A Review For The Novice Player
In many gamers' eyes, the Street Fighter series is the holy grail of all fighting games. After quite some time, the new entry in this legendary series has finally arrived. Its deep mechanics, balanced roster, and strategic game play make it a classic for the tournament player and fighter junky. Unfortunately, these may be the only people who will get a great experience out of this game. The novice player is almost guaranteed to be chewed up and spit out.
On the surface, the mechanics of the Street Fighter seem relatively simple. There are three punches and three kicks (light, medium, and heavy). Combinations of these buttons along with a movement on the directional pad, analog stick, or arcade stick (If you're so lucky to have one) will cause your selected character to do a special move. Each character (25 in all) has their own unique move set, which interestingly are generally shorter than move sets in other games and seem fairly easy to pull off (before you learn how precise with both control and timing you have to be that is). An outside person who had never seen or heard of Street Fighter would probably label it as an extremely simplistic fighter. Quite the contrary though, Street Fighter takes more skill, timing, precision, and strategy than any other fighting game I've played. Street Fighter is easy to get into, but incredibly difficult to master.
Every fighting game has its own unique mechanic though. It just takes some time and patience to learn. People who took the time to master Street Fighter II will probably feel right at home here. Unfortunately though, Capcom seems to truly make it almost impossible for the novice, and even average player to learn Street Fighter's mechanics.
There doesn't seem to be any progression in the learning curve of Street Fighter. Since the community surrounding the game is mostly made up of decade dedicated elitists who seem to spit on anyone new, it's up to Capcom to show the player the ropes. But single player component offers no such help. The A.I. is overly difficult, even on the easiest setting for some. The A.I. pulls off split second uppercuts, chained special attacks, and immediate Ultra moves that only a computer could. It almost feels like you're being cheated at times. Street Fighter IV also comes with a Trial mode to show you your characters attacks and combos. This would be the perfect way to show the ropes to new players; but the combos they require you to pull off require absolute precision…and without a way to skip ahead to other moves or have a video showing you these moves, it's almost completely useless.
The only way to really master the mechanics of the game is to play with other people. But since the community is built up of skilled players who have been playing this series for over a decade, you're better off trying to fly without wings. Unless you can find another person with an equal or similar skill level willing to spend several hours learning every combo, knowing every hit box, and mastering precise control, there's almost no other way to ace the game's mechanics.
But don't let these things stop you from taking an interest in Street Fighter IV. It's still an amazingly fun game when played the right way. As long as you have friends equal in skill level who are willing to play with you, Street Fighter IV can be a blast. Just don't expect to jump into the bread and butter online mode and have a fun, balanced, relaxing time.
For diehard Street Fighter and fighting game fans, Street Fighter IV is probably a 9/10 or maybe even a 10/10. But the game just isn't easily suited for anybody else. People with time, dedication, and endurance may have what it takes to get into Street Fighter. Everybody else is better off renting this game and taking what they will from there. You may just find out that you're over ten years too late.