Street Fighter IV-Is this one big Hadouken? (Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360))

Member Name: Stunt 101

Product:	Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360)
Date:	17/03/09 (155 review reads)
Rating:

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Street Fighter IV-Is this one big Hadouken?

Let's not waste any time-Street Fighter is probably the biggest fighting franchise to date. It might not have scored a perfect 10 like Soul Calibur did on Gamespot, but more people still play the arcade versions today. It's been a while since Street Fighter IV, the first entry in the franchise in about a decade, which is about as long as it took to Fallout 3 to follow after its predecessors. There have been many changes since then, with fighting franchises adding new moves whether it was Mortal Kombat with its over-the-top gore, or Tekken with its flashy graphics and cool roster-things have changed since the last Street Fighter. But ladies and gents, the king of fighting games has returned to the fighting scene and it's by far one of the best fighting games of its generation, and definitely deserves your attention and money.

Street Fighter IV is a 2D fighting game with 3D backgrounds and graphics. The fighting system is one of the deepest in the business, yet the game is quite accessible to newcomers and noobs. You have a light, medium and heavy punck/kick and you can also perform grapples, taunts and over moves which extend the experience. But there is even more depth here as if you look in the back of the manual, or pause the game and take a look in the move list option, then you'll see that there are so many moves you can perform. By moving the analog stick in a direction, you can perform special moves linked to the character you've chosen, which means each character has their own unique move list for you to try. Some are harder than others though, as if you look at Zangief's move list, then look at Akuma's combos you'll see a clear difference.

There are a couple of new additions to the fighting as well for SFIV. Like before as you punch the crap out of your opponent, or sometimes if you get punched up a bit, your super meter will build up. As you fill up chunks of the meter, you can tweak your moves by pressing two punch/kick buttons rather than one and you can perform better moves. Or, if you save your super meter until it's completely full then you can perform a kick ass super move which will do severe damage and could end the fight if timed right. The other powerful, though more risky and harder to perform, move is the Ultra combos. As you or the enemy take damage your ultra meter is filling up. Once it's full you can perform a combo which will trigger the ultra move. If close enough, a powerful ultra move is performed and this will do significant damage. The only problem with relying on this move is that you have to take damage to use it, meaning you may lose in the process. Both add even more depth to an already ocean-deep game.

This may sound all too much, but the beautiful thing about SFIV is that while it is very deep, it's very accessible too. For newcomers there is a practise mode which is very helpful indeed and can help even the lowest skilled chump become a champ. The other way to train is with Trial mode in the challenge mode, but it's not very helpful because there's no demonstration on how to do the mode and it's more of a challenge than a training mode. For newcomers I recommend going into practise mode and using a character to get comfortable with. If you jump into arcade mode like I did then you'll probably get smacked in the face and feel like a loser. It can be daunting at first; especially online when you're playing the best of the best Street Fighters who have been playing this game for years. However, once you get in, you will be stuck into SFIV for ages as it's just really addictive.

Thankfully, there are plentiful modes to feast your addictive hunger for fighting. The main single player mode, so to speak, is Arcade mode. It's pretty standard stuff, as you fight a selective number of enemies until you reach the main boss. There are a couple of twists to it though, for example, using specific characters will change who you fight against before the final fight. For example, if you use Ken you'll have to fight new character Rufus who wants to prove he's better than Ken. The lame story cutscenes before and after Arcade feel like they're from the 90s, but thankfully the mode is pretty good thanks to the fighting being so damn awesome. The cool thing about arcade mode is that you can unlock characters by doing so well. For example, to unlock Gouken you have to get one perfect, three ultra/super combo finishers and 5 first attacks if you set it to one round. Unfortunately, this only happens with two characters as the rest are unlocked by completing arcade.

The other single player mode is challenge mode. Here, you can play in survival, time trial or trial mode. Time trial is when you must defeat a set number of enemies in the allotted time and as you defeat enemies you get more time. If you get a perfect or super/ultra combo finisher you get more time. Survival is when you must defeat a number of enemies without losing, and as you win fights you regain health. The interesting part of these modes is that there are specific limits, whether it's the enemy having more defense, having the super and ultra combo meters full or not having the meters shown all together, these little twists ensure that boredom is unlikely despite how many stages there are. Trial, as already mentioned, is disappointing as it feels like a trial rather than a fun mode like time trial or survival. On all challenges, there's a normal and harder version and hard is really only for the skilled fighters.

The fighting roster in SFIV is fantastic. There are 25 fighters available with only 16 unlocked from the get go. 12 of the guys/girls from the previous game return, including Ken, Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, M. Bison and many more. These all look gorgeous as the jump from 2D to 3D is smooth and they play better than ever. There are also six new characters to the SF universe. Rufus, who I've already mentioned is a tubby fighter who's stomach looks disgusting yet he's actually quite a skilled combo as he pulls off moves that people his size usually couldn't do. There's also Abel, the confused and muscular fighter who's got no memory, Crimson Viper a dextrous and evil cow and El Fuerte is the Mexican, Ray Mysterio style wrestler who likes cooking and is very fast. The best part of the roster is that no matter who you use, the list is balanced with maybe the exception of Zangief, who has a powerful move you can manipulate. Whether you win or lose comes down to your skill, not the characters you are using.

SFIV has always been a competitive fighting game, as people lined up by the arcades to fight each other. This is still true in SFIV, and now there's more places to beat the smack into a human opponent. There's still the 1v1 fighting option via one console which is welcome, but now people can fight with anyone over Xbox Live/Playstation Network for PS3 owners. There are ranked and unranked matches which can be set to either 1, 3, 5 or 7 rounds and set to a time limit, handicap (how much health you have) and more. You can change preferences to find fighters from anywhere in the world and as you win fights you earn medals depending on what you do (for example you'll earn a medal if you get a perfect). The live is brilliant, with rare connection issues though when there is lag, the game can be broken. There is the fact that a lot of people use either Ken or Ryu, and some people exploit Zangief's special move, but you won't find a better fighting game online.

The best part of Street Fighter IV is its gorgeous visuals which paint a vivid and beautiful picture. Characters are bulking with big muscles and a tall feel to them as at specific points they overcrowd the health bars at the top as the cover the screen after fights. Characters also have a thin line around them for a subtle cel-shaded look. But by far the most impressive part is the lush and detailed environments. As you go from crowded marketplaces to lush, animal inhabited jungles to an army base, each environment has moving animations in the background from people shooting their guns in the air in celebration of your victory to a shocked man talking on the phone about what the hell is going on, it all looks great and sometimes can distract you from fights. The animation for fights is smooth and seamless from each move to the next, and the ultra/super combo finishers look flashy and cool as they kind of blind you with the flash of bright colours and the frame rate never chops up. It's incredible gorgeous and the best looking fighting game ever.

The sound is good, but a bit cheesy. The grating Japanese techno punk music and god awful theme song for the menus is lame, but the in-fight sounds aren't too bad. Each level has their own unique sound effects like in the lush jungle setting you'll hear the cries of monkeys and tigers as you fight in the background. The cries of 'Hadouken' and 'Shiryouken' can grate after a while, though no one can deny that it did sound cool at first. The punches sound brutal, and hearing the smack of beating someone down with a brutal super/ultra combo finisher never gets old. Thankfully, the game suits custom soundtracks meaning you don't need to listen to the poor Japanese pop crap.

The game will definitely last you a while. The modes will keep you busy, especially the online play, but the lack of a classic tournament mode is a shame. It might become downloadable soon though, so don't cry just yet. Speaking of which, what's up with Capcom charging 320 Microsoft points for a costume pack? What a rip off. Anyways, the collectable icons and titles, which you unlock by completing EVERYTHING in the game, requires a lot of time and effort so get ready. The achievement list is pretty good as well, if tough. You will be rewarded for both single player and online, yet the online can be boosted if you find it tough meaning you can earn a good 500 gamerscore from that. The achievements are quite hard, especially the ones like getting a gold medal on every trial, but the reward is worth it in feeling like a pro.

Is Street Fighter IV good, bad or ugly?

Street Fighter IV is a combination of everything good about the series with improvements to old problems in the fighting game saga to make not only the best Street Fighter yet, but also the one that will probably bring newcomers on board to the franchise. It's deep yet accessible, it's beautiful and easy on the ears, and there are plenty of modes to get your teeth stuck into. It's also the first SF game to have online play and it's smooth and brilliant. What else could you ask for? Aside from a tournament mode and some other very small issues, not much. Unless you hate fighting games with a passion and don't even look at them, I highly recommend SFIV as it's a fantastic game which any fighting fan, or fan of fun, should buy.

Controls: 10
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 10
Sound: 7
Value: 9
Overall: 9.0

Street Fighter IV was released on the 20th of February for the Xbox 360 and PS3. It is rated 12+ for moderate fantasy violence and can be bought for around £30 from most places.

Summary: A superb return of a hit franchise