Street Fighter IV review

For a start this is considered more akin to Street Fighter 2 than 3. The latter never really clicked with many, the parry system become a love/hate thing, basically a reversal move that could counter your opponents attacks, it required skill and timing that most who wanted a quick fix never understood. Ditching the majority of characters also never really sat well with the SF veterans. SFIV takes the series in the other direction, including a lot of the old favourites and only bringing in a few new faces. So along with the likes of Ken, Sagat and Zangief you can welcome C.Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, Rufus and the unlockable Gouken. Also theres the new boss character, Seth.Seth being our one and only hate with the game. This is isnt because of his rather weak sounding name, but because it falls into the age old Capcom boss strategy of having someone who doesnt follow the rules of the game. Lets use Bison as an example. In SF2 he was a great final boss because not only was he challenging, but he always felt that his move set was equal to all the other fighters in the roster. Get too close to Seth and he has some of the most ridiculously overpowered moves imaginable. Make a mistake and hell hammer you with moves before teleporting randomly around the screen and if youre unlucky hell teleport right next to you and repeat the process. We dont normally give out tips in reviews, though for this boss well make an exception. Just make sure to keep your distance. Whenever youre far away he always does his weak attacks (sonic booms mainly) then when theres an opening jump in with a flying kick, followed by a leg sweep before jumping back out and repeating the process. The best tactic given would be to not treat him like another normal opponent, hes so over powerful that youll need to use cheap tactics to beat him, which is our main complaint with the character. Luckily no other character on the roster can be considered cheap, all having a suitable way of being dispatched. Although it can be infuriating when you come up against Akuma who spams the screen with fireballs, break his defence and hes incredibly vulnerable. Its all about the practice.We previously mentioned the ditching of the parry system seen in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, well its got a replacement in the form of focus attacks. These arent crucial to enjoying the experience, they are however a good move for expert Street Fighter players to get to grips with. By pressing the medium and light kick together you charge up a move. While charging you can absorb one hit and once youre fully charged you can unleash a move that breaks a block leading your opponent open to a fearsome combo. In the hands of a top Street Fighter player this can be deadly and even for newcomers its a simple system to understand if you want to put the time in to learning the games little intricacies. And when learning the game theres no better place than online. The lack of lobby support is disappointing, especially when HD Remix did it so well, but it doesnt detract from a great online experience. With a bar showing how good the connection is the chance of a lag crippled game is small and the game is packed with players making it incredibly easy to find a game. Like all online titles the experience really depends on the players. And while we havent had too many problems, others have experienced an abundance of quitters, who once they realise theyre losing quickly turn off the console before the KO sounds. Something that the game doesnt punish for, you dont even get the win, all you can do is send them bad feedback while theyre free to do it again.For single player japes you do have a lot of content. The Arcade mode is fine (until you reach Seth) and required if you want to unlock all the characters, something that many people have complaints about. Challenge mode also provides a nice distraction, but really for us its all about the online thrills. Its also worth noting that weve been using a Hori Stick, EX2 to be precise, which is most definitely the way to be playing. The standard controller is far too imprecise for those that really want to improve their game. Charge characters, such as Guile and Honda, who require buttons to be held down before performing a move arent largely affected the standard controller, but those who fall under the shoto category, the characters that require half circle forward motions (Ryu, Ken etc) are far more difficult to be mastered. They can fetch a pretty penny though, especially on the online auction sites. A shame that you cant get one packaged with the game. Street Fighter IV is everything we could have hoped for and more, and we havent even mentioned the glorious visuals and excellent music. Even the intro, which has come under some scrutiny for its incredibly cheesy song is suitably epic. And although its only February this could very well become our game of the year. Youll have to ask us again in December, we might still be playing it.