Enjoyable Street Fighter II clone
You see, there are eleven characters in the game, but you can only play four of them. To get to play the other seven, you'll need to put in a code (there are two codes, one for the VS CPU mode and one for the VS 2P mode). The codes are easy to enter (they only require the D-Pad), so I guess that's tolerable.
But still, why didn't they make all characters initially playable to begin with? Why just give the player four characters (two of which are pretty much the same since they're the obligatory Ryu & Ken clones) to choose from? I just can't understand why someone, somewhere made this stupid decision.
Being able to play as every character really adds to the value of the game. The four initially available characters are pretty boring, but the bosses include interesting and unique characters like Dolf, a Libyan equipped with a Bowie Knife and a bazooka(!), Sirou, a ninja who only uses his sword (no kicks available for him) and an android with long robotic arms called K's (what's up with that name, anyway?).
Most of the moves are easy to learn and to pull off, and look rather good as well. There's also a replay function thrown in, which isn't too useful, but hey - it's better than nothing.
I have to admit though that the game is not very well balanced. Some characters are clearly stronger than others, but I think that's forgivable, given that the rest of the game is pretty good.
Without the boss codes, I'd rate this just 5.0, but since entering the codes isn't too hard and time-consuming, I'm willing to go for the higher rating here.
I'd recommend this game to anyone who loved Street Fighter II and wants to try something different. It's a great multiplayer game, too. Just don't use Jade - he's overpowered.