Fight or flight? Yeah, right.

The fighting game is not dead. It might seem like it sometimes, given the relatively small lineup of fighters available for current-gen systems, but quality stands for far more than quantity in a fighting game. True, the halcyon days of the 2D and 3D fighters on the PSone and Saturn are long behind us, but do we really miss the Toh Shin Dens, the Bloody Roars, The Psychic Forces and World Heroes that permeated the lineup of fighters? Not really, because whilst the herd has thinned, the strongest have survived. And so we present our list of the best fighters of this generation; the best of an increasingly breed, perhaps, but still the best.

3. Super Street Fighter IV

We know, you were expecting Capcom’s SFIV magnum opus to be at the number 1 spot, weren’t you? Sorry. Super Street Fighter IV is many things, but perfect isn’t –quite- one of them.

There’s no denying that SSFIV is great, though. Its everything it should have been and needed to be; a move-for-move polygon-perfect 3D rendition of the classic game, updated with new moves, new visuals, and even a few new characters too. It recalles the heyday of the series, with stalwarts like Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Dragon Punches and Psycho Crushers the order of the day. Slightly over-the-top, a little bit wacky, but with the depth of Jupiter’s gaseous ocean. It is, with one notable exception (Seth), supremely balanced, has a mammoth cast assembled from across the Street Fighter series, and blends nostalgia with new to create a fusion of classic gaming techniques paired with new ideas, such as the Focus and EX attacks (even if the latter will be familiar to Darkstalkers veterans).

The character roster is easily the most impressive element of SSFIV, with no less than 35 unique playable characters on offer. That includes classics from Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha, and Street Fighter III, as well as the seven newcomers for Street Fighter IV (with SFIV’s bland offerings of C. Viper, Abel, Rufus, El Fuerte and supercheap boss Seth joined by the more interesting Turkish oil-wrestler Hakan and Korean bad girl Juri). With fan favourites such as Guy, Cody, Ibuki and Dudley also included, theres a real sense that the gang is all here.

So what’s the problem? It’s all about the features, and it’s here where SSFIV just can’t hold its own. The only game modes on offer are Arcade and Vs; there’s no Survival or Time Attack modes, no form of career mode or tag battle, and alarmingly little to do apart from play against a single opponent. With everything unlocked from the get-go, and the only alternate costumes available as DLC, there’s actually not a great deal to do. The game itself might play brilliantly, but without any content to get stuck into, it really feels like only half a game.

Continue to Part 4

Written by :

James Hall