Street Fighter IV truly deserves its place as one of the greatest fighting games of all time.
Street Fighter IV truly feels like the arcade game we all know and love with plenty of enhancements to the core gameplay. If you haven't thrown Ryu's Hadouken in over 15 years, there's no need to worry. Capcom has made it incredibly easy to pick up the controller and allow the muscle memory to guide you to victory. However, as you progress in the single player challenges, using the old techniques will prove to be less effective. Fortunately, learning Ultra Combos, Super Combos, and the all new Focus Attacks is a relatively simple endeavor….mostly.
Beneath each fighter is a Super and Revenge meter. The Super meter fills as you perform attacks and the Revenge meter fills as you take damage. When the revenge meter passes a certain point, you can perform an Ultra Combo which is a desperation move to turn the tides in a losing battle. The same idea applies for a full Super Meter, allowing you to pull off a quicker, less powerful super combo. For several fan favorite fighters, pulling off either of these spectacular combos is as simple as performing two quarter-movement rolls and a face or shoulder button (Basically, you're performing the Hadouken motion twice) and you may often find yourself performing the combos completely by accident. Some charge characters such as Chun Li and Bison require a bit more finesse to perform their combos, and others such as Guile and Vega (and the always frustrating Zangief) will be impossible for some people to pull off consistently if at all.
The Super Meter has other functions as well. One function allows you to perform EX versions of standard special moves by consuming ¼ of the meter. An EX move is performed by pushing more than one button for a fireball or uppercut, increasing the damage and allowing the move to pass through Focus Attacks. Also, consuming half of the meter allows you to cancel out of attacks to chain together new combos or recover from a missed or blocked attacks. Getting a good handle on the Super meter is an important tool for high level play, but can mostly be ignored (especially for casual players) in favor of the simple and effective Focus Attacks. By holding down 2 buttons, your fighter charges up a devastating punch or kick that can penetrate blocks and gives ample time for a follow up throw or combo. Additionally, you can dash out of focus attacks to psyche out your opponent and you can absorb a single hit while charging up.
There are 25 fighters to choose from, but only 16 are available to start with. All 12 original characters from Street Fighter II are present and accounted for, along with select fan favorite fighters from other installments such as Cammy, Sakura, Dan, and Fei Long. There are also 5 new characters including a new final boss named Seth who you will immediately loathe for eternity. Other characters include the rotund yet agile Rufus, the ultra cool gadget girl Crimson Viper, the Mexican chef El Fuerte, and MMA fighter Abel. The new characters are a welcome addition for the most part with El Fuerte being the main combatant who feels out of place (What's the deal with the recent trend of Japanese fighters and Lucha Libre wrestlers anyway?).
Each character gets a simple story to go through in the standard arcade mode, book ended by some sub par anime scenes. It's a noble attempt to provide more than the usual ladder of opponents, but since the scenes lack context, you'll probably end up ignoring them anyway. After taking each fighter through his or her story, there's still plenty of single player challenges to tackle. Survival Mode has your fighter taking on a set number of opponents with minimal healing in between rounds, Time Attack involves a series of fights that must be completed before a timer runs out, and Trial mode gives you designated attacks and combos to perform that get progressively difficult. The longevity of the single player is staggering since there is also an additional collection element to completing set tasks. Finishing challenges rewards you with titles and icons to assign to your personal profile, which you can then show off online to take up even more of your time.
The core online fighting of Street Fighter IV is magnificent. You can quickly join a match, search using custom criteria, or create your own lobby to take on opponents in surprisingly lag free matches. Creating your own lobby is the fastest way to find an opponent, but the matchmaking in that situation can be a little random. Ranked matches pair you up with other fighters with relative Battle Points. The more battle points you acquire, the more you lose if you're taken down by some new dynamo. Fortunately, Player matches allow you to win and lose to your heart's desire without consequence and is much more akin to the arcade days of old.
The graphical style of Street Fighter IV plays a large part in the sleek presentation. Even though the fighting still takes place on a 2D plane, Characters are rendered in 3D and feature exaggerated facial expressions (which are a riot if you're a second away from getting destroyed by an Ultra Combo). Backgrounds are vibrant and lively and there's a cool ink outline around your character whenever you land a Focus Attack. The sound design complements the over the top battles with boisterous whistles accompanying Flashy finishes and a play-by-play announcer occasionally shouting with excitement. Voice work is also solid in English and Japanese, but the anime scenes suffer in both cases from poor lip sync and awkward timing.
If you're a fan of fighting games, purchasing Street Fighter IV is a no brainer. Newcomers also shouldn't be afraid to give this incredible game a chance, but it should be noted there is a bit of a learning curve. Its very easy to pick up the game and enjoy yourself with another new player, but taking on someone who knows every move for every character inside out can be a frustrating endeavor. Overall, with online play and tons of single player options, Street Fighter IV will keep you busy for months and months and truly deserves a place as one of the greatest fighting games of all time.
Cain