"I don't care what the critics say. Violence is a beautiful thing!!!" The Street Fighter IV (ARC) Review

Note: This review is for the Arcade version of Street Fighter IV. When the console versions come out, the review then will be slightly altered if any changes or additions happen. Also, this is the first time I post match videos in the review instead of screenshots.

Street Fighter IV felt like a dream that became a reality when it was announced last fall. After years of waiting and waiting, it is finally out over at Japanese arcades and certain locations of the United States. The last significant Street Fighter game, 3rd Strike had, was a success among the tournament crowd of fans, but it failed to reach the mainstream audience the way the Street Fighter II games did back in the 1990s. This fourth game Capcom is putting out hopes to recapture that magic SF II while keeping the depth 3rd Strike, and I truly believe they succeeded. It feels like Street Fighter II for the 21st century in terms of fun gameplay, gorgeous graphics under a new engine, and amazing depth with its new saving attack system. There are a handful of games I can't stop playing and looking at because it is still amazing. That is how I feel with Street Fighter IV and it is an early contender of mine for game of the year even though it is the arcade version.

Capcom wanted players that skipped the Street Fighter III series of games to come back to this fourth game by bringing back the simplicity and the familiarity from Street Fighter II and it worked. In terms of familiarity, all twelve characters from Street Fighter II are back in this game since the storyline takes place between II and III. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Zangief, E. Honda, Blanka, Dhalsim, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison are all in SF IV with the same signature moves with some new tricks. Other than those twelve fighters, four new ones are introduced in Street Fighter IV. Crimson Viper is the new female in the game with electric moves, flying flame kicks, and a ground pound attack. Abel is a mixed martial arts expert that plays like a combination of Fei Long and Zangief in terms of grappling skills. El Fuerte is the masked wrestler with high flying acrobatics and speed moves. Lastly, Rufus is a fat American who has a nasty beef with Ken. The final boss in Street Fighter IV is Seth, who reminds me of Urien's appearance wise that has most of the characters' special moves and some of Urien's attacks from 3rd Strike. There are also secret bosses such as fighting Akuma or Gouken (Akuma is playable, but Gouken will be in the console versions as will Seth) in the end if you performed well in the single player game. As of now, there are nineteen characters in the arcade version Street Fighter IV. The lack of female characters (Chun-Li and Viper are the only ones) is a little disappointing, but there are plans for more characters in the console versions with Sakura, Gen, Cammy, Dan, and Fei Long.



In the arcade version, there are three playable modes. The arcade mode is the standard eight stage run through of fighting various characters and then culminating against Seth. Before fighting Seth, there is a rival battle pending on which character you use such as Sagat fighting Ryu and Guile facing Abel. With my time on the arcade mode, the difficulty is not that bad as the computer A.I. can give you a fight at times especially when you're in the later stages. Of course, the difficulty can change pending on the machine. There are endings for each character after you beat the game, but they will be in anime for the console versions. Beginner mode is an easier version of arcade mode designed for newcomers to the game who want an easy start towards getting good. Trial mode is basically a practice mode in which you have a time limit against characters to try out some combos and learning some of the supers (As of November 2008, beginner and trial modes are out of the arcade versions I played). Every Street Fighter IV arcade setup so far has two machines for two players that link up for versus matches which is at least a better experience other than being stuck with one machine causing players to be too close to each other.

The fighting mechanics for Street Fighter IV is divided as it is 60% Street Fighter II and 40% 3rd Strike. As long as players have Street Fighter II skills, they can still pump out wins using specials, supers, and simple three or four-hit combos of a jump kick, low punch, to a special move. The 40% being 3rd Strike resorts to the spacing, pro tactics, and mastering the saving attack system. Throws are done the same way as 3rd Strike by pressing both jab and short kick. The saving attack system is the most important addition to Street Fighter IV being both simple and deep with multiple uses. The focus attack is an ink strike that if fully charged and hits your opponent, they get stunned allowing for a free hit or two(demonstrations of it are in these videos I put up). It also a parry of avoiding attacks like 3rd Strike when timed right against projectiles and other moves. Parrying moves does your health meter to heal slowly if you're already damaged, but you will lose that ability if you get hit and try it again. It is also used to cancel special moves which could lead to devastating combos. The focus attack is a great example of being easy to learn, but difficult to master and if mastered, you can truly own the competition.



There are two meters on the bottom of the game screen during fights. First is the EX meter in blue and when maxed out, you can do a normal super move like Ken's Shoryu Reppa and Bison's Knee Press Nightmare. The EX meter is also used for EX specials, which return from 3rd Strike. These EX specials are better versions of special moves for multiple hits such as fireballs hitting twice. The green meter is called the revenge meter. This thing works like K-Groove from Capcom vs. SNK 2 in which the more you get hit, the meter glows up in red or orange in which you can do Ultra Combos. The Ultras are basically more devastating versions of the normal supers that add some dramatic effects and also deal tons of damage. Once you're caught by them, you're pretty much screwed especially when they're used in a Focus Attack combo seen in these match videos I posted. Each character has one normal super and one ultra combo which is good enough since most of the Ultras are pretty cool to look at and used with good priorities. Add those two meters and the saving attack system and you got a surprisingly deep fighting game with Street Fighter IV even though you can still get away with Street Fighter II tactics.

For the arcade version, there is a card system like other recent fighting games of using a certain character to track wins and losses. As long you keep winning, you gain more money towards buying new outfits, which is the customizable element for Street Fighter IV. As of now, no U.S. arcades that have the arcade use the card system yet, so it is only for Japan. Usually these new outfits are basically alternate colors for their signature outfits that don't detract from the overall performance (This ain't no Tekken 6 or Soul Calibur IV-like customization). Capcom keeps it nice and simple since these characters are very iconic to gamers' eyes. However, each character has one alternate outfit that slightly alters their appearance, but keeps it faithful to the character. Examples are shirtless Ryu, Guile wearing Charlie's clothes (or Nash from the Street Fighter Alpha games), battle damaged M. Bison, and my personal favorite Zangief as Haggar from Final Fight (At least there's a Final Fight reference in this game like previous Street Fighter games with Guy, Cody, and Hugo). These customizable elements are also likely making it to the console versions, so U.S. players don't need to worry about missing that feature.



On the graphics side, Street Fighter IV looks amazing. The new engine is excellent especially for the animations. Speaking of the animations, all the special moves are what you know and love from previous game with fireballs looking like fireballs, and son. What is specifically amazing about the animations are the facial expressions. If you have been looking at screenshots and videos for the game, most of the characters truly feel the pain when they get hit and most of them are pretty funny too especially when a character starts an ultra and the opponent has an "Oh Crap" look on their face. The stages themselves look amazing too from jungles, temples, airports, and seaports. It is kind of unfortunate that there are not enough stages thinking that Capcom might bring it back the number of stages to each character having one, but 3rd Strike also had a lack of stages to fight at too. While the fights are going on at these locales, stuff also happens on the backgrounds with low riders going up and down, to people shopping at the China shop level. The characters themselves look great despite the art style being criticized by fans when the game was first shown. The art style truly works in the game fitting to the theme along with the whole notion of ink when doing focus attacks. Graphically, Street Fighter IV is one of the better looking fighting games now with 2D gameplay and 3D backgrounds despite full 3D fighting games looking better, but on an artistic end, Street Fighter IV beats them on that end.

On the sound department, Street Fighter IV delivers as well. The Japanese voices sound great compared to the English voices heard on some trailers because it just fits their personality more and most fans are used to their voices by now in previous games. On the music side, the soundtrack is another good one with themes that fit to each stage. For the rival battles, your opponent's signature music gets played such as Ryu's when fighting him as Sagat, which is a nice touch. These signature tunes are remixed versions of the original game's versions especially Akuma's new theme when you fight him. The other sound effects are also great with hits sounding like they truly hurt, specifically the Ultra Combos. Then again, the announcer is better than previous games, but he can be annoying at times, which reminds me of Alpha 3. Other than that, Street Fighter IV has great sounds to satisfy even the hardcore crowd.



Is Street Fighter IV truly the second coming of the fighting genre and a stepping stone for the arcade scene to return? I truly believe so for being a second coming for the genre and the series going back to its SF II roots. As for bringing back arcades, it is for now at Japan and the certain spots of the United States have sparking up crowds of 20 to even 40 people waiting to play the game or just watching something crazy happen. Sure, the game's popularity at the arcade will die down once the console versions are closer to release, but if you really want the true competition against the best and not any scrubs that would spam moves, the arcades are there for that to happen. Even though it plays more like Street Fighter II, there is enough depth for 3rd Strike players to jump in and enjoy. The saving attack system is a great concept for a fighting game like this with tons of uses from parrying to cancelling. Using that system to your advantage can lead to devastating and amazing looking combos that look like they can't be done, but they can especially leading towards Ultra combos. The new graphics engine is amazing on both a technical and artistic aspect with funny facial expressions and great animations for the moves. All of this was a dream a couple years ago, but it is now a reality and Street Fighter IV is truly the second coming of Street Fighter II for the modern era of gaming.

Score = 9.5/10

Pros:

• Gameplay feels more like Street Fighter II, but still has some 3rd Strike in it that appeals to both the casual and hardcore crowd.
• The saving attack system is an amazing addition with tons of depth.
• Amazing graphics both technically and artistically.
• Great soundtrack with signature tunes at certain moments
• Has that addiction of being amazing every time you play it and watch it in action.

Cons:

• Lack of female characters (only two in the arcade version), but more characters will be added in console versions.
• Lack of stages as not of all of them are in rotation for versus mode (More could be added in revisions or console versions).
• High tier characters like Sagat can dominate, but check Street Fighter related sites like the Shoryuken forums for a tier list.

New Tatsunoko vs. Capcom footage with new characters!!!

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom finally gets Mega Man in the game and it is surprisingly his Mega Man Legends version, which made fans go nuts. Looks like the roster keeps getting better and better as time goes on I guess. Who knows who's left for Capcom to reveal on their side and on Tastunoko.





Even Justin Wong, the king of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, already has this game on lockdown too with those Ryu combos and more.

Vindication BABY!!!! SuperCr3w WINS ABDC Season 2!!!!

I'm 2 for 2 on America's Best Dance Crew with my pick SuperCr3w winning Season 2 (I also called JabbaWockeez on Season 1). It felt like vindication that millions of voters (39 million votes) did indeed choose the right crew to win (No respect to So Real Cru) as I feel like busting out the SuperCr3w sign now. B-boys finally got their respect they deserved with this season. Man, I'm so proud of Da Knock, Ronnie, Rockadile, Ben, Murda, and Vex as they busted their ass to win this title. Hopefully Season 3 will be good, but after these two seasons with Jabba and SC winning, who's left to bring the pain that these two crews unleashed on the dome.

No need to do the recap of the whole episode, but obviously the West Coast performance was banging crazy with SuperCr3w, Supreme Soul, and Fanny Pak doing an E-40 song. It was still nice to see the other crews do their thing, but West Coast still killed it and expect them to have another big showing next season.



Once again, congrats to SuperCr3w for winning and I need to buy one of those shirts soon since they sell out fast online. If anyone enjoyed those ABDC episode recaps throughout the season, I'll do them again next season since it is my favorite TV show despite all the BS and I think MTV needs to change it up again next time especially with the voting.

Galaga Championship Edition??? The Galaga Legions Review

Namco Bandai has been a big supporter for Xbox Live Arcade ever since 2006 releasing their classic games as arcade ports on the service. The quality varied with those releases pending on how good they were during the golden era of arcades. Namco's breakthrough hit on Xbox Live Arcade was a remake with Pac-Man Championship Edition last year making Pac-Man cool again with competitions for high scores under time limits. Now Galaga is next on the remake trail with Galaga Legions, which resembles more of the later old school Galaga games than the original, but with redone graphics for the current generation. While it may feel like the weakest game out of the Summer of Arcade lineup, this new take on Galaga is worth checking out for fans of the original and shumps looking for another decent challenge.

Galaga Legions is split into two modes, which are Adventure and Championship. Adventure Mode is a standard run through the game's five areas of four stages trying to survive and blast through wave after wave of enemy ships. Gaining a 1up is different compared to other old school based games as you gain an extra life before the last stage of an area, which is helpful against the boss sets at the end of the area. Once you run out of lives, you have to start over from the beginning of the first area and try again because this Galaga can be difficult at times with the insane enemy movement patterns especially in the later areas. Championship Mode is basically the competitive mode for high scores as you can select either of the five areas separately and go for the highest score possible before losing all your lives. There is also a replay mode if you want to see your last game and a tutorial for beginners. Other than that, there's not enough variety in the modes compared to Pac-Man Championship Edition, but the ones available will keep players busy till they are beaten or going for high scores.


The core gameplay is still basically the same of shooting down enemy ships, but the new twists make the game more interesting and a little deep too. New to Legions is the ability to deploy satellites, the sides of your main ship, by flicking the right stick to a direction of your choice. These things can save you once you're about to die or trapped in a corner if used right. Especially when the game tells you the next wave of enemies' movements for a second or two, it is enough time to plot out satellites to take down numerous ships. The areas themselves usually start out slow with the number of enemies on screen, but the action ramps up pretty quickly after that and unexpected spawning of enemies can lead to frustrating deaths too. There are certain enemies you can take out that will cause a chain reaction destroying the whole set and the game's multiplier system factors in on that aspect of taking out the normal ships and then taking out the leader ship for more points. In addition, there are times you may be overwhelmed of a huge wave of enemies especially near the end of an area and moving to the wrong part of the map will also lead to another lost ship. With the insane numbers of enemies on screen, you can move freely throughout the map compared to moving left and right in the original Galaga even though your main ship only fires up, which means your satellites have to do some work too. Also appearing once a level is a black hole to shoot down to capture some of the enemy ships to your side, which are very beneficial in tight spots too, but they are lost if they are hit by an enemy ship. The gameplay mechanics introduced in Legions are fun to mess with and satisfying when used right trying to survive.

Graphically, Galaga Legions looks stunning with the style provided in the game. The action rarely slows down when hordes of enemies are trying to kill you. The graphical style does remind me also of Pac-Man Championship Edition with the look of your ship and enemies. There are also a number of skins you can play through other than the default skin like the Ancient one and the Vintage skin, which everything looks like the original Galaga with the new glow. The menus themselves are in the typical Namco XBLA tradition of the same font and I hope Namco changes up their menu design in future games because it is getting a little old for me, which seems nit picky for their presentation. The sound design is also fine in Legions with remixed themes that fit the space atmosphere, but nothing really memorable compared to Pac-Man C.E. unless you're a hardcore Galaga fan.


For 800 Microsoft Points (ten dollars), Galaga Legions is worth downloading if you ever liked Galaga and its sequels. This is actually a great take on one of the recognizable old school shooters with its new additions and great graphical style. The modes available are good enough to keep players busy racking up high scores and will provide a decent challenge trying to memorize enemy wave patterns while using your assisting satellites to your advantage. However, I would like to see more modes that spice up the gameplay a bit. Leaderboards and achievements, which are pretty straightforward of game progression, are present in Legions to push players to compete against others online. While it is not as amazing as Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions is still a successful take on a classic game and I hope Namco continues to pump out new takes for their other classic games like this in the future.

Score = 8/10

Pros:

• Great graphical style reminiscent of Pac-Man C.E.
• Gameplay additions are worth it with the deployment of satellites and black holes.
• A decent challenge for veterans of the series
• Can be addicting with racking up high scores in Championship mode.

Cons:

• More modes that spice up the gameplay would have been cool.
• The menu design is getting a little old to me.
• Players may be overwhelmed of the insanity of enemy waves cluttering up the screen.
• Rare instances of slowdown (usually when your ship blows up).
  

Bonus Music Game Corner (8/21/08)

In this special edition of the Music Game Corner, the Dragonforce DLC for Guitar Hero III is the highlight of this post and if you like hard songs while fun to play, you're in luck with this pack of three songs. Keep in mind someone may FC them in a week or a month.



"Heroes of Our Time"



"Operation Ground and Pound"



"Revolution Deathsquad"

The Force Gets Unleashed Alright... Star Wars: TFU Demo Impressions

Today, a demo came out for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on Xbox Live Marketplace (later today on Playstation Network) as a taste of what is to come in a month since is the most anticipated Star Wars game on the current generation of consoles (After that, it is the KOTOR MMORPG). For almost a GB, you're in some Empire-like facility to hunt down a Master Jedi as Darth Vader's "secret" Apprentice, or just call him Starkiller. The demo itself seems like an early build because it is not as polished as it should be (Hopefully it is in the final game). There are technical issues if you're crazy about it from the cutscene stopping for a second or two to load up and others that people noticed. The camera is also something to worry about because it can be bad at times as you try to center it a lot with the right bumper (that's also the lock-on) or using the right sticks. Other than that, I enjoyed the demo after playing it twice on the Normal difficulty there, but it doesn't mean it is worth my purchase yet (I guess so since it is Star Wars).

The gameplay of Force Unleashed is pretty simple if you played any action games in the past few years and plays like recent ones too like God of War and Devil May Cry. Even on the normal difficulty, you can breeze through the demo without dying if you're not careless. After all, the game is called The Force Unleashed, which means you have to use Starkiller's force powers a lot. At least it does a good job of making you feel like a badass of using them and your lightsaber skills as well. The controls are also pick up and play with Force lifting being the right trigger and other powers like Force pushes and Force Lightning are on the face buttons. With the Force lift, things can get a little too complicated (likely for casual players) of using both analog sticks to manipulate an object's movement. Dodging is remiscient of the Devil May Cry games of using the lock-on and then using Force Dash (left bumper) or just jump around to avoid enemy fire. The demo wants you to test Starkiller's abilities and they delivered on that front as it concludes with an AT-ST battle (not an actual boss battle) that is finished by an quicktime event (Another staple of recent action games of buton presses and then magic happens).

Presentation-wise, it is typical Star Wars as everything you see and hear in the game is faithful to the series (even the soundtrack in which I don't know if John Williams cooked up original material just for this game). The Force Unleashed is out on September 16th and expected to a big sales hit because of Star Wars fans for all ages (the kids sure loved it when I saw it at Comic-Con last month). Who knows if the game will have critical success too (OXM already reviewed it and the new EGM out next week for subscribers has a review there too), but at least this will be better than The Clone Wars movie and also the prequels.

The commercial for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09

Tiger 09 is out next week and here's the commercial answering the question from last year's game whether or not the "Jesus Shot" can be done in real life. Looks like Tiger says yes in this clip.