It is hardly ever easy to impress when you have such anticipation as was riding on street fighter IV. Its predecessors are already acknowledged as one of the best the genre had to offer, inciting a frenzy of fans and addicts the world over. However, with beat em up releases in the past few years waning there was a pseudo vaccum to be filled. Recent next gen releases such as soul caliber IV, Tekken V and MK vs. DC provided some solid fun but could not let people hold on tight to something truly memorable. This gap is more than just filled with the advent of Street Fighter IV.

New look, yet it sticks to its roots

The opening movie lets you know what you are getting in to right away. Ken and Ryu welcome you fist-first to a new world of street fighters coupled with the nostalgia of the old. This defines the game, a tribute to the franchise but a sight to behold in its own right. Fans of the series can instantly pick up where they left off with many of the original favorites making a come back with various special and normal moves executing almost the exact same way as previous street fighter games. Tiger uppercuts, spinning pile drivers, thousand hand slaps are all back to cause some serious yet familiar pain. Veteran protagonists such as Ryu, Ken, Guile, and Chun Li  make a return along with fresh new (and very, very interesting) fighters such as Rufus and El fluerte making their entry with one of the street’s finest.

The old favorites have never looked better. The character outlines are brilliantly designed  Zangief’s monstrous figure and Fei Long’s awe inspiring martial arts ‘back and forth’ stance with wonderful outlines are quite exemplary of this and yet just the tip of the iceberg. Fireballs initiate a gush of air and dissipate into the surrounding environment looking truly magnificent, flash kicks leave a wake behind them bending vision; Blanka’s electric shock likens a giant 10,000 volt ball of electricity and much more. Moves connect beautifully, the thumping and slashing sounds are exquisitely satiating. If you want to hear more, the change of body language as the opponents move around on screen and the combination of 3D backgrounds and views with 2D fighting styles offer a visual experience which is gorgeous overall.

The characters for the most part are all balanced. Each character has their own fighting style with their own strengths and weaknesses. This allows players to choose characters that best suit their needs.

For those new to the game

One of the best features in SF is the fact that characters have a limited amount of special moves. All it takes to start appreciating the multifarious pros of the game is to learn these few special moves (or ‘unique’ moves, which is one of the additions) to jumpstart your experience with street fighter. Of course, just one button kicking and punching for complete beginners just won’t show you the beauty of the game since the player will feel every character does the same thing; this may eventually lead to some monotonous moments (this actually happened when a group of guys and myself played for the first time!).

The limited number of moves means that the challenge are in the execution and timing of the moves rather than memorizing a long list. With blocking, throws and armor breakers also playing a big part in the game, ‘button mashing randomizers’ will have their success limited (I am looking at you Soul Calibur).

Not just riding the coattails of past success

Make no mistake here, this isn’t just a prettier version of previous street fighter games. Neither has the Capcom team simply filled in more complexities to ‘force’ some pseudo-individuality in to this masterpiece. One innovation introduced in SF IV are known as focus attacks which are essentially one super powered melee attack. It plays a dual role, as a stance that allows you to completely absorb one hit without being stunned or having to block; allowing you to counter attack. Focus attacks can also be charged by holding mid punch and mid quick for a few seconds, unleashing a an attack which is unblockable and stunning an opponent for a short while allowing a counter attack IF you’re quick enough. Of course, these focus attacks can be countered by executing a quick succession of multiple attacks since it can absorb only one hit. Another great innovation is the attack cancellations that can be done to basically trick the opponent into trying to counter them but in fact allowing you to counter on your own. An example is crimson viper’s special move which causes a ground shockwave, you can fake it to force the opponent to jump in order to avoid it. However, after he/she jumps you can immediately move in for the kill before he lands. Armor breakers have been introduced to stop those pesky blockers from slowing the pace down so much, ensuring some great pace in the fights.

The heart of SF IV, as well as its greatest new concepts are those of super and ultra combos. These are extremely powerful attacks which can executed only under certain conditions. The Yin-yang analogy could help articulate this succinctly ….. Super combo meters are charged when inflicting damage; Ultra combos can only be executed after taking certain amounts of damage and are extremely powerful to match. The Ultra Combo adds a unique dynamic as that one move can sway the momentum in a round. Each character has one super combo and one ultra combo (except Gen) but ultra combos do a lot more damage and have animation sequences which are a treat to watch as they punish the opponent with extreme prejudice, if you can connect of course. These new elements are well integrated and add new dynamics and depth in the gameplay.

We tried finding weaknesses in the game and the best we could come up with were the character stories. The story and dialogue for some characters was cheesy. prologues and endings are extremely short, in some cases hardly lasting approximately a minute. This is easily forgivable considering the gameplay is very strong and that most of the hours will be spent playing against other human opponents.

Arcading Digital Style

Online play is a great addition to SF IV allowing you a host of priorities (no pun intended!) to take on online opponents, whether your preference be skill level, connection speed ranking. However, good connections are required for a game that places importance on the timing of moves. This feature seems adamant in preserving the fun factor for years to come.

Other Modes

Consummating all the traditional one on one fighting scenarios, SF IV offers other game modes such as time trials and survival mode to add some variety. However people will mostly stick with the core format of one vs one.

Final Word: With a limited number of special moves for each character the game it is easily accessible for newcomers. With focus attacks, combos and armor breakers, the game adds a great amount of depth in its gameplay for veterans. For these reasons and more we firmly believe that SF IV succeeds in setting the benchmark for future next-gen beat ups.  It does not rely on the success of the franchise to justify the experience; SF IV stands in its own right as the best fighter this generation.