So yeah, this weekend I got my copy of the latest Street Fighter game, Street Fighter IV. I've played Street Fighter since it first appeared on the SNES and later the Mega Drive and know the series quite good. Hell, I even played that shitty 3D Street Fighter on the first Playstation. Not to speak of those Marvel vs. Capcom games and the Alpha series. Only Street Fighter III was so unpopular, that I didn't manage to play it. However, since last november's release of Super Street Figher II Turbo HD Remix I am once again addicted to exciting matches of Ryu, Ken and the SF family. I've played HD Remix every week since launch online in ranked multiplayer and to be honest, that's very rare for me, because I am much more of a single player that preferes the good stories and great campaigns instead of playing hourlong hectic matches with 12 year old pupils or 50 year old unemployed in popular multiplayer games like CoD4 or the infamous World of Warcraft. And that's the great thing about Street Fighter - just play a few rounds in between or before you go to bed.
I've been very excited about Street Fighter IV, having played it on Leipzig Games Convention and having observed every trailer (the most of the SF IV trailers are just too good). Hell, I even ordered that Fight Stick, because I can't do supertricks in the stress ofHD Remix's ranked matches. The Fight Stick is delayed in Europe and so this weekend just the raw game arrived at my house.
I've managed to play a few hours and I will tell you my honest personal opinion of the game:
The Contras:
- The main menu song is just gay. Since when is Street Fighter's target audience a bunch of 13year old girls? Just patch this away, Capcom!
- The soundtrack in general is only average. Too many techno beats and too little of that Street Fighter style music as in HD Remix, which was just genius.
- After playing HD Remix, Street Fighter IV just feels slow. The Turbo is missing, but looking and the series history I give Capcom only a few months till the next iteration with Turbo is announced.
- 3D... Thank god they made it 2D gameplaywise, but sometimes I missed the clear 2D of previous games.
- The new button set up. Since when is hard punch on the right? It's hard to get used to that.
- Unlocking many characters. I play Street Fighter mostly for the multiplayer, so why am I forced to unlock so many characters?
- Where's Dee Jay? He deserves to be in the rooster just the same as Cammy and even more than Fei Long!
- Why are there so few stages? Different daytimes don't count! And why doesn't every character have it's own stage?
- The online matchmaking. I had to set up matches, because otherwise I weren't able to join existing games. And where's the tournament game we know from HD Remix?
- If online is lagging you can just forget it. HD Remix still feels "right" when it lags.
The Pros:
- The art style. I just love cel shading and in this game it feels perfect.
- It feels like Street Fighter should feel. Just throw a few Sonic Booms or Hadokens and you know that it's not Tekken.
- The new characters. Especially C.Viper could become a new favorite of mine.
- There's some kind of experience system for multiplayer. Didn't figure out yet how it works, but it's nice for long time players.
- The anime sequences in the arcade mode. While Street Fighter isn't famous for it's story, these movies are pretty entertaining.
- Unlocking so many things. It's always cool to see some extra stuff when you finish certain goals.
That's all that comes to my mind now. Looks like I wouldn't like Street Fighter IV, but that's not the case. I think it's game that I will play a long time from now, but to be honest, it doesn't reach the genius of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix!
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