Street Fighter 4

[kawe]

I can't believe there isn't an SF thread here yet! Where to start, what a wonderful, wonderful fighting game this is. The core mechanics alone are all solid, and inputs are dealt with almost perfectly (speaking for the Ps3 version: I had considered the xbox version initially, but the godawful dpad would have been a crime to inflict on a fighting game). The online component is also very solid: having played a few fighting games online such as soul calibur 4 and tekken 5, I can safely say that lag is such a non-issue in this game, capcom have acheived something pretty awesome on the networking front.

The balance between fighters is also actually really quite good. Naturally, people have already come up with tiers and so on, and some characters are definitely more newbie friendly than others (though personally I think it's great that a fighting game has that, smash bros was a good example of the benefits of this at its core) but when it comes down to it, most of the time battles feel hard fought and can be very thrilling.


====================   WARNING! Textwall about game mechanics below!

The game is at its basics quite similar to previous SF games - you still have light, medium and heavy punches and kicks, and characters have their classic special moves which either use pull-back (think Guile's sonic boom - hold back for a few seconds, then hit forward and punch together) or curved/z-shaped directional inputs (a la hadoukens and dragon punches). Super combos make a come back in their SSF2T form - that is, each character has one super move (with one special exception). From SF3, we now also have the ability to use a chunk of super bar to use an "EX" special move, basically a slightly powered-up version of whatever special move it was that usually does a little more damage and can have unique extra properties (e.g., Ryu's EX whirlwind kick stays in place and hits multiple times before launching the opponent away instead of just flying across the screen and hitting once for a knockdown).

There are however two totally new mechanics in SF4: The focus attack, which is a seemingly simple ability which actually has some hidden depth and genius to it; and the Revenge Gauge, which fuels Ultra Combo usage.

The focus attack is actived by holding down both medium punch and medium kick. This starts the character charging up the focus attack, and it will release itself when either a few seconds pass or the player lets go of the buttons. If you take a hit while charging a focus attack you will won't suffer the normal effects of that attack - unless the attack that broke your focus had armour-shattering properties, like Balrog's charged punch, or Blanka's horizontal roll attack - and while you ignore that first hit in that you take no stun from it, you do take temporary damage equal to the damage that the attack that hit you during your focus charge would have done, that will refill over time unless you are hit again before that happens at which point the temporary health disappears immediately. This might make focus attacks seem pretty risky to perform, after all, you take temporary damage that can make you vulnerable to surprising burst or maybe get armour broken and don't even get to perform the attack. It seems a bad idea, until you find out more about it - firstly if you can predict someone's attack and focus, you will counter them and not only damage, but 'crumple' them. When a focus that has been charged for more than about a half second hits as a counter-attack, it crumples the opponent, which means the opponent is a free target for a second while they slowly fall down on the spot right infront of you. Obviously, this opens up your opponent to devastating supers and ultras that might be harder to connect for sure normally. Furthermore, it is possible to use the focus attack to 'cancel' a move in progress, which costs half of a super bar. This in itself can mean simple things such as avoiding recovery time, for example, Ryu could perform a dragon punch and then focus cancel, so instead of rising into the air after hitting his opponent (or his opponent blocking), he would perform a focus charge immediately, allowing him to keep the pressure on. However, focus attacks themselves can also be cancelled, by a dash (double tap left or right). This means previously impossible feats can be performed. As an example, Ryu can perform a dragon punch, focus cancel, then perform his ultra fireball timed to connect with his opponent as they fall from the dragon punch knock-up. This is pretty high-level play when you get to that point as you can guess, but the wonderful thing is that you can play without using them at all - they are there to master if you want them, but are not in the least bit mandatory to enjoy the game normally. Oh, and as an additional benefit, if you take temporary damage from taking a hit while charging a focus attack that temporary damage, even if recovered fully, counts towards filling...

The REVENGE gauge! The second brand-new addition to the Street Fighter series, this gauge fills up as you take damage, and only as you take damage. Once it's at half-full, you are able to perform your character's Ultra Combo. Your revenge gauge usually reaches the half-full mark when you are at around half health remaining, and will fill to maximum when you are dangerously low on hp (typically 10-15% of your bar remaining). the exception to this is if you have been succesfully performing focus attacks after being hit for temporary damage which you have then recovered safely. Ultra combos are your character's ultimate damaging ability, and are devastatingly powerful. With a fully charged revenge gauge, an ultra combo that connects properly can rip 40-60% of an opponent's healthbar away, very possibly turning the tide of what looked like a sure victory just moments ago. Unlike the super gauge, the revenge gauge returns to empty at the beginning of every new round, and is used for only ultra combo execution, nothing else. It might seem simple on the surface, just to add a new kind of ultra bar thingy, but the effect it has is quite profound - rounds genuinely are not over 'until the fat lady sings'. As a result, things can be very exciting, and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat is much more feasible.

===================  Mechanics Textwall ends here ==================


Phew. For those who are fans of the 2D games in the Street Fighter series who are concerned the game wouldn't be right in 3D, allow me to assauge your fears. The game looks wonderful - not only are all the characters brilliantly realised, but their animations are stunningly well handled and capture perfectly each fighter's 'feel' from before. From the hulking Zangief to the graceful Chun-li, it's all just right. Dhalsim's stretching limbs in particular are almost fascinating to watch unfurl as they extend across the screen.

The audio in SF4 is also handled expertly. Both the english and japanese voices are available, and you can for the first time set the language (japanese or english) per-character. As for music, it's all fine quality, the menu screen music is definitely pretty novel to have for a street fighter game, an actual song with (pretty cheesy) lyrics. The only real upset is that while there are some fantastic remixes of classic character themes in the game, you'll only hear them in arcade mode on the second to final stage, when you fight your character's 'rival'. Since not every character is a rival, this means you simply won't even hear all of the tracks. It's a real shame you can't play versus to the remixed character themes, as they're largely really good, and of course have +1 to Nostalgia.

Anyway, great, great fighting game. Easily the best to come out for years, it's both accessible and deep, feels tacticle, responsive and is full of character. There's a lot of potential for exciting down-to-the wire matches, and lots of great moments you'll remember and likely relay to others afterwards.

Just as a side-note, I can't talk for the quality of the online experience on xbox360, being that I've got the ps3 version, but I imagine it's probably just as solid. If you have a ps3 though, I would definitely recommend the Ps3 version because of the 360's awful dpad.

If you pick this up on the ps3, add me to your friends list (My PSN name is Sych) and I'll be happy to face-off anytime I'm playing

[Ino]

Also out for PC soon amirite

[Meeckah]

Every time I buy a PS3 game or Wii game, people stop playing it after 2 weeks.

E.G.
Mario Kart (which I would like to play again online with you guys)
Smash Brothers (Think I only ever played that online once with Kawe and round sints house and sint kawe and mal)
SC4 (Played that once online with Kawe and once at i34)

So I probably wont be buying this as the core of fighting games is multiplayer and since my house isnt a social house and none of my other friends have a PS3 - the attention span of the IE gamer suggests I shouldn't spend money on it =p

[kawe]

I wasn't recomending buying it based on playing against us lot - just that if you do pick it up, to hit me up for some rounds.

Mario Kart is very good too, as is SSBB. I'd definitely have played Brawl more if the online was less laggy. As for Mario Kart, I'd need to dig out the wheel, and so on. Likelihood is we'll play Mario Kart again at some point, but this year has seen a great many excellent game releases. I actually spent a lot of hours playing Mario Kart and SC4 (especially SC4).

[Goza]

I counter your textwall with "I still haven't burnt this."

[Sintrael]

Just two things to add to kiwi's wonderful post (also if your wondering why i'm actually on the forums today its cos i'm at escape studios and have nothing to do during lunch time)

1. About the focus attack, kiwi incorrectly said that if you are hit while in focus it will unleash automatically, this is, unfortunately, not the case, if you are in focus and take one hit but dont let go of your focus buttons you will still keep charging the focus move, if you get hit once more, it breaks and you lose the temporary health bonus from the first hit as well as the damage from the second, this means that focus attacks can be broken fairly easy with say, two light punches.

2. Also related to the focus attack, just a small thing, the "damage" you recieve during a focus attack is directly put into your revenge guage as if you were hit normally, this means you can focus dodge a hadouken for instance, then cancel the focus and regain the health BUT you will have filled a portion of the revenge guage, this is particularly helpful against turtle'ing kens/sagats...

To whomever it concerns, namely those with PS3's i would highly reccommend buying SF4 as it is fan-fucking-tastic and kiwi and i will happily beat your faces at it, admitedly kiwi will beat it harder but we're both definately game

[delling]

Both definitely gay...?

And good plug... how's it going?

[Sintrael]

fuckin awesome, i made a barrel today! a whole fuckin barrel

Plus bump mapping, specular mapping and normal mapping so it actually looks like a motherfucking barrel and all.

Crazy shit i tell thee, will probs be on vent later today, been too tired after my 2 hour commute for the last 2 nights >.<

[Grishnag]

a sintrael?

ON OUR FORUMS? WTF!!!!!

[kawe]

Just two things to add to kiwi's wonderful post (also if your wondering why i'm actually on the forums today its cos i'm at escape studios and have nothing to do during lunch time)

1. About the focus attack, kiwi incorrectly said that if you are hit while in focus it will unleash automatically, this is, unfortunately, not the case, if you are in focus and take one hit but dont let go of your focus buttons you will still keep charging the focus move, if you get hit once more, it breaks and you lose the temporary health bonus from the first hit as well as the damage from the second, this means that focus attacks can be broken fairly easy with say, two light punches.

2. Also related to the focus attack, just a small thing, the "damage" you recieve during a focus attack is directly put into your revenge guage as if you were hit normally, this means you can focus dodge a hadouken for instance, then cancel the focus and regain the health BUT you will have filled a portion of the revenge guage, this is particularly helpful against turtle'ing kens/sagats...

To whomever it concerns, namely those with PS3's i would highly reccommend buying SF4 as it is fan-fucking-tastic and kiwi and i will happily beat your faces at it, admitedly kiwi will beat it harder but we're both definately game

Focus thing is right! Releasing it has become a bit of an automatic reaction, forgot it's something actually manual :] changing the first post.

[Shannaro]

ST4 comes to PC?

[kawe]

yar, it'll be released on PC too.. but make sure you get a proper pad for it. The 360 pad's dpad is just not cut out for it.

[Daekesh]

Any pad that you'd recommend?

[kawe]

Hard to say - if the 360 fightpad's dpad is the same as the dpad on the ps3 equivalent (could be as both are made by the same company), then it *should* work... I think, since it's wired and windows + wired 360 pads works afaik. But I can't say either of those two things for sure as I don't have one of the aforementioned pads. The other thing is I've never bought a pc specific game-pad; I've either used my ps3 remote, a snes remote with an adapter, or just used the console version of whatever game might have used the controller.
tldr I have little to no experience in PC gamepads but the default 360 pad for this game would be a waste