GameSpy Review of Street Fighter IV

Having grown up near an arcade (rest in peace Fun-O-Rama, Hialeah, FL), I've got a knotty history with Street Fighter, but it's one that I cherish nonetheless. Though I was certifiably baffled by the original (my local arcade had the version with the huge rubber buttons), Street Fighter II seized me completely. And so on, well into the Alpha series, with a few odd turns into Vs.-land. (For some reason, Street Fighter III never took off in the ecosystem I inhabited. Maybe that says something.) At first, I thought Capcom was arbitrarily dropping the loaded numeral on Street Fighter IV. How come the other seemingly endless iterations can't count as true sequels? Is it the recycled sprites? I still sort of feel this way, but I'm willing to let it slide on account of effort: Capcom really tried with Street Fighter IV. What might just be my favorite game ever has been iterated on lovingly and carefully, and this has given me an excuse to get caught up in it all over again.





Street Fighter IV is Street Fighter at its best. It's not the obtuse canvas for virtuosity that Street Fighter III was, nor are its subtleties bogged down by anything like Alpha 3's alphabet soup of "isms." All the stuff that makes it go is more or less plain to see, and more importantly, easy to execute (comparatively speaking -- if double-quarter-circle motions give you cramps, expect no quarter from even this game). In the hands of someone who's merely okay at 2D fighters, the new system's discrete parts allow for the kind of nuanced play previously the strict domain of experts. Simple-to-execute "Focus Attacks" (think: interrupts that you can unleash by simply hitting both medium attacks) can be "dash-cancelled" to goad and lead opponents. Similarly, you can use up portions of your super meter to supercharge your regular specials. The results vary: the "EX" version of Guile's sonic boom goes real fast; meanwhile, Ryu's hurricane kick turns stationary, but hits your opponent a whole mess of times.










Old pros, on the other hand, will exploit the game's crazy, multi-layered grammar for Youtube-shaky-cam-worthy results -- stuff like canceling certain special attacks by inputting Focus commands when they connect, in order to cut losses after a block, or double-up an attack. It's the sort of stuff that I can sometimes pull off in training mode. The scant few times I do so in a real game reinforces the overwhelming impression I've gotten from playing Street Fighter IV over the past few weeks: that this game contains multitudes. In another life, I'd be mixing it up with the guys who write the FAQs. In this one, I'll have to settle for practice mode.





When I peer down that rabbit hole, however, what is essentially a whole new game emerges. Strict tiers exist in the hardcore Street Fighter IV community, constructed by some precise calculus developed through months and months of arcade play. In this world, a character like Vega is puny, and given equally-matched players, should hardly ever beat Sagat, who occupies the "god tier" all by himself. What does this say about me and my friend, old hands at 2D fighters and Street Fighter in particular, given that we rocked each other repeatedly in ways that defied this logic? It means, basically, that we're not playing the same Street Fighter IV that the guys on Shouryuken.com are, and that's fine. Our version is cool, too.

















I fully expect our worlds to collide online, though. Street Fighter IV, in many ways, feels like it was conceived to lure in lapsed players. The original eight (plus the four old-school bosses) are playable from the start, and anyone who hasn't forgotten how to shake out a fireball will at least be proficient. How often will that group encounter the fighting game shock troops, those who cut their teeth on the gray-market Street Fighter IV cabinets that have trickled into game rooms outside of Japan? And what will happen once they do? Is the insular tournament scene about to break open in a big way?





Who knows. Ranked matches are governed by a sort of Elo-style rating system anyway. And this is by no means the first fighting game to ship with a serviceable online mode. (Full disclosure: We've been playing on retail discs over Xbox Live and PlayStation Network since this morning, and performance is so far, so good.) But then again, no other fighting game can come close to claiming Street Fighter's juice. Capcom has also exhibited some real commitment to community building, evidenced by the fact that it's releasing a free update that adds layers to matching and ranking functionality inside of a couple of months. In all, I'm feeling good about my future as it pertains to playing Street Fighter IV, despite the fact that I set foot in an arcade about twice a year.










I already see myself teetering on the edge of total commitment, to the extent that I'm seriously considering dropping money on one of those high-end MadCatz arcade sticks. If you're anything like me, then Street Fighter IV is certainly worth your money, and more significantly, your time. Old habits die hard, and muscles evidently have a long memory. Get ready to fight for days.

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