Game reviews: Super Street Fighter IV

1992: what a year. Yeltsin turns his nukes away from the US, Microsoft releases Windows 3.1, Bill Clinton turfs George Bush out of the White House and I develop a blister the size of a quail egg on my palm playing Street Fighter II. Many hundreds of (my parents’) dollar coins went through that machine in Top Video, and with good reason: SFII was fast, funny and addictive. Its simplicity allowed those born with feet for hands to enjoy themselves, while dead-eyed 12-year-old snipers could sharpen their skills almost endlessly. Comparing it to chess isn’t as silly as it sounds.

Consequently, 18 years and nearly 30 iterations later, the Street Fighter formula remains unchanged. Super Street Fighter IV is a 2D fighting game in which players mash buttons with varying degrees of finesse to best an opponent. Nor is it radically different to 2008′s Street Fighter IV, which astutely married 3D characters with 2D combat.

Nevertheless, SSFIV is utterly brilliant.

By taking the already-excellent SFIV, magnifying the fun bits and mercilessly excising any irritants, Capcom has perfected the fighter.
All 25 characters from the previous game, along with an extra 10 (including regulars Cody, Guy, T.Hawke and Dee Jay, plus a couple of newbies like the oily Turkish wrestler, Hakan) are playable from the get-go, meaning no faffing about to unlock the buggers.
Along with the suite of new characters are extra backgrounds, which are as garish as we’ve come to expect.

Online play is greatly improved by the addition of team battle for up to eight players, endless battle against a rotating group, and a tournament mode that goes live on June 25. The ability to square off against certain characters keeps play engaging – if you’re a complete wally with Ryu but a gun with Dhalsim, you can challenge the best players using your guy.

While serious Street Fighters can dig in deep, the multiplayer interface is unthreatening enough to invite even the terminally shy online.
Basically, if you’ve got a console it belongs with this game, because it’s never going to get old. FIGHT! TG

PLATFORM REVIEWED: Xbox 360 PLAYERS: 1-8 RATING: PG GENRE: Fighting SCORE: 5