Street Fighter IV

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If you are intermediate or elite players and love SF II and good at it, then go for it. You can skip my review.

BUT if you are casual players, like me, and you didn't plan on training hard, please read my review and think carefully before buying this game.

Pros:

Graphics and animations are top-notch.

If you like SF II, this one goes back to the old formula and add some new tweaks into the battle system.

Cons:

If you were forced to stick with only a few characters like Ryu or Ken back in your SF II days, that situation is coming back. Ryu, Ken, Sakura are easy enough to master all the moves. Others are useable (means casual players would be able to do some moves, but not all). But for many of them, most of the special moves are impossible for casual players to pull off effectively in the heat of the battle (ie. Vega). And the Ultimate move of some characters (ie. Akuma, Chun Li) are nightmares.

If you couldn't use the special moves well enough, then casual players might end up with just a few useable character from 25 of them (or half of them, with some practices and a sore left thumb). And you wouldn't stand a chance even against Medium opponents on Arcade mode with the characters you can't use well. Let alone going online to be a sand-bag for those elite players. And $ for a game that you could only having fun with less than half of the character rosters, it's the money not very well spent.

Controls can be too sensitive for casual players to do even some basic moves. For example, a split-second longer can turn command 'UP' into 'UP UP'. When you hold left and then quickly press right, if your left thumb is not precisely hit the RIGHT directional pad, you'd end up with 'DOWN+RIGHT' or 'UP+RIGHT' instead of 'RIGHT'. All these ridiculous sensitivity issues can really be annoying and ruin your moves.

Practice mode doesn't help much. You can practice with the dummy, but there's no advice or video to show you the timing or even what the moves should look like. You're on your own. All the moves and combos must be done respectively, no skipping. If you get stuck with any move, you can't advance to the next.

This I'm not sure if I'm right or wrong, and it's not pro or con. But the difficulty level seems to be set higher. Medium level can be tough. Even on Easiest, computer can still put up a fight.

In conclusion:

I give this game 3.5 stars. Casual player might want to think hard before paying a full price.

I'm trying not to be nitpicking here. I like the characters and moves. But as a casual player who likes to enjoy ALL, or at least, most of special and ultimate moves of EVERY characters after some amount of trials, without losing my head and my left thumb, I find this game quite frustrating. For me, Marvel VS Capcom, Capcom VS SNK, or Guilty Gear are a lot more fun.

However, elite players may find this game fun and challenging and give it 5 stars, and they're not wrong either.

Someday it might go down to $, when that happens, everybody should pick this game up just for the sake of its phenominal graphics alone. But for now, rent it first, see if you're up to the challenge.

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This game is a ton of fun. However, should you want to play with the extra characters in the upcoming, revamped Super Street Fighter IV, you might want to think about holding off on your purchase for a while. Super will NOT be a DLC add-on but a new disc-based version, so you'll have to re-buy the game to get Super. Further, Super will probably launch at below the standard $59.99. Food for thought....Fight!!

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This is an excellent and well designed and balanced game. I'm a huge fan of Street Fighter II and of the Alpha games. And Street Fighter IV seems to be a perfect melding of what I like about the two. The original, fleshed out and iconic characters of SF2 have melded with simple, but deep gameplay that is filled with variety.

There are plenty of features in the game as well. Versus mode gives you the choice to play versus a local player, the computer or to watch. Training mode is a handy way to brush up on your skill outside of the intense combat of arcade and versus mode. And challenge mode gives you something to shoot for as far as goals & trophies are concerned.

To be honest, the only problems I had with this game are some slightly annoying load times before a match, and the desire for a few more bells & whistles. Things like a more fleshed out story mode and a memorable final boss (not counting Gouken, Ryu & Ken's master) would have been much better. And I love anime, but the animated cut scenes are horrible and it would have looked much better if they did that stuff in engine, like they did with the cutscenes during the rival battle and before you fight the final boss.

Read Best Reviews of Street Fighter IV Here

Of all the defining video games that I grew up playing, the one that bears the most relevance to me is Street Fighter II. It's what introduced me to fighting games, as well as many others, and still defines what 2-D fighting is today. All these years later, Capcom unleashes Street Fighter IV, which combines all the old school elements you know and love with a glossy, next-gen look and feel; and the end result is one of the absolute best fighting games on the market right now. Very accessible yet deep and complex, Street Fighter IV brings back all twelve warriors from Street Fighter II, and throws in six new ones as well, including a powerful end boss. The first thing you'll notice when powering up the game is that there is some seriously stylish animation and absolutely gorgeous, flowing graphics. In fact, for a 2-D game, the overall presentation is a pure work of art in itself that looks and plays better than most current 3-D fighters. The single-player mode is fun, but the real meat and potatoes of Street Fighter IV lie in the online multiplayer modes, even if it is occasionally laggy. There's also unlockable fan favorite fighters like Akuma, Sakura, Cammy, and even Dan; all of which combines to offer a ton of replay value. All in all, Street Fighter IV is a pure blast that you will enjoy for a good, long time; and is right now the best current fighting game on the market, and it wholeheartedly deserves your attention whether you're a longtime fan of the long running series or a newcomer.

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What a comeback by Street Fighter. I have always been a fan since the arcade days and then SNES and subsequent versions that came out on PC's and PS2. This tops the lot of them in terms of graphics as its redone in HD and looks superb with a very natural 3D/2D style of fighting. Superb detail in characters and fighting arenas looks excellent on a HD TV.

All the old characters with their old moves are still there but now you have special combos and ex special combos and revenege attacks brilliant. The on-line feature is a great bonus aswell which means the game keeps its playability and boredom doesn't set in just like the Arcade days when you'd get "Challanged" one after another. There's training mode to hone your fighting skills and get back up again to have another go. If you were a fan of the game or in fact of the fighting genre this is a must have. Time to stop being a family man and be a kid all over again.