Back when Street Fighter II was released for the arcade, it was an
instant hit. Kids everywhere were getting on there knees, begging there
parents for some pocket change to beat there friend who was cheating
just because he always picked Ryu. The game was a slower-paced and not
as violent as other popular fighting games at the time, like Mortal
Kombat and Killer Instinct. It was also much more strategic and
tactical, requiring more skill than any game ever released. After
releasing SFII on the SNES for kids to enjoy the same experienced they
knew and loved, minus the arcade stick and the empty pockets, Capcom
decided to make it a lil' bit faster paced, releasing Super Street
Fighter II Turbo on consoles and Arcades later on. The game increased
the speed of the combat and made the game even more in-depth and
complicated than anything anyone had ever seen before.
After a failed attempt at reviving the series with Street Fighter III, Capcom has decided to go back to the series' roots and pull out a lot of the attacks that have accumulated over the life of the Street Fighter series with a brand new, fresh, and awesome addition to the franchise.
This is(War?!)Street Fighter IV, game that will seem oddly familiar to you if you played Street Fighter II, because the game is definitely trying to recreate the SFII feel, but adding more techniques to the gameplay to make sure it doesn't feel like the same exact game.
The game, when you just watch a video or some one play it the game doesn't look like it is very complex, which, I suppose, it doesn't have to be complicated if you don't want it to be. Yes, you can go in there and just jump around heavy kicking and heavy punching and probably have fun, but that's not what the game is all about, the game is about learning how to fight well and beating your opponents face in a two dementional world.
The combos in Street Fighter IV aren't your average fighting game combos, you don't pretty a button, then another, then another, and watch a sequence of events chain together. For example, if you wanna heavy punch, then hadoken, you'll have to start your hadoken combo immediately after you hit your heavy punch, so when your heavy punch animation is finished you can set off the hadoken. If you wanna jump at your opponent, heavy kick, then Hadoken, and Shoryuken, you'll have to chain together so fast. Soon as you heavy kick, start your hadoken, set that off, immediately proceed to start your Shoryuken combo, and set that off.
With all your special moves, like Shoryuken, Hadoken, Tatsumaki Senpu Kyaku, or anything else, you can hit two buttons to turn it into a stronger EX attack. If you are doing a hadoken, instead of just pushing one punch button , press two, and it'll turn it into a flaming fireball that knocks your opponent down. All the EX moves aren't just buffed up v
Another new thing about Street Fighter IV that wasn't in SFII that also adds another huge aspect to the game is the Focus Attack. It is used by holding down the medium punch and kick buttons at the same time. It has three strengths, depending on how long you hold the two buttons down for. If you hold it down and release real quick it'll be a rather weak attack. Hold it down for a second or two and it'll be a stronger, but still a rather week attack. Hold it down for a substantial amount of time and it'll do an unblockable attack that has a pretty high chance of stunning your opponent. Now, these require very precise timing to get off, because don't think your opponent is going to let you charge up your Focus attack for three seconds. These Focus Attacks can also be used to interrupt a two-hit attack. For example, Ryu's heavy kick that hits twice, you can start a focus attack and it will interrupt it and not land the second punch. It will also take one-half of your Revenge meter, which I will talk about later. You can use this interrupt technique to quickly move into a special attack from a heavy kick or punch easily. You can double tap forward or backwards to interrupt your focus attack.
The game has two meters for each character: the Revenge Meter and the EX Meter. The Revenge meter is used to pull of Ultra Combos, and it is filled by taking damage from your opponent. The EX meter, which is used to do EX moves of attacks, your Super Combo, and to interrupt attacks with your focus.
The Ultra and Super Combos are very powerful attacks that are, for most characters, actually pretty simple to do. Most of them are two quarter-circle-forwards then a triple kick or a triple punch. Most of these attacks are pretty flashy and fancy. The camera will move aside to make the game look more 3D.
With all of these attacks, the Street Fighter combat system is one of the most complicated fighting system in all of video games. Easy to learn, hard to master.
The game has 25 characters, all that, well most of them, have all unique and awesome attacks. Except for a select few that are lame and only have a few attacks. Others, however, are so complicated and hard to play that unless you know what you are doing, you want be able to play them very well. Twelve of the characters are locked from the start, and others will be unlocked when you beat arcade mode with certain characters. Others are more secretive, and to unlock the final boss you need to beat it with every character in the game, which is really stupid and shouldn't be in the game.
The game has a decent amount of modes. There your obvious arcade mode. Which, by the way, is hard as hell. Even on easiest it might be a challenge to some of the amateur Street Fighter players out there. The arcade mode can be really annoying as well. The AI is good, but it can also be repetitive. When fighting against Abel, be ready to get thrown across the map many many times.
There are challenge modes: Trial, which will give you a bunch of attacks that you need to chain together and learn. Survival, which gives you X amount of health back when you beat some one, and you will need to beat X amount of opponents, depending on what level you are on. Time Trial, which just like Survival, but instead you get a set amount of time back every time you beat some one.
The game has a lot of awards too. Medals, Icons, and Titles. There are about (no joke) 400 Medals, and about 400 Icons. The Medals are earned from online play, which can be very fun.
When playing in single player, you can be interrupted, and it will switch to an online fight, then returning to your arcade fight after (hopefully) beating your opponent.
Final Decision
When thinking about buying Street Fighter IV, ask yourself a question. Do I want to get into this game and learn how to do all this, and get skilled? Of course, if you are a Street Fighter fan at heat, you don't even have to think twice about dropping $60 on this game and $150 on the arcade stick, if you can find one. But mind you, this game is everything but accessible, and don't go in thinking it is. The game is very hardcore, and in a day in age where most developers are looking to go the Wii route and making things casual and accessible, I salute Capcom for not doing that to Street Fighter IV.