STREET FIGHTER 4 FIRST IMPRESSIONS!

Street Fighter 4.So the newest installment in the now legendary Street Fighter franchise is now avaliable for console gamers on the PS3 and Xbox 360. I had my copy hit yesterday morning and I spent most of the day realising all over again that I totally suck at anything Street Fighter. But that doesn't make Street Fighter 4 a bad game, because honestly it's a fantastic representation of what a true fighting game should be. You don't realise how limited most other beat-em ups on the market are until you truly get to play Street Fighter 4 and eventually get beaten by the CPU. That's because it's plainly obvious that Capcom wanted SF4 to please the hardcore crowd while still trying to offer those new to the franchise some help along the way. It's just sad that so little is done to honestly teach new Street Fighters the ins and outs of playing against both the computer or when playing online with real human players, because SF4 is easy to get into but damn hard to master. I shall admit to having some past experience with the series as a young child while on Holiday in Temby, Wales. I spend almost all my holiday money playing one of the many versions of Street Fighter 2 though I never got to truly experience the Arcade madness that struck around the gaming World when the original version hit. This means that I have found it a little hard to truly appriate what Street Fighter is about, so it's with pleasure that through SF4 I have come to realise that to become a true master at the franchise, you need patience and a true appriation for what Capcom have created here. 

For a lot of average gamers, Street Fighter 4 will come and go despite it's long legacy. I shan't go about saying this is the ultimate game because it is not despite what the media would like us to believe, this is simply because so many in todays gaming media grew up with the franchise and have a deep love for what Capcom started around 20 years ago. Saying that it's clear why so many fell in love with the franchise in the first place, it still plays great and reminded me almost totally of Street Fighter 2. Though it's been a good long while since I last played that in an arcade or on any console so I was indeed very rusty. I was disappointed with the true lack of training or tutorials avaliable to those who might  not have visited the series for a long while or ever before. There are some neat challenge modes but all to often when attempting characters moves the instructions avaliable weren't always as clear as they could have been or even totally wrong. But part of me wonders if this is truly an issue, because part of the fun with SF4 is experiencing every character to the full until you find a fighter you can truly enjoy and happily play online with. Thankfully you don't need to be a brilliant World beater to enjoy what is on offer in SF4 because as a simple beat-em up it is indeed the best avaliable, it just feels right and still no game out there as matched it for the actual feel of battle between two fighters of different pedigree or style. Ryu is still a lot of fun and it's easy to perform his many iconic moves while some of the new characters are an absolute blast, to be my surprise I actually found myself very keen on Abel. Despite my thoughts that he looked like the worst of the new characters, he is quite beginner or novice friendly and he offers gamers some neat moves in the heat of battle. 

C. Viper, beautiful but deadly.

I have to admit I haven't experience to much online action at this point, I did take a look at it last night but had some problems finding a match. This might be simply because the game isn't officially release until today and I'm guessing matches are perform by regions rather then a World based server, but I might be wrong. I'm honestly scared to go online as I fully expect to be destroyed by even new players to the series. I shall admit to finding Vega a little hard to get use to again, especially considering back when playing in arcades as a kid he was my personal favourite Street Fighter. But maybe that will change as I get more time in mastering each character to there full potentials. As an occasional Street Fighter, you often forgot how complex and deep the series is and knowing all the correct moves is key to even providing a worthy fight for any Online opponent so I suspect i will have a rough time of it when I eventually put in some online time. There is no denying that Street Fighter 4 will split many gamers, there will be those that have a deep passion for the franchise and love everything about it but there will also be a crowd who won't have the patience to truly appriate what Capcom have created here. I'm in both classes if I'm totally honest with you, while I appriate and even love what Capcom have created in this lattest installment I don't see myself putting in the many hours to get the most out of the game be it offline or online. Saying that though, SF4 is the most novice friendly out of the whole franchise despite the true lack of tutorials or help along the way. It just seems to understand that a newer generation of gamer will be trying Street Fighter for the first time so it's a little more friendly then past titles in this hugely successful beat-em up series. I have had a throughally enjoyable time with Street Fighter 4 so far, but I can't help but see that I have only scratched the surface of a much deeper and complex game that may take months to understand. 

Thanks for Reading,
Joseph Bayliss (TrueEnglishGent)
FIGHT!!