I wanted to hate Street Fighter IV. I really did. Its odd placement in the storyline, its straying from the traditional 2D sprites, bland new characters, its random resurrection of many characters of characters who were supposed to have kicked the bucket for good... there was a laundry list of things that bugged me about the latest incarnation of the daddy of fighting games.
However, upon actually getting some hands-on time with the thing, I was surprised. I didn't dislike it as much as I had hoped to. In fact, I actually kind of like it. Granted, it won't topple whatever the newest upgrade to Street Fighter II is at the time that you read this, but actually... and I'm almost ashamed to say this... I like it more than SF3.
First things first, the graphics aren't all that bad, and it actually looks sort of neat. I do miss the sprite art, but the times, they are a-changin'. Secondly, this game controls amazingly. Even with the 360 controller, which is universally hated on when it comes to fighting games, is marvelous. Consider this: despite my legendary love of fighting games, I have never been really all that good at them. I have never been able to perform a charge Super (like Bison's, Guile's and so forth). but yet, I can pull them off with relative ease now. Struggling with yanking the joystick back and forth is a thing of the past.
Even the new characters are starting to grow on me a bit. Okay, so Rufus and Seth are still the epitome of lame, and El Fuerte's still kind of "blah" to me, but I'm starting to really like Abel and Crimson Viper.
Playing online is also a treat. While the networking engine isn't as spiffy as, say Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, it is servicable, and there's less Hadouken-spamming Shoto-scrubs than cheap players in other games.
All in all, I believe Capcom is heading in the right direction... they just need to pick up the pace.