Street Fighter IV

Game: Street Fighter IV (Xbox 360) - By kea_

Edmund prepares for a good old grapple.

I first experienced Street Fighter IV the Wednesday before its console release in Trocadero's arcade in London. My girlfriend took me down with £40's worth of credits to live it up a little. There was a big gang of youths hanging around the two linked cab setup, side-by-side instead of the traditional back-to-back network setup. Sit down, insert credit (£1) press START; first impression was shit music :) after selecting Ken and having a little blast against the CPU it instantly felt pretty cool. It wasn't until some youth sat down next to me and cracked a credit in until I got the full effect. It's that social brilliance that CAPCOM have once again got spot on; "Here comes a new challenger!", your game's interrupted, you take a glance to the right to see a complete stranger selecting their character while you're stuck on Ken panicking. The game begins, you instantly get defensive to see what they're all about and then you start to ease up and enjoy yourself.

Now, occasionally you get against someone who just takes it all a little bit too seriously as they are taking serious damage with a stern face. But on occasions you get people who are there to enjoy the competition; nodding their heads at 3-hit dragon punches, shouting "SHIT!" when you hit a special and they have a split second to block; but its not until the game ends and the person you once had never seen is patting you on the back saying "Well played, mate" and then walking off as you embarrassingly wiggle the stick saying "Cheers mate" as you wait to fight the CPU again. That is what it's all about for me, that social fighting that brings you together for 40 seconds of your life, that perfect re-playability. I left London feeling great about it, wanting more! I pre-ordered the special edition with the little models and everything! It wasn't until I got it home on the 360 that I got the real shock...

Some of that black ink spraying all over the place. Looks nice it does.

It's when you start to understand the new mechanics that it starts becoming so confusing. There's so much new stuff to remember, focus attacks, super combos, ultra combos, dual button throws, special recoveries, dual button specials... Now don't get me wrong, the console port is very strong - it has arcade graphics and sound, more characters, online play etc and even some super cool arcade 'feel' touches; there is a mode that allows you to play Arcade mode against the CPU where you can, at any time, get challenged by someone across Xbox LIVE which feels so cool - it's as close to getting that arcade experience without someone coming in your room and sticking a pad in the console!

So there's focus attacks which are basically a form of countering, which feels a bit Tekken :( where you have to hold MP+MK. Your character charges a one-hit punch or kick that breaks through another players' move. I still don't really know how to use these effectively. But online I have seen people using them to dodge fireballs - the strange thing is is that if you throw a fireball at someone doing a focus attack they gain health!? You can also use the focus attacks to cancel out of moves, for example dragon punch, focus (cancel), dash forward, dragon punch. There is a revenge meter that fills as you take damage, when the meter is full you can then use an ultra move which deals lots of damage. Throws require you to cripple your hand to LP+LK, and if you hit down on the stick as you land you can get up quicker; again, all a bit confusing for me...

Gouki dealing out some multi-hit damage on poor Kenneth.

Graphically the character models are beaut, the backgrounds are a bit cheap but that I assume is to feed the 60hz gameplay. The animation is amazing, it feels really, really meaty unlike other Street Fighter's; every punch feels like your caining the buttons on your arcade stick and really meaning it, where as older Street Fighter's feel more technical as you tweak players health down using jabs and medium kicks. There's also some nice lighting touches, for example characters get lit up as a fireball approaches them, but let's face it these are all superficial touches, as we all know if it doesn't feel right then you might as well just crack Street Fighter II back on!

All-in-all its pretty decent and I guess the scope to get really good at it is insane. For me personally it's just got too much new depth to really get into...

Seven out of Ten