LegalSmash
7 Apr 2009, 09:42am
Street Fighter 4 Review PS3
This review is one I really feel honored to waste my time to do, primarily because street fighter, in its various forms was a very memorable part of my childhood. I remember the one thing I wanted to do after my house was devastated in Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was to find a working power outlet to play street fighter II with my cousin Anthony on the Super Nintendo Entertainment system. I remember the first time I really loved a game thoroughly; it was this 2d fighter that sat in the back of the Dadeland mall arcade where a line perpetually existed due to the popularity. This game was the talk of the boys in my second and third grade classes, and throughout college on drunken nights at a good friend’s house.
Street Fighter II was a revolutionary game for its time, pitting several selectable characters against each other in a tournament to determine who was the most ass kicking fighter of all. The game had initially a pair of clones that became household names, Ryu and Ken, the first, less known street fighter game’s protagonists. My favorite character, throughout all of the versions of the game has been the humble Guile, the brutish, anvil-haired camouflage wearing military guy. Guile was the first charge character I’d ever seen, and to this day, I still use this guy to beat the ever living crap out of anyone who does not manage to do the same to me at first. Street Fighter II also introduced to gaming the 360 degree fighter, Zangief, which primarily used heavy throws to win his fights. Street Fighter II, and its following games, unlike many other fighting games has to a degree managed to stay fresh by introducing different quirks and play modes throughout the life of the series, which resulted in the game still having a largely dedicated following nearly 20 years after the initial street fighter II arcade cabinet hit the arcades in 1990-1991.
Enter Street Fighter 4 on the next generation consoles. I cannot express my satisfaction in playing this game through words alone; I’d seriously hump the game designer’s car tires if they’d give me a free copy, since I rented this. Very few times in my life would I hump car parts in exchange for commercial goods, economic recession withstanding. Where many of the next generation consoles have a great deal of FPS and Sword and shield style fighters, the martial arts fighter game style was largely mediocre or absent in my opinion, Capcom changes this in a big way. Street Fighter 4 (Hereinafter SF4) does not reinvent the series, but rather brings back the old mechanics and game style of the original street fighter II games in gorgeous illustrated modified 3D. The game’s graphical characteristics are a good balance between the original artist style and the anime style illustrations and graphics of the Alpha and EX series. SF4’s visuals are absolutely stunning when compared to previous editions of the franchise, and the next generation systems’ technological advancements do more to advance game play, content, and game pace rather than graphics, but the graphics are nonetheless beautiful to behold.
SF4 has about 25 characters, with somewhere near 16 available at the initial turning on of the game. Several big name; big mythos characters are unlock-able, such as Akuma, Gouken, and Gen, while other locked characters are fan favorites such as Sakura, Dan, and other characters. The game requires you to beat various modes before these mystery characters are unlocked, but you can still fight against the various characters via online arcade mode. This mode is the bread and butter of SF4. The game is playable online in the arcade mode, which allows for other players to challenge you as you play through the game’s ranked fighting tournament versus the AI. This mode is very near and dear to me, as it actually does bring back a great deal of good, and at times, frustrating memories of arcade play with other persons. The game steps above the arcade in its ability to track your record as you progress in online matches with other people, award tokens and trophies for achieving particular milestones, and grading you on your overall performances. This mode permits the competitive nature of the game to be fully realized. In the short 5 days I have held this game from block buster, I’ve amassed 50 some odd matches, and managed to win 48% of them, a tremendous feat for me, especially as I have not played a street fighter game in nearly 5 years on a regular basis. Trusty Guile is my secret… SONIC BOOM BITCHES!!! The arcade mode sets out connectivity reports to prevent players from being stuck with overly laggy competitors, and prevents the game from counting “modem pulls” as losses to the character that does not suddenly lose connectivity. The matches are fast, often brutal, and well fought. I’ve fought veritable wars with one Japanese player “Hasa-Hiro”, and I can honestly say I’ve kind of come to respect the corner raping, fireball toting, Akuma loving bastard. This game is hyper competitive online and I look forward to the day I have a job and can pick this up on a permanent basis, as well as the two PS2 anthology collections for the series.
The game has one particular downside in regards to the online mode however, and that is that it is not entirely beginner player friendly… but this is a flaw of a series that has gone on for nearly 20 years. There ARE players out there, like myself; that know the move list by heart, and the combos, and glitches through muscle memory in my thumbs and forefingers. There ARE Japanese dynamo players that will seriously pound you to death without your character laying a pinkie on theirs. This is part of being a new player in a very old game style… my experiences with counterstrike Source are very similar. This is not a completely bad thing, and it is not something that cannot be dealt with. SF4 comes with a very well designed practice mode, where the AI controlled by the console can be set to behave in differing manners, allowing for a new player to hone his skills. Regardless, remember losing is basically paying tuition to win in this game. In my first 10 matches, I won about 3, and I’ve been playing since the first day the series debuted in the arcade. In matches, certain things have changed. For example, gone are huge 30+ hit combos where you could walk away and get a pizza and eat if before you were really able to come back and play. Combos are damaging, and limited in number of attacks, allowing for a more even fight between players of varying levels of skills, throws are done “tekken style” with two buttons, making them harder to accomplish. Counters and reversals return to the series, and gone are the air blocks. The game employs a physics engine that makes jumps, jump kicks, punches, sweeps, and throws and the body’s reaction to said attacks more realistic. You cannot just grasshopper jump around and sweep at random… Ryu may be able to throw fire balls, but he cannot defy physics any longer when jumping and kicking through animation glitches and priority of attack orders.
The character list is a mix of new and old, with a few characters being designed specifically for this edition of the game. The illustrators and designers did not spare any of the bouncy tits, or chun li’s horse legs, or Cami’s overly revealing leotard. The character designs for Ken would have been better if his body/head ratio was a little better proportioned so that he did not appear to be the incredible red neck hulk with a tennis ball head in a wig. Some of the characters are hilarious and full of life, Rufus an obese mechanic who is a self taught Kung Fu master comes to mind, his stomach and man-tits jiggle with all of the power of the PS3, whilst Cami’s pint sized boobs flop about when she hits the ground. The designers paid a great deal of attention to the fabric of the fighters clothing, the way their shadow alters when throwing a fireball, and even the facial expressions and mouth movements when uttering HADOKEN and SONIC BOOM! This attention to detail, as well as an incredible level design where animation, color, and innovative set design come together to make me want to go visit, seriously shows the love and work that went into this game.
Lastly, let me mention that this game is entirely kid friendly. In a console world where most games get a minimum rating of teen, or in some cases mature, aside from martial arts fighting, this game has no profanity, no inappropriate content in any way, shape, or form. This is a game that a father of my age, could introduce to his own kids with little worry about bad effect, and if you grew up playing this game’s predecessor, you should.
In short, the people at Capcom outdid themselves completely with this game. I seriously consider this to be the best game I’ve played on the PS3, and possibly, the most well made fighting game I’ve played in the past 10 years, easily, and I’ve played a LOT of fighting games. This game puts to shame most fighters of current generation consoles, especially the pallet swapped ninja variety games. Also, SF series proves that you do not need to be racy, overly hyper violent, or disgusting to sell a game, or to make a great game. This installment, and hopefully new beginning to such a storied game series is a great addition to the collection, and I look forward to the day of dropping money to make it my own.
I can’t really give it a number 1-10 because this game does not fit in the scale, so think of the amount of money that our “Great Leader” is going to blow on the “bailout and recovery”, got that number in your head? Okay, THAT is the number that I award this game…. 1.2 trillion out of 10.
This review is one I really feel honored to waste my time to do, primarily because street fighter, in its various forms was a very memorable part of my childhood. I remember the one thing I wanted to do after my house was devastated in Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was to find a working power outlet to play street fighter II with my cousin Anthony on the Super Nintendo Entertainment system. I remember the first time I really loved a game thoroughly; it was this 2d fighter that sat in the back of the Dadeland mall arcade where a line perpetually existed due to the popularity. This game was the talk of the boys in my second and third grade classes, and throughout college on drunken nights at a good friend’s house.
Street Fighter II was a revolutionary game for its time, pitting several selectable characters against each other in a tournament to determine who was the most ass kicking fighter of all. The game had initially a pair of clones that became household names, Ryu and Ken, the first, less known street fighter game’s protagonists. My favorite character, throughout all of the versions of the game has been the humble Guile, the brutish, anvil-haired camouflage wearing military guy. Guile was the first charge character I’d ever seen, and to this day, I still use this guy to beat the ever living crap out of anyone who does not manage to do the same to me at first. Street Fighter II also introduced to gaming the 360 degree fighter, Zangief, which primarily used heavy throws to win his fights. Street Fighter II, and its following games, unlike many other fighting games has to a degree managed to stay fresh by introducing different quirks and play modes throughout the life of the series, which resulted in the game still having a largely dedicated following nearly 20 years after the initial street fighter II arcade cabinet hit the arcades in 1990-1991.
Enter Street Fighter 4 on the next generation consoles. I cannot express my satisfaction in playing this game through words alone; I’d seriously hump the game designer’s car tires if they’d give me a free copy, since I rented this. Very few times in my life would I hump car parts in exchange for commercial goods, economic recession withstanding. Where many of the next generation consoles have a great deal of FPS and Sword and shield style fighters, the martial arts fighter game style was largely mediocre or absent in my opinion, Capcom changes this in a big way. Street Fighter 4 (Hereinafter SF4) does not reinvent the series, but rather brings back the old mechanics and game style of the original street fighter II games in gorgeous illustrated modified 3D. The game’s graphical characteristics are a good balance between the original artist style and the anime style illustrations and graphics of the Alpha and EX series. SF4’s visuals are absolutely stunning when compared to previous editions of the franchise, and the next generation systems’ technological advancements do more to advance game play, content, and game pace rather than graphics, but the graphics are nonetheless beautiful to behold.
SF4 has about 25 characters, with somewhere near 16 available at the initial turning on of the game. Several big name; big mythos characters are unlock-able, such as Akuma, Gouken, and Gen, while other locked characters are fan favorites such as Sakura, Dan, and other characters. The game requires you to beat various modes before these mystery characters are unlocked, but you can still fight against the various characters via online arcade mode. This mode is the bread and butter of SF4. The game is playable online in the arcade mode, which allows for other players to challenge you as you play through the game’s ranked fighting tournament versus the AI. This mode is very near and dear to me, as it actually does bring back a great deal of good, and at times, frustrating memories of arcade play with other persons. The game steps above the arcade in its ability to track your record as you progress in online matches with other people, award tokens and trophies for achieving particular milestones, and grading you on your overall performances. This mode permits the competitive nature of the game to be fully realized. In the short 5 days I have held this game from block buster, I’ve amassed 50 some odd matches, and managed to win 48% of them, a tremendous feat for me, especially as I have not played a street fighter game in nearly 5 years on a regular basis. Trusty Guile is my secret… SONIC BOOM BITCHES!!! The arcade mode sets out connectivity reports to prevent players from being stuck with overly laggy competitors, and prevents the game from counting “modem pulls” as losses to the character that does not suddenly lose connectivity. The matches are fast, often brutal, and well fought. I’ve fought veritable wars with one Japanese player “Hasa-Hiro”, and I can honestly say I’ve kind of come to respect the corner raping, fireball toting, Akuma loving bastard. This game is hyper competitive online and I look forward to the day I have a job and can pick this up on a permanent basis, as well as the two PS2 anthology collections for the series.
The game has one particular downside in regards to the online mode however, and that is that it is not entirely beginner player friendly… but this is a flaw of a series that has gone on for nearly 20 years. There ARE players out there, like myself; that know the move list by heart, and the combos, and glitches through muscle memory in my thumbs and forefingers. There ARE Japanese dynamo players that will seriously pound you to death without your character laying a pinkie on theirs. This is part of being a new player in a very old game style… my experiences with counterstrike Source are very similar. This is not a completely bad thing, and it is not something that cannot be dealt with. SF4 comes with a very well designed practice mode, where the AI controlled by the console can be set to behave in differing manners, allowing for a new player to hone his skills. Regardless, remember losing is basically paying tuition to win in this game. In my first 10 matches, I won about 3, and I’ve been playing since the first day the series debuted in the arcade. In matches, certain things have changed. For example, gone are huge 30+ hit combos where you could walk away and get a pizza and eat if before you were really able to come back and play. Combos are damaging, and limited in number of attacks, allowing for a more even fight between players of varying levels of skills, throws are done “tekken style” with two buttons, making them harder to accomplish. Counters and reversals return to the series, and gone are the air blocks. The game employs a physics engine that makes jumps, jump kicks, punches, sweeps, and throws and the body’s reaction to said attacks more realistic. You cannot just grasshopper jump around and sweep at random… Ryu may be able to throw fire balls, but he cannot defy physics any longer when jumping and kicking through animation glitches and priority of attack orders.
The character list is a mix of new and old, with a few characters being designed specifically for this edition of the game. The illustrators and designers did not spare any of the bouncy tits, or chun li’s horse legs, or Cami’s overly revealing leotard. The character designs for Ken would have been better if his body/head ratio was a little better proportioned so that he did not appear to be the incredible red neck hulk with a tennis ball head in a wig. Some of the characters are hilarious and full of life, Rufus an obese mechanic who is a self taught Kung Fu master comes to mind, his stomach and man-tits jiggle with all of the power of the PS3, whilst Cami’s pint sized boobs flop about when she hits the ground. The designers paid a great deal of attention to the fabric of the fighters clothing, the way their shadow alters when throwing a fireball, and even the facial expressions and mouth movements when uttering HADOKEN and SONIC BOOM! This attention to detail, as well as an incredible level design where animation, color, and innovative set design come together to make me want to go visit, seriously shows the love and work that went into this game.
Lastly, let me mention that this game is entirely kid friendly. In a console world where most games get a minimum rating of teen, or in some cases mature, aside from martial arts fighting, this game has no profanity, no inappropriate content in any way, shape, or form. This is a game that a father of my age, could introduce to his own kids with little worry about bad effect, and if you grew up playing this game’s predecessor, you should.
In short, the people at Capcom outdid themselves completely with this game. I seriously consider this to be the best game I’ve played on the PS3, and possibly, the most well made fighting game I’ve played in the past 10 years, easily, and I’ve played a LOT of fighting games. This game puts to shame most fighters of current generation consoles, especially the pallet swapped ninja variety games. Also, SF series proves that you do not need to be racy, overly hyper violent, or disgusting to sell a game, or to make a great game. This installment, and hopefully new beginning to such a storied game series is a great addition to the collection, and I look forward to the day of dropping money to make it my own.
I can’t really give it a number 1-10 because this game does not fit in the scale, so think of the amount of money that our “Great Leader” is going to blow on the “bailout and recovery”, got that number in your head? Okay, THAT is the number that I award this game…. 1.2 trillion out of 10.