When Street Fighter II was released in 1991 even Capcom could never have predicted it would still be its best-selling consumer game almost 20 years later. The latest incarnation of the series (Street Fighter 4) hit the shelves in February this year for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but does Street Fighter still entertain like it used to?
The Street Fighter series of games dates back to Capcom’s first competitive fighting game in 1984, a coin-op named Street Fighter, which was quite popular at the time and saw conversions to many platforms (most notably the TurboGrafx/PC Engine conversion that was released as Fighting Street) but was never as popular as its 1991 sequel, Street Fighter 2.
Street Fighter II proved to be hugely successful in the arcades and also on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, prompting Nintendo to include it as a free game with the system itself (the standard package came free with Super Mario World). Street Fighter II quickly became the definitive fighting game directly influencing the creation of games like Mortal Kombat, King of Fighters, Tekken and Soul Caliber.
Capcom, never one to rest on its laurels, began to release updates to the Street Fighter series, each with some unique differences, characters and tweaks. After Street Fighter II (full title Street Fighter II: The World Warrior) we saw the release of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Hyper Fighting, The New Challengers, Turbo, Super and many more iterations. Each of these was highly received on both arcade and Super Nintendo by the fans, and Capcom continued to tweak the formula further.
Once games machines like the PlayStation and Saturn were commonplace in the living room, so was 3D technology. As part of a huge rush to jump on the 3D bandwagon, Capcom released Street Fighter EX, which used 3D models and 3D camera angles. Most hardcore Street Fighter fans were not at all happy. The main problem was were the slightly sluggish feel compared to the earlier 2D incarnations. Another was that it was awkward to play, since fans had honed their skills in a strictly 2D environment.
This history is particularly relevant since Capcom noted the disappointment of fans and went back to 2D for subsequent versions of Street Fighter. But the newest iteration, Street Fighter IV, return to 3D technology, and the question on every fan’s lips is: “Does the 3D ruin it?”
The short answer is no. Capcom has ingeniously woven the original feel and graphics into a 3D version of Street Fighter with no loss of responsiveness. Game play takes place in a purely 2D environment, meaning fans of the game will immediately feel at home.
The graphics are highly stylized and look more like moving paintings than photo-realistic images. All of the original characters and more have been gorgeously detailed with layers of depth that are simply not possible using traditional 2D techniques. A Street Fighter IV character is rendered in meticulous 3D with internal models representing their muscles that realistically contract and flex as the character moves. Vivid skin and embedded vein textures add to the realism, and actual facial expressions allow real damage to be experienced visually for the first time. If you punch someone in the face you can see him or her wince as the fist connects.
The backdrops are beautifully modeled environments with lots of detail. For example, Chun Li’s stage (China) has been re-created and modernized so that you can actually see people sitting in noodle shops slurping up steaming noodles as you fight in front of them. Characters can be flung in the air and careen into parts of the backdrop that explode in a shower of pieces. The best part is that all of this happens fast at a constant 60 frames per second (and in HD if you have an HD TV), and has no impact on the responsiveness of the game play itself.
Cut scenes, logos and menu screens are all detailed in sweeping Japanese calligraphy style reminiscent of the movie 300. The only bad graphics to be seen are cheap-looking manga moments that tell the characters’ individual stories.
If you’re new to the genre, Street Fighter IV might feel somewhat limited by its 2D approach to begin with, but over time it can become very, very addictive.
The game is very hard, even for Street Fighter veterans. The difficulty is a huge plus point because it challenges experienced players and forces them to update skills that were hone in the 1990s. There are plenty of new moves and combos. Energy bars fill up for both “super” moves and “ultra” combos, and you can keep a key held down to unleash charged up “focus” attacks by holding down the button longer and longer to charge. At times you’ll wonder how it can be so hard, as you throw your best and watch it parried effortlessly seconds before being cracked in the jaw by a lightning fast counter move. The speed and difficulty, as well as the new style and music, really get the adrenalin flowing.
The only unfortunate thing is that despite being difficult, the game is way too short. A player can actually complete the game without seeing many of the classic Street Fighter II characters. Depending on which character you choose, there is a pre-defined path through the game (of eight characters selected from the 12 original characters, four new ones and eight “unlockable” ones).
Personally, I see this as a massive flaw, since if you tend to use one character like most players do, then you can complete the game 10 times and never meet a new foe. This forces you to use characters you might not be happy with, just to meet the Street Fighter II classic characters you will crave to see in this new styling. This is a problem because using a player that you’re not familiar with in such a hard game means you will most likely get beaten, frustrated and then return to your favorite character, who you’ve probably gotten a little bored of by now.
A byproduct of this is that it inspires more multi-player action. The people you play online or at home choose their own character, as do you, so you can hopefully meet some of the characters you wanted to meet, albeit with an entirely different fighting style compared to the one the AI uses.
In conclusion, fans of the Street Fighter II series will not be disappointed, although they may not get as much mileage out of Street Fighter IV. New players to the series will find it exciting but also extremely difficult.
Gareth Murfin is a freelance games developer: www.garethmurfin.co.uk
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