Shoryuken!! Street Fighter 4 Review
Street Fighter is one of the most well known games out since its very first release in 1987, But what kicked it off and made it to be one of the best arcade fighting games in the world was Street Fighter II released in 1991 introducing new characters, new moves and new control systems and also brought out numerous editions after it. Although street fighter 4 is numbered 4 there are actually 124 street fighter games that has been released and that is including the latest edition to the series.
Street Fighter 4 has got really great detail to the game especially to the characters and scenery which is all presented in stunning cell-shaded 3D graphics, Capcom has brought back the classic arcade style fighting instead of all that 3D fighting of trying to walk around the opponent which did get a bit tedious after a while so instead you just start a fight and open a can of whoop arse on your opponent.
There are a few modes to play on which is Arcade Mode which as everyone should know where one chosen player fights their way through a tournament against CPU opponents and as the same with previous editions, if you connect a second controller one of your friends can play as the challenger and there is one new feature to the Arcade Mode which is where you can have fight requests from other players over the internet to battle them and after that match you go back to where you left off in the single player game. VS Mode is where you either fight a friend or a CPU opponent. Network Battle is the best part of the game I reckon where you can fight anyone over the Internet this is where it gets harder you will have to combine good combos to get a good advantage over other players or if you are in a bit of a problem a well timed Super or Ultra Combo will help to your advantage (Warning watch out for Sagat Players they are bugger’s) also with the Network Battles you can fight your friends by sending them battle invitations or play on Rank Matches this is where you will gain Battle Points that is if you win a match or be like me and loose all the time and loose those hard earned points there is also a global Rank Board so you can see where your position is in the world the last mode is Challenge Mode with this mode you can only play as one player and this mode has three different ways on how to play it Time Attack, Survival and Trial.
There are a total of 25 playable characters to choose from and to unlock during the arcade play mode these characters includes the oldies like Ryu, Ken, Sagat and Blanka and there are also a bunch of new characters to play as which are to name a few Rufus, Abel and Crimson Viper. With each of these characters they all have their own unique style of play, fighting moves and new ultra and super combo moves. The Revenge gauge (Ultra Combo gauge) will fill up when you receive hits from your opponent and when the gauge is 50% full you can perform a Ultra combo manoeuvre the combination moves on each character are different and when you get to 100% full the Ultra Combos become stronger and does much more damage than normal.
The Super Combo gauge is basically the same as the Revenge gauge but instead of it getting full by you getting beaten to a pulp you fill it by hitting your opponent and once full you can perform a Super Combo hit which again various on different characters. Other attacks your fighters can do is Focus Attacks this attack has different levels of strengths and only performed by holding down the medium punch and medium kick together and if held till the attack is done automatically it has Armour Breaking properties and stronger hits which will knock down the opponent.
Capcom has done a brilliant job with this game bringing back that classic arcade style fighting mixed in with the fast hitting and various mixing of combinations bringing you a different fight every time you play and to make you keep playing there is a ton of trophies to unlock and a load of various type of content in game to unlock. Street Fighter 4 has to simply be the best fighting game out this year. Go grab your copy now on either the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 and soon to be released on the PC.
Review By: Dean Pritchard
