The Street Fighter series finally received some necessary re-invigoration with last year’s SFIV, after nearly a decade of absence since the release of SFIII: TS. I’ll be honest, having been a dedicated 2D fighting game player since their inception, I was hesitant about SFIV, and I’ll go even further to admit to not having picked it up until about a month or two after release. Fast forward to April 2010, and checking my game time on SFIV, I see I’m well into the 500+ hours mark. Capcom did something very, very right.
The Street Fighter series suffers from criticism due to the constant reiterations, generally seen as some cash-in in this world of home console gaming, but an absolute necessity in the game’s roots as an arcade machine. Things have to be kept interesting, balance tweaks must occur to existing characters, add some new characters, and still maintain each iteration’s individuality. Does SSFIV address these elements?
Immediately noticeable are the changes to the roster, which includes nods to the previous Street Fighter games, plus some new characters to the IV canon. The additional characters balance out what tends to be a slightly redundant roster; in this case the additions lean towards leaner, faster or stronger characters, and eschew the projectile types. This certainly opens up the game – long gone is the all too common online Ryu-Ryu-Ryu-Sagat-Ryu-Ken-Ryu-Sagat ad infinitum frequency.
This has occurred in due part to some hefty character balancing, for instance, bringing Sagat more down to earth with his damage dealing, and increasing the health on characters like Dhalsim, and minor tweaks to damage and priority all around. Characters now receive the choice of two ultras prior to the match, and it’s up to you to commit as to which one you’ll choose.
A major overhaul comes in the form of the multiplayer aspect, which has been the most exciting part of this generation’s contribution to SF. Tweaks to the netcode mean smoother matches and matchmaking has been streamlined so it’s easier to come across players from the same region. Australia’s tyranny of distance has always made this quite iffy, in a game that relies so much of finesse and timing. The inclusion of Endless Battle mode brings the arcade experience closer, with its ‘winner stays on’ principle. Just right.
In brief – it’s SFIV made that much better. You can still choose to play it like you did the original SF2 down at the takeaway in the ‘90s, without a doubt. I would recommend exploring all the new things on offer, as it is a much richer experience. Here’s to another 500+ hours.
