Street Fighter always invokes bad memories in my head, by the end of tourneys at the local arcade I used to be broke for the following week. Street Fighter IV brings all of this back in a generation where hyper realism takes center stage, to induct a healthy shot of nostalgia onto the arms of generation which seems to be dwindling in an era of casual games.
Capcom’s uber fighter takes note of Street Fighter II and adds a healthy spin of a new generation, to give its players a fast and furious escapade into the world of “Mortal Kombat”, with its lightening strikes and combos. The moment you sprout the disc into the machine of your choice, players witness a cutscene between Ken and Ryu, engaging in their fists of glory with a peppy soundtrack titled “The Next Door Indestructible” by Exile plays in the background.
Street Fighter IV initially has sixteen fighters that are available to play in a variety of modes which include the traditional arcade mode, where each character has a specific storyline to follow through, Challenge Mode consisting of Trial, Time Trial and Survival modes, both in normal and hard variations, Online mode which allows players to take their skills online and compete against the best in the globe, a versus mode where players relive their childhood memories by smashing their best friends skull into pulp. The additional nine fighters are added to the roster once the player completes challenges and finishes bouts of finger smacking thumps. The new entrants in the series include Abel (a French martial artist), Crimson Viper (a secret agent who resembles the protagonist of “No More Heroes”), Rufus (fat clown-kung fu fighter) and El Fuerte (a luchador from Mexico, who has an uncanny resemblance to Rey Mysterio from WWE).
The visual style of Street Fighter IV came across as a rather neat surprise, unlike everything that has an affiliation to the Unreal Engine this generation, Street Fighter IV passes of glorious 3d models encapsulated in a three dimensional space which results in a fantastic implementation of what was seen in Wind Walker or Okami. The results are remarkable. Just the visual dexterity of the game will make old veterans of the franchise slip into a slumber of a generation where the nimble fingers in a bout of Street Fighter was preferred to snazzy graphics, which currently does the rounds. Each character comes with a variety of facial expressions and bodily exaggerations lifted straight out of your favorite manga next door. The gameplay also has visible frames present when the player executes heavy and special moves adding to the deliberate evocative nature of the game. The backgrounds also add to this coloring experience, certain combos when executed shift the camera angles to give a cinematic feel to the game.
The gameplay of the series comes off as the most rigorous fighting game this generation has seen. New entrants to the series are strictly advised to spend quality time in the challenge modes and practice modes to get an experienced playthrough of Street Fighter IV, jumping right into the midst of the action will land most noobs into a pitfall of sorrow and gloom, since the game’s fighters can be pretty unforgiving and relentless once they start pounding their attacks and combos. The game introduces a combo system that it terms “Ultra combos” which when executed are a flurry of attacks that take the opponent down in a rather humiliating fashion. There also exists a focus move which is pulled off using medium kick and punch buttons together, this allows players to execute a devastating ink blotched move that when connected leaves your opponent open to a plethora of combos and wild attacks.
The opponents in the arcade mode are somehow fixed, for instance if the player loses a round in the game and decides to continue with another player, he does not face the same opponent instead he will face a different opponent which is possibly suited in accordance to his/her enmity in the series. Prior to the final battle with Seth, the players will also face a specified opponent, following a brief cutscene rendered using the game’s engine. This brings us to the short manga clips that are available for each character, these somehow detract from the entire experience and feel a little shoddy while compared to the entire introduction, in addition to this another aspect that seems a bit off the ark is the addition of written boxed dialogues at the end of each round which make the game look a bit too outdated. Since the game does include vocal taunts, it would perhaps been a nice addition that end of match dialogues be voiced over.
The Final Word: Street Fighter, as a franchise, perhaps needs no introduction. The recent iteration brings to fore Capcom’s ability to stay resilient in a generation which seems to care less and less for the hardcore. Street Fighter IV, right from the introduction to its end, is full of instances that will make anyone who has played any iteration of the franchise squeal in joy for it is the reminiscing road outlined. The gameplay is far cry from your traditional button mashers or quick time events seen in certain fighters in this generation. It is well paced and challenging with every step. The addition of the online mode features a bit of lag depending on your connection speed, but is satisfying nonetheless to join a friend who no longer stays in the vicinity of your home. With oodles of downloadable content lined up on the cards, Street Fighter IV might be one of the biggest and worthwhile games released this generation, provided you love this genre of video games. Since most reviews dedicate this game to resurgence of Ryu’s hadoken or Ken’s Shoryuken, I take the liberty and dedicate this one to Guile’s round house kick that has made me triumph in most matches till date.
Graphics:10/10.
Gameplay: 10/10.
Sound: 10/10.
Budget Pocket: 10/10.
Overall (Not on an average): 10/10.
- By Neelesh Mukherjee