Street Fighter is my favorite fighting series of all time and Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Fight for the Future is my favorite Street Fighter game, thus Third Strike is my favorite fighting game of all time. So, when it was finally revealed that Capcom was bringing this masterpiece to modern consoles, with online play...well, needless to say I was giddy. Capcom promised an unchanged, arcade-perfect port, GGPO netcode and a wide array of challenges and unlockable to make sure you can enjoy single player for months on end. So, what do I think of it now that I've gotten to spend some quality time with this classic?
The game is almost 100% arcade perfect. The only changes they've made were some visual changes to the menu interface, as well as some new filtering and screen options (which are very fun to mess with), and they've fixed the major game-breaking bugs (such as ones that would freeze the game). Otherwise, it's completely left intact to give you the true arcade experience.
There are dozens of single and multi player 'achievements', such as "get 10 perfects", etc. and most even have multiple levels like when you complete 'parry 5 attacks' it turns into 'parry 25 attacks', and so on. All of these little achievements earn you Vault Points, a currency system which allows you to buy various art work, music, character endings and more in the Vault.
IGS takes inspiration from Capcom's own Street Fighter IV and puts in a trials mode for each character which allows you to learn some great combos, helping newcomers along the steep learning curve or giving you a refresher of what was possible with your favorite character if you haven't played the game in a while. This is a great mode, but I've been playing SF since I was 6, and I've been playing this SFIII since 'New Generation' released in arcades back in 1997 so I immediately picked up on some gripes. The problem I have with this mode is that there are only handful of combos per character (many bread-and-butter combos aren't anywhere to be found) and they don't allow newbies to play the combos to see what they're supposed to look like. This is a feature that could have been way more engaging and much more helpful. I would have really liked to see some combos that were more applicable in real-combat situations, but what is there is great and Iron Galaxy didn't really have to include anything like this in the first place. Besides, if you want to excel at Third Strike, you need more than just combos; you need to learn about the parry.
If you want to learn how to parry you can either go into Parry Training mode, which is a classic mode included in the original home release of 3S, and you can enter the beginner and advanced parry trials. This is where the trials mode really shines. These trials explain how parrying works, and put you in practical situations you will easily experience while playing real matches. They even allow you to practice the Red Parry, where you block the first hit of a multi-hit attack, and then parry the rest. I wish they would have applied the same concept of practicality and detail in the combo trials.
When it comes down to it, you got the game so you can play it online, and I have to tell you that online play is impressive. There were a few matches that were choppy and I experience some weird glitches from time to time where a move was blocked or parried but the game plays the "K.O." audio even though the match is still going on, but for the most part GGPO is standing up and letting us know it is the best way to go for fighting game net-code. It is always a cinch to find matches and you have lobbies with spectator mode and headset compatibility (standard fare), but the best part is that you can instantly save and name your replays for later viewing, and even upload your replays to your own YouTube account directly from the game! Not only is this just a really cool feature, but it can be a great tool for upping your game. You can view other player's matches and have your own matches assessed for feedback from everyone from beginners to hardcore vets. Top level fighting game pros might even end up watching some of your matches! I hope other fighting games include this feature from now on.
Third Strike has been a lot of gamers' most beloved fighting game for over 10 years, and now we have its full glory as a downloadable game for only 15 bucks. On top of that, Iron Galaxy has offered various DLC and will continue to support it with patches, if necessary. 3SOE is a phenomenal value for your hard-earned dollar. I especially urge fighting game fans unfamiliar with SFIII to download this game immediately and enjoy, on a much grander scale, what made us fall in love with this game more than 10 years ago.