Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Old-school"

Its been a long time since Ive played a beat em-up, in fact, the last beat em-up I played was probably Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo on the Snes!

After playing the Sega Megadrive Ultimate collection, Ive been overcome with videogame nostalgia, and the fact Ive been looking for some two player games has made it the perfect time to try Street Fighter 4 on the xbox. And Im glad I did.

Everything I remember being great about SSF2 is still there in SF4; the orginal fighters are all present and correct along with some new faces, and theres even more fighters to play as once you have acheived certain arcade mode challenges.

The gameplay has been refined so that you cant get away with using one move repeatedly, and super and ultra combo's have been added to devastating effect. The specials are accompanied by glorious colourful animations and although traditionally tricky, they are not impossible to perform.

The 'cell-shaded' style suits SF brilliantly. Each fighter has a movie at the start and end of the arcade mode in superbly cheesy manga style animation that tells a story of the fighters motivation, which isnt really needed but adds to the games complete feel.

Aside from arcade mode, there is a Challenge trial mode, training mode and versus mode.

Street fighter 4 isnt a massive technological jump by any means, but it does what videogames should all do. Its superbly entertaining with great gameplay and a modern approach to the areas that require it.

Get a freind to play and its replay value is endless. Hadouken!!!

NB: Does anyone say 'Beat em-up' anymore?