Published on
Sunday, May 17, 2009 by
admin
Street Fighter IV brings the legendary fighting series back to its roots by taking the beloved fighting moves and techniques of the original Street Fighter II, and infusing them with Capcom’s latest advancements in next generation technology. The result is a truly extraordinary experience destined to reintroduce players, both familiar with the Street Fighter series and those coming to the game for the first time, to the time-honored art of virtual martial arts.
The old rivalries continue.
View larger. |
Plenty of bosses to battle.
View larger. |
New faces to reckon with.
View larger. |
New Ultra Combo angles.
View larger. |
What Was Old is New Again
Knowing a good thing when they see it, Capcom has gone to great lengths to ensure that everything that made the legendary Street Fighter II a hit in the arcades, living rooms and dormitories across the globe all those years ago has been brought back in Street Fighter IV, and this naturally starts with the characters. Fans of the franchise, as well as the fighting genre in general, will be happy to know that whether you prefer to stick with the superior abilities of top tier characters or explore the ins and outs of mid to lower level combatants, when it comes time to pick your fighter there is a wide array of choices. Also, not only will players be able to play as and against their favorite classic characters, such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Zangief, Blanka, Sagat, etc., they will also be able to take on new characters. Just a few of these include:
 |
Abel
This young French amnesiac comes from a mixed martial arts and mercenary background and is dedicated to chasing down the remnants of Shadaloo. |
 |
Crimson Viper
This tough and beautiful agent assumes a businesslike demeanor, ignoring all emotion and obligation to her fellow man. She wears a high-tech suit filled with deadly gadgetry.. |
 |
El Fuerte
This fighter divides his time between perfecting his Lucha Libre skills and his cooking abilities, yet surprisingly his indomitable spirit is a match for even the legendary Red Cyclone. |
 |
Rufus
This portly fighter has declared himself America’s greatest fighter and uses his own brand of Kung Fu in his decidedly one-sided rivalry with Ken for top dog in the States. |
In addition, characters and environments are rendered in stylized 3D, while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. Six-button controls for the game return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the gameplay system. Street Fighter IV brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over.
Key Game Features:
- 3D environments and characters.
- Traditional “2D” Street Fighter six-button gameplay.
- Classic Street Fighter characters re-imagined for a new generation of gamers, including the original cast of Street Fighter II.
- New brawlers: female super-spy Crimson Viper, lucha libre wrestler El Fuerte, mixed martial artist Abel and more.
- New special moves that go beyond any Street Fighter fan’s wildest imagination, including Focus Attacks, Super Combos, and the revenge-fueled Ultra Combo system.
- Amazing locations never seen before in a Street Fighter game.
- New gameplay elements provide challenges for both newcomers as well as the most seasoned Street Fighter pro.
New Combat Features: Focus Attacks and Ultra Combos
Although Street Fighter IV is designed to draw heavily from past game features in its franchise history, it does offer some stunning new gameplay options. The first of these are Focus Attacks. These moves allow players to absorb the energy from an attack and quickly counter with their own. Used properly, Focus Attacks allow for tremendous flexibility during combat and are the end result of efforts by the game’s development team to evolve combat away from the rigid memorization of set combination patterns, giving players the freedom to be creative against opponents. The other new combat feature are new powered up moves called Ultra Combos. Like standard combos their purpose is to unleash maximum damage on an opponent, but unlike the combos of old, when performed correctly these long strings of punches, kicks and moves result in changes to the in-game camera angle and quick cinematics which illustrate the strength of your skills like never before. Taken together, these two new features herald Street Fighter IV as the new king of the fighter genre and a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
Related topics
Bloom
Welcome to the next gen, Street Fighter
Street Fighter set the standard for the 2-D fighting game with its smash hit Street Fighter II series…but the transition to 3-D has spelled D-E-A-T-H to many franchises that attempt it…so I am pleased to say that Street Fighter IV is nothing short of amazing.
The beautifully rendered characters, the backgrounds, the fighting animations, the special moves…all transitioned to the 3-D world flawlessly. Do you remember how stunning it was the first time you saw Ryu execute a hadoken fireball? Well, get ready to relive those past memories. Yet, while the character models are impressive, this game does have a few stumbling points. The animated sequences in single-mode are laughably bad and the in-game menus just don’t work properly. Both of which can be over-looked and both of which will be revised when Capcom releases the Champion Edition.
Enough with the graphics, let’s move on to gameplay. The game plays very similar to its predecessors. All the moves are the same: Ken’s uppercut, E. Honda’s claw, Chun Li’s helicopter kick… With the forgiving controls, even a newbie will have a chance at defeating a more seasoned player. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions support on-line play, however, my PR version did not allow me to test this feature.
EX attacks also play an important role in the game. EX attacks are performed by pressing two punch or kick buttons, instead of one. This type of attack adds strength to your attack increasing the damage done and knocking down the opponent.
Focus attacks are Street Fighter IV’s parry system. A focus attack is performed by pressing and holding medium punch AND medium kick…releasing when you want to use it. This attack yields a variety of results depending on how long you held the two buttons. This will cause your opponent to be knocked down, allowing you the opportunity to perform an uncontested combo. Outside of breaking your opponent’s guard and absorbing the opponent’s first attack after unleashing a focus….I didn’t use them too much as they slow the game and aren’t all that functional. If and when Capcom releases CE, focus attacks need to be revamped.
Ultra combos are the second addition to the Street Fighter gameplay. An ultra attack is performed when your character takes damage…this builds your revenge meter. While this is a powerful combo and graphically thrilling, and will usually result in your victory, it is rather cumbersome to pull off (a forward double-quarter-circle while simultaneously pressing all three punch or kick buttons) but the ultra finish is just so rewarding.
Okay, aside from a few additions, the gameplay remains faithful to the series, what about the characters themselves? We get the twelve original characters from the first Street Fighter II: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, E. Honda, Blanka, Zangief, Guile, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison. In addition, we get four new characters: Abel (a mixed martial artist), Crimson Viper (a female spy), Rufus (a round kung fu fighter), and El Fuerte (a Spanish wrestler). So sixteen characters in all….but wait, there are a few to unlock, but to do so may be rather tedious:
– Akuma, After unlocking Sakura, Dan, Cammy, Fei Long, Gen and Rose, Fight him on arcade mode, to do that, get at least 2 perfects and 2 Ultra Finishes.
– Cammy, End the arcade mode with Crimson Viper.
– Dan, End the arcade mode with Sakura.
– Fei Long, End the arcade mode with Abel.
– Gen, End the arcade mode with Chun-Li.
– Gouken, After unlocking Akuma, Sakura, Dan, Cammy, Fei Long, Gen and Rose, Fight him on arcade mode, to do that, get at least 2 perfects and 3 Ultra Finishes.
– Rose, End the arcade mode with M.Bison.
– Sakura, End the arcade mode with Ryu.
– Seth, End the game with all the other characters.
And there you have. Street Fighter IV is a great (not flawless) but great addition to the Street Fighter family….with a few flaws that will get ironed-out in the future releases of this iconic series. I will add that if you have the opportunity to get the arcade stick, do so. The controllers (especially the Xbox 360) was rather clunky and hard to adjust.
Fun, but made for the hardcore fan…
This game looks great and plays well. I was a fan of the original arcade game, and used to play a ton on the old Sega genesis. SF4 does the best job yet of re-creating the feel of the original. Capcom really has added a good level of polish. The menus are crisp, the venues are detailed, and the fighters are responsive. There is a lot of depth, with tons of unlockables too.
Two warnings for casual street fighter fans. In Arcade Mode, even when set on Easiest, the game’s last boss, Seth, is ridiculously hard. I’m not one of those guys who wants to learn every move and work for every victory. My interest was to basically just unlock the hidden characters so my friends and I could have a full slate of fighters to play with when they stop by. But this last boss makes getting the hidden characters a chore. The Easiest setting makes all the other fights pretty easy, but it doesn’t seem to apply to Seth.
The other warning is the controls on the 360. For the most part, basic moves are pretty easy. But I’ve had a hard time pulling off some of the basic combos in the heat of battle. Even in Trial Mode, where you can try combos as often as you like, I can’t seem to string some of them together. I have difficulty getting past level 3 for most characters. Maybe my age is catching up to me, but it seems like you need a joystick to pull these moves off with any kind of consistent frequency.
Pass Over..
i love all street fighter games equally, being a hardcore fan of the Arcade series from the 90’s..but this is quite possibly the Worst SF game iv played…not necessarily because it Sucks…but its just not Good…nor is there anything really NEW about it to warrant a purchase for someone who plays Super Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 3, Marvel vs. Capcom, Capcom vs. SNK or anything else Street Fighter. the Controls for the 360 make it hard at times to pull off signature moves when you want to..the graphics, while decent, had me longing for the graphics from the earlier SF titles. theres an Online mode..but it just wasnt very Fun in my opinion. definitely not worth fifty bucks..
the Women in this game are sexy as ever
Chun Li, Cammy, Crimson Viper…and thats the only reason i give it 2 stars :l i played this for an hour and sent it back to [...]. i say skip out on this completely. im pretty sure you would be happier with Any other fighting game.
iLL .
More like Street Fighter POOR!
This game is probably one of the worst games of ‘09 so far. I thought other SF games were bad, but this takes the cake. Where’s the blood? Or the Fatalities? And look at the new characters! An agent who is a mother? Everybody knows that moms (and women in general) should be home cooking and cleaning for their man instead of fighting. Abel, who is French? Everyone knows that French people are sissy liberals who do not fight. And don’t get me started on the other characters, which are rehashes from other games. I mean, Ryu is obviously a ripoff of Ryo from Art of Fighting. And the fighting system is petty as well.
If you want a good fighting game, play Shaq Fu or Clayfighter 63 1/3. If you want good Street Fighter stuff, watch the Oscar-winning movie with Jean Claude Van Damme, or the Oscar-nominated Legend of Chun Li.
SFIV rocks
This brings back the glory days of SFII. This is our favorite game – when the boys are over everyone gets in line to grab a controller and go. Classic game. Great selection of characters old + new.
the multiplayer could have been designed better, only gripe.