Street Fighter 4 is the game of the hour right now with its tremendous buzz. Hardcore and casual fans have waited 8 years for a new Street Fighter Game and the expectations were about as high as it can get.
Presentation
The game is rendered in 3D though the game is still played in a traditional horizontal 2D plane as the classic older Street Fighter games. There is no sidestepping like in the Soul Calibur series. The art style itself is top notch and the game looks GREAT. Screen shots do NOT do the game justice. I repeat screen shots do not do this game justice. The art style has a "almost hand drawn" or painted look which is executed in a way that does not display "jaggies".
The characters all look great and are much improved from the early screen shots released. Ryu still looks like Ryu, Ken like Ken, and so forth though now they are larger than life because of the 3D shading. Character expressions that may seem over the top in screen shots fit nicely in the game and add to the intensity of the gameplay.
The menus are drab and slightly uninspired. They do their job but there is not much to look at in terms of the menu system. One of my biggest complaints related to the menu system is the fact that the button configuration menu does not allow you to press a button to map that button. It seems like a HUGE oversight and is extremely annoying if you have a few people over and need to map buttons quickly. So many other newer Street Fighter games have this so the omission is beyond me.
The verdict is that from a presentation standpoint when you are in the game Street Fighter IV delivers a vibrant, detailed and gorgeous experience. The game looks great and the decision to go 3D which could have been a disaster was executed brilliantly. Capcom/Dimps and company nailed it.
Sound
This is where things go slightly downhill. The opening music to Street Fighter 4 is cheese in music form. The J-Pop "Indestructible" theme song is even worse than the wannabe "hip-hop" intro to Street Fighter III Third Strike. Its pretty bad. I cringe whenever I hear the opening theme song. Lately I have been loading up a custom soundtrack before I even boot the game when I play the Xbox 360 version to avoid it. The stage music is pretty generic which is sad. I found no memorable tunes through the 20 plus hours I have already invested in street Fighter 4. The opportunity to connect with the fans with a new classic tune appears to have been lost. The music to Kens stage, or M. Bisons Stage or Ibuki's stage from Third Strike were memorable catch tunes though I find no such music in Street Fighter 4. Its sadly all pretty generic and forgettable.
The sound effects are great. Punches, kicks and ultra moves all sound right and work well with the visuals. Once you have beat arcade mode you can select the English or Japanese versions of the character voices which is a nice touch.
Custom Soundtracks
You can play your own soundtracks in both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions though the Xbox 360 version is superior in this regard because on the Xbox 360 version your music can be played at anytime. You cannot play a custom soundtrack in the Playstation 3 version while you are battling online. A major reason why I do not play the PlayStation 3 version of this game that much if ever.
Game Mechanics etc.
Street Fighter 4 is about beating the shit out of opponents plain and simple. Each new Street Fighter game in the series has presented new tools to help you get the job done. The Alpha series had the "ISM" system, Super Street Fighter II introduced "Super" and the "Super Meter", Street Fighter III brought the "Parry."
Street Fighter 4 introduces the "focus attack" into the mix. The focus attack. Pressing or holding Strong punch + forward kick will execute a focus attack. The character will be invincible to most attacks while they "wind up" or focus their move. When you release or after a second or so the character will execute a focus attack. These focus attacks can be used to set up great combos as you can dash out of it, and cancel special moves into it.
Other than that you have your fancy "Ultra" moves that when executed initiates a stylish 3D animation. I must say I have still not grown tired of seeing the ultra finish moves. Even when done during matches it add to the experience and wow factor of the game.
There are about 25 characters total in the game though you have to unlock NINE of them. You also have to also unlock the various character colors by finishing the challenge modes. It feels like step back to have to unlock characters in this day and age of instant gratification and such. I got bad Smash Bros. Brawl flashbacks trying to unlock Gouken. I hate unlocking characters.
The worst part about having to unlock the characters is having to fight the last boss Seth over, and over, and over. Seth is one of the cheapest most annoying "last master" type boss characters in recent memory. The derivative nature of his move set and his generic uninspired Dr. Manhattan from The Watchmen type look is pretty lame. The upside is that they did include Gouken aka Sheng Long and Dan which is total fan service. Getthing them unlocked feels more like work than anything though. Especially unlocking Gouken.
Online
The netcode is good. I wouldn't call it stellar but its on the above average side of things. Most matches are fine and lag free though it can get laggy at times. So for the most part the online works which is a huge sigh of relief. The bullshit about Street Fighter 4 online is the fact that there is no "quarter match" or "round robin" type of room similar to the one that exists in Street Fighter HD Remix. You cannot get 4 or five friends together and spectate while some play one after the other in a virtual "room" ad this feels like a HUGE omission to the online mode. The title and icons that you unlock is a nice feature.
Verdict
Outside of that any negatives I may have pointed out just know that Street Fighter 4 is crack. It is a top tier game that I plan to be playing for years to come. The replay value is near limitless, it looks great, plays great and best of all its a ton of fun!
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