Monday, July 26, 2010

REVIEW: Street Fighter IV (360)

Now I know I'm a little late (and by that I mean, holy shit, you're so late, this game is old enough to sit behind Jesus in elementary, trololololol) on the draw on a review on this game, but that shouldn't stop me from offering my opinions, right? Especially when a more awesome version of said game is already released with fixes and more characters (count them, 10!) not seen in this game. But I'm saving that review for another day. Now Street Fighter IV is the all new Street Fighter game that fans have been longing, for about a decade. Now did they get what they wanted? Did Capcom decide to turn their backs on the fans and deliver something completely new and different? Read this review and I'll tell you my judgment and you can decide yours.

Now when people tried to first review the game, they had 1 of two options, they could go with the normal edition (game only), or the super awesome limited edition version, that's complete with a pirate-able DVD that has already been posted on youtube 10 hours before game release, a mini statue with paint that chips off on the slightest touch, a soundtrack, and the game itself. Seeing as how I have the limited edition for the Xbox 360, I guess it's fair I review the other things first before I get to the game.

The mini statue that comes with the game was a little one of C. Viper, a women with a fiery attitude with even more fiery hair. She's introduced as one of the four new characters on SFIV, others including the forgetful Abel, the stereotypical Mexican luchadore who loves to cook but fails horribly, El Fuerte, and Rufus, the awesomely fat man with moves so fast he puts Sonic from Sonic '06 to shame. Now the mini statue is nothing special, it's just C. Viper using her black power stun fist attack with her boobs hanging out with a tie in between them. But before you run off to Amazon looking for this statue, I must inform you that it seems that it's incredibly fragile, the hair moves around and it does seem that if you play with it long enough, the top of her hair will fall out, leaving you with a statue that looks like Carrot Top with breast implants. Lucky PS3 buyers will find out they have a Ryu statue instead of C. Viper and in my opinion, they are lucky bastards.

The soundtrack is nothing special, just an ordinary soundtrack. It contains arranged tracks of each character and nothing more. I'm a very mad at this soundtrack for one reason, JUST ON REASON... They did not include any form of Indestructible by EXILE. The song that is so catchy and made lots of Street Fighter fans rage, that I just wanna put it on full blast as I ride down my street in my cadillac shouting to all my homies as I reach for my 40. All in all, nothing special, just an arranged soundtrack.

Now the movie, The Ties that Bind, is a 65 minute video that comes with the special edition of SFIV is just a movie, nothing else. This movie leaves a lot to be desired though. Like, why does Guile need to shout out "SONIC BOOOOM" just like in the animated TV show? Why can't Ryu do any damage to Seth, yet in the game people can easily beat the shit of him, and my personal favorite, what the hell happens at the end of the movie? I've watch the whole thing (albeit half asleep) but there is still no mention of an aftermath either in game or in the movie, did Seth just regain consciousness and decided to issue another tournament? Did Ryu learn to keep the Satsui no Hado under control long enough for said tournament? Did Cammy ever get into proper clothing?!? Seriously, this movie raises more questions than answering them.

Time for the big review of the game, the thing you folks were all waiting for, THE STREET FIGHTER IV GAME REVIEW. Now I'm gonna break this down into parts, Arcade Mode, Xbox Live, Challenge Mode, and then Add-ons for the game.

ARCADE MODE IMPRESSIONS

It's just Street Fighter. That's all there really is to say. You pick a Difficulty (like that matters), a number of rounds, a time limit and let yourself go. This game feature 25 characters (very reluctant to say diverse characters) that feature different special moves and ultras. If you haven't been kept up to date, an Ultra is known as an Ultra Combo and can be executed after your Revenge bar fills up. How does it fill up you may ask? It fills up halfway (the minimum for using it) after your life bar goes down. So the more you get your ass kicked, the more powerful your Ultra Combo will be. There is an alternative for getting your ass handed to you on a silver platter though. Capcom imposed a new system into SFIV where they got rid of the Parry system and added one Focus Attack system. Whether this is good or bad is based on your own preference. In my opinion, the new system works. The Focus Attack system is where you have a charge attack and if you get hit once, it takes the damage without it actually being taken. But if you get hit twice, the damage is taken and the second hits damage is taken in too. If my explanation is too confusing look up a Street Fighter IV match on Youtube, you'll understand it then. Arcade mode is always on the hardest difficulty REGARDLESS of what setting you put it on, one word, JUST ONE WORD, Seth. The last boss in the game will knock the shit right outta you every time. It's like he reads your mind, before you can even do something after you get knocked down, he is always there to either use his fierce Shoryuken or his fierce grab. Just play him once, after the 3rd time, you'll be at the edge of your seat about to throw your controller at the TV. This game has 17 total stages and out of the 17, at least 4 are repeated stages but with different scenarios. Like one of them is a crowded street brimming with life and tourism, but another stage features the same background but instead of featuring all this life and cheerfulness, we get a much darker scene depicting all these stores closed, no long filled with people, and instead of a cheering crowd, we get a drunk old man taking a walk with the occasional dog walking by. These stages are really beautiful in terms of art. Every time you start arcade mode with a character you're treated to a full animated cut scene depicting characters much bigger or smaller than they are truly are, all wonderfully tied together with shit wonderful voice acting. In my opinion, the character voices are annoying, with some being not so bad (one being Rufus). It's like Capcom USA tried their best to keep the dialog unmatched with the characters mouth movements. I find it horrible, yet you all are entitled to your own opinions.

XBOX LIVE IMPRESSIONS

Xbox Live, may the lord hath mercy on my soul. Any online fighting game is notorious for having one of the following: Spammers and Turtles, and boy was the online fighting community in Street Fighter IV PLAGUED with them. Every match I played online was either a flowchart Ken, a spamming Ryu who kept to his own side of the screen, or Zangief's who seemed to not like any button other than the x3 punch button. Aside from those people, I found some players who actually posed a challenge, and who I legitimately had an enjoyable time playing against. Xbox Live in SFIV is divided into 4 sections, the Ranked Matches (Ryu's, Zangief's, and Ken's! Oh My!), Player Matches (People who actually enjoy the game.), Championship Mode (I just got a new Xbox and lost my save, so now I'm all by myself in this lower level), and the Leaderboards. Ranked Matches are filled with spammers and turtles who, after you face them once, kick you out of their match. Player Matches have people who legitimately enjoy the game. Championship Mode is filled with a reviewer who has no one to play against, and the first thing you see on the Leaderboards is a Ryu who obviously has hacks skills!

CHALLENGE MODE IMPRESSIONS

OH MY GOD, HOW ARE NORMAL PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO COMPLETE THESE!?!?!?!?

ADD-ON IMPRESSIONS

This game has add-ons for alternate costumes for each of the characters. One of them (the Brawler pack) comes with the Limited Edition version of SFIV. If you want all of them in one complete package, it will run you about 1000 MS Points. It's not needed for the game, but it's still a bit nice to have the costumes.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Street Fighter IV is a good game, it's not too old that new players will have a hard time playing, and it's not too new that old players will be left stranded on Gilligan's Island. As a Street Fighter fan, Street Fighter IV will always have that special place in my heart, no matter how bad it's community is, or how impossible the challenges might seem. If you want this game, go buy it. However, I advise you to get the SUPER Street Fighter IV version, because it's 10 bucks cheaper and 10 characters added. So in my final opinion this game...

ONE PLAYER: C+
ONLINE: C-
CHALLENGE: B-

FINAL GRADE: B-

6 comments:

  1. Nice review bro!:)
    Supporting :)

    Check my blog if you want http://mitri22.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. hmm... i liek this review man.

    also, supportin'

    ReplyDelete
  3. bought tekken 6 a month or two ago i was jonesin' for a fighting game... this seems cool.

    ReplyDelete