Street Fighter IV First Impressions

Playing:
Street Fighter IV
(PS3)

First off, SFIV's graphics are absolutely off the charts. From Chun-Li’s fluid, mesmerizing fighting stance to El Fuerte’s Ultimo Dragon-esque jukes, the fighters are a sight to behold from the moment that the round opens. Never has a simple quarter circle motion produced effects quite so dazzling, and blitzing your opponent with your character’s unique Ultra Combo is immensely satisfying. Aside from the spectacular graphics, the new Revenge Gauge is probably the best new thing about the game. Upon filling your meter and connecting with an Ultra Combo, the camera will zoom in on the action, giving you an up close view of the over the top violence that your character inflicts. The basic movesets of the OG characters remain essentially unchanged from their Super Street Fighter II days, so it’s a treat to watch Ryu charge up his fireball Dragon Ball Z style, or see Vega (M. Bison) take his hapless victim vertically into the air with a Psycho Crusher and bring him back down to earth with a vicious stomp to the chest.



Although the lack of new moves is initially a little disappointing, a lot of the properties of the classics have changed, which is enough to give a fresh feel to everything when coupled with the overall speed of the game. For example, poor Guile is still saddled with his same two special moves, but his flash kick now also moves forward instead of just vertically, making it one of the game’s most effective moves. The EX attacks have made their way over from Street Fighter III, but the parrying system unfortunately has not, replaced by the interesting but less versatile Saving Attack system. As a result, IV isn’t quite as deep of a fighter as Third Strike or Alpha 3, and as of right now, I can’t realistically place it any higher than #3 on my list of favorite SF games. Time will tell. SFIV is a breathtaking visual assault, capable of producing the type of epic spectacle that the Tekkens and Virtua Fighters of the gaming world are too grounded in reality to produce, but it's also one that was clearly geared towards the more casual gamer. The cinematic feel of the game will suck in the casual and hardcore fighters alike, but it’s more of a pick up & play title than one that you spend hours honing your combos at. I was honestly hoping for something closer in feel to Third Strike, but I quickly found myself loving this installment as well, albeit for different reasons. There’s nothing quite like parrying all of your opponent’s projectiles or dizzying someone up with Alex en route to some flying powerbombs, but in its own way, tearing shit up with Crimson Viper’s flaming kicks can be just as fun.



The long loading times between fights kind of stink and the animated cutscenes are flat out terrible, but other than that, Street Fighter IV certainly does not disappoint. Definitely check it out.