The legend is back in 3D.Developer: Dimps/Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: Arcade , PS3, Xbox360, Microsoft Windows, iOS
Release date: February – July 2009
Genre: Fighting
Players: 2
Pegi: 12
System requirements:OS: Windows XP, CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz or higher, RAM: 1GB or higher, HDD: 10GB of free space or more,Video Card: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 or higher compatible: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 series or higher; ATI Radeon X1600 with 256MB or higher VRAM, Sound: DirectSound compatible, DirectX 9.0c (or higher) compatible, Input Devices: Mouse, Keyboard (a gamepad cn be used instead)
It’s been more than 20 years since the first Street
The plot in Street Fighter IV is rather a typical one; a secret laboratory, mad scientists and an evil mastermind behind the operation. The tournament is being held in order the best fighters of the world are gathered and have their skills implanted to the evil boss, who wishes to take over the world. Well, we couldn’t expect not to find the good hearted fighters fight him and destroy his plans for world domination. Each character has a special background story, featuring the reasons for joining the fighting tournament in the first place. In the end each has a special ending featuring his/her actions and story after the defeat of the bad guys.
The characters that appear are:
Ryu, Ken, Dhalsim, Blanka, Chun-li, Gen, Akuma, Gouken, Vega, Balrog, Sagat, Seth: the evil mastermind behind the tournament, former puppet of M.Bison, now rebelled to claim M.Bison’s empire as his, Dan, Sakura, Guile, M.Bison, Rufus: a USA martial artist who is of extreme weight(and luck of muscles) and does some weird moves that a guy at his weight could never have done, C.Viper: A business woman and a secret agent, working to gain the secrets of Shadoloo and the power of the Dark Hado.
Abel: A French martial artist, who seems to have lost his memory, bears some secrets on the case of Guile’s friend, Charlie, El Fuerte: A Mexican cook, also a wrestler, joins the tournament to travel around the world and gain recipes in order to become the ultimate cook!, E.Honda, Zangief, Cammy, Fei Long, Rose.
Gameplay
Nothing has changed to the main gameplay of this title, yet there are some improvements and some flaws which could have been avoided. There are 3 types of punches: a low punch: fast but of low damage output, a medium punch: of medium speed and damage, and the high punch: strong but slow. So is the same for the 3 types of kicks, low, medium and high kick. With the combination of the arrow keys or the analog stick and the punch and kick buttons, our character can perform combos which vary on strength according to the combo hits. Furthermore, it should be taken account the fact that positioning matters a lot. For example, if our character is in a crouch position and the enemy attacks from the air (jumping at us) and does a kick, even if we defend the block will not count and take the hit! Same happens if we are standing and the enemy kicks at on our feet! An addition to our moves, which for all the former characters we are all familiar, there is the new Focus Attack. Holding down the medium kick and punch buttons simultaneously, our character changes stance and prepares for the focus attack. This kind of attack takes time, leaving us defenseless for a small period of time, plenty to be exact for the enemy to retaliate. However, most attacks hit while focus attacking will be absorbed, damage will be taken, but in a second or two the life lost will be replenished! But not all attacks can be absorbed, like Sagat’s Tiger Crusher or M.Bison’s Phycho Crusher, nor Ultra or Super Combos. A successful focus attack (if held for quite some time) will be devastating: firstly because the enemy will take a big hit, and secondly because the rival will fall crumbling to his/her feet, giving you time to perform any combo you like!
There is also the Ultra gauge bar and the EX Combo bar. The first gauge allows our character after taking some hits to perform a super combo, devastating in damage and capable of changing the outcome of any battle. Some characters can perform ultra combos up two or even three times. The super combo bar when full allows us to do a combo move similar to the ultra combo, but less devastating. Each combo bar allows the character of ours to perform a strongest move, which is faster and more damaging.
The negative in the whole story is that in previous Street Fighter titles each character had more-o-less 4 super combos, with Akuma having 6, while in SF IV we got only ONE!!!! What happened to the other combo moves?! Did the fighters forget how they were performed?! Furthermore the Ultra combo bar is unfair; a skilled fighter could lose to a less better, simply because the 2nd one will have the ability to perform each round 2-3 times an ultra combo!! The ultra combo bar is reset at the end of each round.
Additional to the Arcade part of the game there has been added a Challenge mode.
In the challenge mode you can choose between 3 challenges: Time attack: in which you are supposed to defeat some opponents in a limited amount of time, Survival: defeat as many opponents as you can before you lose (after each round a % of your life bar will replenish and Trials: in which you are given some combos to perform (especially useful to learn some very nice combos of your character). Each of these challenges have difficulty levels, the higher the harder it gets, for example: the less time you got in the time attack, lesser % replenished in survival mode and harder combos to perform in the trials mode.
Finally there is a Training option in which you can practice every move you like with any opponent you like. There are options in which you can see the damage output of your character and how many hits you have to give before you stun the enemy. You can also have the opponent not only stand still and receive hits; but you can allow him to be control by CPU, or by your friend, and have some endless sparing matches.
Multiplayer
There wouldn’t be any SF title if there wasn’t any multiplayer. The game unfortunately supports only 1 on 1 battles (we really hoped for a tag system/ or 2 vs 2). Fights can be done either locally, on the same computer or console, or via the internet such as Windows Live and the respectively on X-Box360 and PS3. There are also some costumes to customize the character’s appearance (which in my opinion are kinda lame) There are also Global ratings, will you be able to become the top?
Graphics
Graphics could have been great but Capcom didn’t want to make a SF with the latest graphic engine because SF would have lost its spirit. Yet, any complaints should be made for the lack of any decent new character than for the graphics. Each character is highly detailed, with nearly no flaws, except for Rufus, who is horrible in every way. The animation of the characters is very nice, walking, hitting, defending and being hit seems to be quite realistic! If punched in the face, the head will go back, if hit on legs, the character will crumble or have his/her legs bent in pain. The backgrounds, however, with the exception of one or two, are a complete disaster (fighting in a swamp with a crazy monkey somersaulting and a leopard lying and yawning on a tree bench). They don’t fit to the general street fighter idea as the backgrounds did in previous titles. The effects are also great, “projectile” attacks like the “Hadoken” is visually beautiful. Also any other effect is a good as we could expect.
Sound
Each character has a unique soundtrack, which are remakes of old themes, influenced by our modern music preferences, and can be heard at each rival match. Each stage has also a unique soundtrack, making each battle exciting and pumping! The intro and ending videos are nicely voiced, yet not a very professional work, with the exception of the English voice actors, who all seem to be taken from a B-movie.
Summarizing, this is Street Fighter, a valuable game to your collection. Yet this title doesn’t offer anything new, with many previous moves missing and horrible new characters. With a high price like this, I would definitely vote for waiting a couple of years, just until the price decreases. The game is somewhat quite heavy, and recording on the pc could be troublesome. From what it offers it would be difficult for ST IV to stand out from other fighting games such as Mortal Combat 9.
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| Missed me!! |
Prons: Graphics, new title after a while, Music
Cons: Lack of former super combos, lame new characters and backgrounds, average voice acting
Plot 3
Gameplay 7
Sound 8
Graphics 8
Constitution 6
General 7
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