Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

NOTE: I write this review after the release patch of Super Street Fighter IV AE.

I've been gaming since I was around the age of 4. One of the initial gaming experiences I had as a child besides Zelda and Super Mario Bros, was Street Fighter 2. So yeah that makes me a late 80's baby. It was Street Fighter 2 turbo to be exact. My father had purchased the game after watching me play Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighter on a arcade machine at our local pizza hut. He saw how much I enjoyed the game and picked it up. Back in those days I was a complete scrub and failed pulling off anything less than a 2 hit combo. I'd challenge local friends to matches and to quite well.

Nowadays, like most, I've gotten into the whole online gaming experience. I spent a brief stent playing shooters such as Call of Duty or Halo ETC. After a few years of realizing how shooters are rehashed and don't actually take skill I picked up Super Street Fighter IV at my local GS. I played the game online and instantly got blown up by some rather decent players and hadoken spamming opponents alike. After learning the different characters, ie. Zoners, Grapplers or Keep away characters I picked up a main character. The Following are my opinions of the game upon both understanding the mechanics and characteristics of this game that seperate it from the casual fighter game.

Pros:

1: Multiplayer: This game was meant to be taken either online or to be played against other friends. The Online Net Code isn't the greatest but is leaps and bounds better then either of the Marvel Vs. Capcom games. However, expect lag spikes to cause your combo rhythm to be a bit off.Don't buy this game with the sole purpose of playing it by yourself or to achievement whore. Most of the achievements require playing online or some decent amount of skill.

2: Gameplay: This game requires you to time your inputs to utilize hard hitting combos. Which can be a turn off to the casual fighting game fan that is used to games like MK that allow easy button presses. The best solution for such issues is an Arcade Fight Stick.

3: Sound: The Sound is very much a Street Fighter and especially loud and vibrant when supers and ultras are performed.

4. Graphics: Street Fighter has never really relied on cutting edge graphics and goes for a more artsy style. Don't expect this game to look like Soul Caliber or Mortal Kombat or even UFC if that's your thing. lol.

Cons:

Story/Arcade Mode: This is a minor issue as fighting games haven't been the best at making long story modes. (Mortal Kombat is an exception). All the characters have a similar interest and are drawn into another tournament scenario so that a boss can weed out the perfect specimen to fight. Seth is a really cool character to use but is over powered as a boss character. (HAHA) as his life gauge is 1000. Minor issue even though I have beaten this game on Hard.

Multiplayer Pt. 2: The online if you choose to play ranked can consist of the same type of opponents. Most of who I come across are casual non serious gamers who picked the game up looking for some quick achievements and mash hadoken/shoryuken with either Ryu or Ken. Once you get past this minor issue and learn how to punish these spammers its not really that big of an issue, rather, a convenience. For example I use Fei Long who is designed to get around fire balls and destroy.

Arcade Edition Characters: Another minor issue I have is the lack of new characters. I do realize this game was a request by hardcore Street Fighter fans and is a direct port of the Japanese Arcade release. I do like that they included Yun and Yang but find the art design they pick for evil Ryu to of been a bit over board. Other then that I have really enjoyed this game and will continue playing it for years to come. Street Fighter fans or Fighting game fans need pick this title up.