from the "Champion Edition" version of the game. It added the speed upgrade from the "Turbo" edition of the game. And the speed came through even better in the arcade version. In all respect, "Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting" is without a doubt one of the best games ever made. As well as the perfect version of the game to be release on Xbox Live Arcade.
The basic gameplay is here. The entire "Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting" game right in front of you. The game feels very well converted to the Xbox 360 controller. You wont find it hard to pull off any of your moves and get the most of the game. However, the one factor that kind of ruins the game is the speed. In the initial release of "Hyper Fighting", this initial version of the game. It ran at a super fast pace that delivered a very intense experience. However, on the 360 version. The games speed is slower at default. this makes the game feel a bit sluggish and it just doesnt feel as refined as the game used to feel. Single player is made up of single player arcade, and practice mode. And this is an intertaining experience, however, the game just doesnt feel as great as it used to.
The biggest feature that is met with high anticipation is the new online mode over Xbox Live. And to much disipointment, its done very sloppiliy. You can join maches and create them from a basic stadpoint. However, online play is very luggish and doesnt feel as refined as the game could have been. There is also an online "Quarter Mode", which is sort of like a party mode. However, there is only ties for four people to play in quarter mode. Making it a rather needless feature. On top of the lag issues, the game has a very seriouis problem aside from that. There is no protection against disconnectors. So if someone looses they can disconnect, and the match wont count. This is a very serious problem that throws off the whole balance of the game. However, no matter which way you go, the whole online support is very disapointing.
The presentation is mainly all there. However, there is some noticeable omissions. One of which is the sound, some of the sounds are not the same as the original. Making the game not so much arcade perfect. The graphics also arent compltely there. The game as a whole retains the look of the game. However, there is a lack of sharpness to the charactr models and the backgrounds look a little bit washed out. However, it still looks rather good in the end.
In the end, "Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting" is a grave disapointment. What could have been an amazing contender for the "Xbox Live Arcade" service. Ends up being a low quality version of the original classic. There is still enough here to warrent a purchase for fans and anyone who just want an online enabled version of "Street Fighter II". However, for those anticipating that game as being a true revelation will find it rather disapointing. Those anticipating this release to be a true revelation for fans of the original classic, will be left rather disappointed at the final product.