It almost seems implausible to think that a generation would exist when you step across a person who doesnt know what a shoryuken is. You'll probably make a grim look across your face if you meet someone who doesnt know how to perform a proper hadouken back in the 90's but years later, what was once implausible actually became somewhat of a dark reality. That doesnt mean that the fighting genre "died" nor did Street Fighter but it definitely became smaller as the series transformed into a barely recognizable figure of it's former self when you see that Guile has been replaced by Remy. Balrog a vicious boxer turned into a fine gentlemen named Dudley and so on. Make no mistake, Street Fighter 3 was no slouch in terms of it's fighting system but it emphasized more on close quarters, parries and so on that no longer made it accessible in comparison to it's predecessors.
So with that said, Street Fighter 4 didnt "need" to exist. The audience that played Street Fighter 2 made a split between sticking with the series, moving onto another genre or just stopped playing games in general and the fans are already content with Street Fighter 2 : Super Turbo or Third Strike but honestly after non-stop hours of playing, I couldn't be any happier.
At first glance, Street Fighter 4 looks like a clone of Super Turbo but with graphics that made the series loveable characters juiced up in some type of steroids but thankfully it's much more deeper than what meets the eye while still retaining it's accessibilty. You can get around playing by what "worked" in Street Fighter 2 so if by anychance you played that before, you should ease back in Street Fighter 4 just fine while new players can see what made SF2 such a craze back in the day. The world warriors that range from Ryu, Ken, Zangief, Guile, Chun, Honda and so on still retain their classic moves with "almost" untouched button input. The new characters in the otherhand such as Rufus, El Fuerte, Crimson and Abel feel more complicated but they're ultimately fun once you've touched on them enough to the point where I can see someone taking them seriously in terms of competitive play. Theres bound to be a character or two that you'll immediately feel that you can connect with in terms of playstyle.
Street Fighter 3's "parry" system while complex was also inaccesible for new players but that doesnt mean that a form of it didn't carry over to Street Fighter 4. Each character in the game has a "focus" system where they can release a charged attack that will temporary stun the other opponent if it makes an impact and while charging they can be resiliant to one attack. It's a risk vs reward system where you have to carefully plan out when or where to use it and if succeed, you basically have a free opportunity to release a combo or better yet an ultra move. If you fail than you'll be the one open for immediate punishment. Several characters seem to benefit more from focus attacks than others but ultimately the game feels balanced out.
Street Fighter 4's super gauge returns where the more moves you do regardless if it impacts, the more the gauge fills. You can sacrifice 25% of the gauge in return for an attack that changes the property of that said move to make it more powerful, so in example Ryu's hadouken can be exchanged into a red hadouken that makes it more powerful. Once the super gauge is fill than you can unleash your character's super which is the same concept as it was back in Super Turbo. Revenge meter in the otherhand is a totally seperate gauge from super that fills up as your character takes punishment and once it reaches a certain point, you can unleash a character's ultra which is basicaly a stronger, more flashy version of a super that can quickly change the tide of a battle.
Honestly speaking here, Street Fighter 4's graphics is actually a huge part of the game. A good example would be when you use an ultra, you see your opponent's eyes gouging out in fear right before you unleash it. The ultra's themselves are extremely over the top where you can see the opponent getting his body beat up in rather gruesome ways but all the more awesome. Basic blows to the face or body has a huge "umph" too thanks to it's overexaggerated yet completely awesome facial animation each character possesses. The background themselves look beautiful aside from several characters standing there with almost 10 times the less detail as the fighters but considering that you'll be watching two people beating each other up, it's not much of a complaint as it is a minor blemish to what would otherwise be a perfect balance between art style and the technical aspects of the graphic's engine.
The audio themselves provide a nice beat to the said background and the voice acting is pretty decent in terms of it's English. You can opt to change the voice actors to Japanese for "each" character if you want which is just a show Capcom's attention to detail. The only real criticisms in terms of it's audio department I have would be that there arent enough scenarios aside from "rival" fights in the game's arcade mode that has music tailored to the person you're up against. The game's opening intro itself and main menu theme is a boy band horror show but after a while you can't help yourself from singing along due to it being incredibly catchy.
The online is fairly disappointing in terms of it's content. The lobbies can only hold up to yourself and your opponent and theres no spectator option yet even though Capcom has mentioned a free downloadable content that will eventually allow players to spectate and save replay fights. As for the fights themselves Capcom made it very appearant that fighting game's IS possible online as proven in HD Remix. Street Fighter 4 take's HD Remix's step and provides about the same awesome experience aside from several occasional lag matches you have with another player here and there.
So overall, Street Fighter 4 is a followup to a beloved franchise that ultimately reminded me that the "arcade" spirit like back in the old days is still existant and stronger than ever. It's not perfect in terms of content, the challenge modes could have been better and there should have been options in terms of online play but when you're playing the game you can't help feel but pumped up as you're immediately reminded of childhood nostalgia in a new generation. If you havent been in the arcade craze before than Street Fighter 4 is definitely a game that you can get yourself into to realize that its more than just senial folks being nostalgic, it's a gameplay masterpiece of something that you can play with just about anybody willing to pick up a stick along with a fighting spirit.
