As a guy who has played street fighter since the first version, and has actually seen the Jean Claude Van Damme film adaptation (Cinematic Masterpiece) I feel as though Street fighter has definitely been a part of my life.  Although Im not Asian, Ive got a soft spot in my heart for this game and when word came that Street Fighter IV was happening, I was stoked.  The previous street fighter games are still fun to play and have the highest replayability I can think of… even before online gaming was a reality. So Id expect nothing less from the 4^th. 

This new game is bad ass.  It has kept the same 2D environment its always had from the beginning but now the visual look has been upgraded hardcore style, characters have a soft texture painted style, that looks almost like comic book characters. Also with the illustration and static drawing it’s all accompanied by great attention to detail. You can actually watch each character move their heads and eyes to track their opponent as they jump and block, and big hits show painful expressions and popping eyes. The gameplay has also changed and it has been made imore friendly to newbies or average joe douche bag to pick up and play.  But this accessibility does not sacrifice depth and the game could take months or years (and a social life) to really master.  Im not gonna bullshit you, if you’ve never played before and picked up the sticks against a veteran your gonna get your ass handed to you.. but if its casual player against casual player it’ll still be fun and still look good.  You don’t have to have extensive technical knowledge to pull off cool moves, and make a good fight.

One big thing Ive found is that the set up and use of special moves is a lot easier to pull off than past games.  So you can focus on busting a guy up more than just trying to press all the buttons the right way.  I also noticed that they yanked the parry system, or the “fuck you, im so much better than you I can move towards you while fighting” system.  Also to help in lopsided matches theres another addition, Ultra moves.  Basically theres a meter they call the revenge meter, and it builds up as you take hits, so I call it the bitch meter.  So once you’ve gotten yourself beaten up like a straight up hoe, the meter glows showing its ready and when its used its like a super move only more like anal rape without lubrication.  Massive damage.  I understand this feature is really to let everyone compete and not have a vicious perfect beat down with a great player every time so I don’t knock it too hard, and the animations look insanely cool.

Theres also a new feature called a focus attack. You can charge them or tap them, and hitting an opponent with a charged focus attack stuns them, dropping them to their knees and allowing you to knock em again. And if there wasn’t enough to help out with the new players they have now added challenges set up to show a player how everything works from throws and specials to super blockers and hardcore combos for the die hard people.

All in all I give it a thumbs up.  It’s a cool game and I had a good time playing it.  Im sure theres going to be several drunken street fighter matches that may turn into actual fist fights, and that’s just super.  Check out the trailer below.