Street Fighter 4 reviews

Street Fighter IV is the game we've all been waiting for 12 years! It's been 12 years since we were given Street Fighter III, and ten years since the release of SFIII's final iteration dubbed 3rd Strike. At the end of 2007, after much speculation, Capcom finally broke their silence and announced the fourth Street Fighter game. And now, just a little over a year later, it's finally here ready to be played on your PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

The game boasts a fantastic line-up of characters which includes most of the Super Street Fighter II Turbo cast, including Akuma, but excluding T. Hawk and DeeJay, in addition to new faces such as Abel, Crimson Viper, Rufus, El Fuerte, Seth, and Gouken. An assortment of Alpha characters have also made their way into Street Fighter IV, such as Dan, Sakura, Gen, and Rose. A total of 25 characters can be found in Street Fighter IV, but you only start off with 16 and have to unlock the rest by playing through the arcade mode. You should also know that despite being called Street Fighter IV, the game actually takes place in between the events of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III.

Audio aside, Street Fighter IV is without question the best fighting game available right now, yes, better than Virtua Fighter 5. It boasts the amazing fluidity, balance, and appeal of Street Fighter II and III, with a great sense of reward. With unique stories per character, this is a game you'll actually want to play through with every fighter and unlock the remaining ones. There's a ton of depth to explore within the game's mechanics, such as the introduction of Ultras and Focus Attacks. Visually, the game looks really nice. It may not feature the most detailed characters that push the power of your HD console, but they certainly get the job done. But most importantly, it's the online gameplay and the overall value for your dollar where Street Fighter IV really wins.