Game Review: Street Fighter 4 (2009)

OVERALL:  9/10
Game Play:  10/10 (Both online/offline)
Graphics:  6/10
Sound:  8/10
Controls:  6/10
Value to own:  Yes
Replayability:  Yes, or at least until SF5 comes out.

This would have to be one of my highly anticipated to get game of this year.  I have to admit that I  skipped SF3 along with all the other spinoffs/sequels in the series because I just thought the gameplays and controls for them just seems to have been overly done.  Now I have attempted to try and play through them but it just didn’t seem to stick with me like this one did.  It felt like something was missing from the classic SF2 formula they tried so hard to improve.  With SF4, I think Capcom may have realised that and decided to go back to the root of it all.  I think they’ve decided to go back with the funfactor that we’ve all enjoyed back in the 90s instead of just throwing in 20+ characters with cheesy sound effects and bright coloured backgrounds that are just annoying.  It has been many years, since a proper sequel should come along.  If I had a say in this, then I would definitely say this should be the true SF3 or a SF2 update/remake.

The game play is great, it has brought back all of it’s old features and added bits of the funky new stuff.  Like any/most fighting games, it has to be enjoyable in either single or online multiplayer mode.  I’ll start off by talking about the story mode.  Like most games of this kind you just pick a character and just fight your way through.  Well, in SF4 they’ve manage to grab the gamers attention by focusing on the character by including an animated prologue for each of the characters, thus making the players feel more involved.  The animated/cinematic sequences will be shown at the start and end for each character you choose to play with, which I think would have been a lot better if they had made more sense but other than that it was still fun to watch.  It helps keeps the game entertaining but only good until you beat the game with every character.  An addition to that in story mode is near the end before you fight the final boss.  Each character has their own rivals that they have to square off against, it plays as a second last boss before you face off against Seth.  The controls for all the characters are all the same if you’ve been following the franchise since the beginning.  The only new thing they’ve added this time around is the Ultra Combo which is basically a finishing move or a move that can help you bring your opponent’s health down half way if you are losing.  Other than that all the rest are pretty much the same.  Now, here is my favorite part which I thought was the best update in the game, the multiplayer mode.  In multiplayer mode you can either play for fun to train yourself with another player or if you like a challenge then you should definitely join a ranked game.  There is a feature which I have not seen in any other fighting game which is you can set it up so that you can challenge players that are really good or players that are at the same level as you.  I think that it’s awesome that you can do this because I am sick just joining a game and having someone beat the crap out of me because they play this game more than they take a shower a day.  So it gives you that opportunity for that evenly fair online bout with someone half way around the world, whom maybe a 5-years old kid.  Also, in ranked mode you collect points to show how experienced you are as a player and you can collect icons and titles to customize your style of playing.  The other modes are pretty much what they are, for example, VS mode and Training Mode so unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere I will not touch upon that in this review.

The graphics is interesting but not the best in my opinion.  They wanted to give it that updated 2D look in a 3D environment.  I would have to say the best part would have to be the backgrounds for each level, unfortunately there wasn’t that many there to begin with.  The characters themselves looks very bulky and odd, you either look like a bumpy sack of potatoes or you just look like a cartoon balloon on screen.  I find most people I know seems to enjoy the backgrounds and cinematics more enjoyable than the character designs.  In some levels the backgrounds are quiet interactive to what you do, from slamming an opponent down hard and wacthing people fall into the ring to breaking a wing off an airplane with an upper cut.  All in all, great but I think with games like Soul Calibur, I think Capcom could have done better.

The sound for the game sounds very old skool and I like that because that was the best part of it all.  I am sure as you are reading this you can still hum all the levels theme songs from SF2.  Well, in SF4, consider them to be remixes of the old stuff.  You can faintly hear the original midi sounds mixed in with the modern drums and rock guitar.  Nothing much I can say about the sounds from kicking and punching in the game, they all sound similar if not exactly the same as SF2.  The voice overs like most voiceover for any import games sounds pretty bad, but don’t worry once you beat the game first time around you will be able to go into the option menu and change it to the original japanese and turn on the subtitles to enjoy the cinematic prologues and endings.

The controls brings back some more painful but yet sustainable memories.  Remember all those blistering thumbs, the locked wrists and the painful feeling from the tip of your fingers from button smashing.  You’ve guess it they all come back.  I have tried both the Xbox360 version and PS3 version and I found the PS3 controller to be more suitable and easier to use than the Xbox360.  The controls on the PS3 will remind you a lot like the SNES controller when SF2 was first played and the Xbox360 will play like the Genisis.  Overall, if you are aggressive player you’ll probably be feeling it the above symptoms in about 20-30 minutes of gameplay.

So the games comes in two version, a standard version which is pretty much just the game obviously and a collector’s edition which is about $20CDN more than  the standard.  The collector’s edition includes a stradegy guide for only the 4 new characters, a soundtrack, an animated SF4 movie and a figurine (Ryu on the PS3 version and Crimson Viper on Xbox360 version).  I thought that purchasing the collector’s edition was well worth the price because of the $20CDN difference.  The soundtrack was alright nothing very impressive other than for working out in the gym.  The figurine was kind of neat, very small but very well made interms of the detailed spent on the art work.  The animated feature was ok but too bad it wasnt long enough, only an hour long feature but entertaining.  My final thoughts on this game is pretty awesome.  Capcom has indeed come a long way with trials and errors with coming up with a game as great as this.  There are some minor issues with the game but nothing major that will make you put this game away.  Definitely go out there and pick it up if you didnt already have it.  My advice is don’t even waste your time renting it because the game is just too much fun and addictive to play.