For fans of the previous titles, they’ll be glad to see dozens of familiar faces on the character roster. Of the 25 fighters included, six are new in the form of: Abel, a grappler with amnesia, Rufus, an overweight American kung fu master, Crimson Viper, a seductive woman using a high tech suit to aid her in fighting, El Fuerte, lucha libre super star, Seth, the leader of corrupt weapons corporation, S.I.N., and lastly, Gouken, the legendary master of Ryu and Ken along with being the brother Akuma supposedly killed. The rest of the cast is made up of the 15 characters from Street Fighter II along with Gen, Sakura, Dan, and Rose from other installments. Of all the new characters, players should fall in love with the beautiful Crimson Viper for her gorgeous attack animations and Rufus for his out-of-this-world attacks that are entertaining and practical all at the same time.
Gouken’s inclusion is also a sweet surprise for fans that follow the storylines as he was originally killed by Akuma. So finding out what happened to him since his epic battles against his brother is going to be enticing. If you’re curious about your favorite returning competitors, Sagat has received the biggest upgrade for his attacks and is one of the strongest fighters to use in the game. The downgrade that’s the most concerning has been Guile – a natural favorite for fans of the series who is much weaker than expected.
One of the most important features for Street Fighter IV has to be the online component. While it currently doesn’t support online tournaments that Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix included, Street Fighter IV has a pleasant net code incorporated. Finding matches were a cinch and without too much lag (which could change when thousands of gamers start playing online), it’s one of the better fighting games for the 360 to play online. One missing component that will be sorely missed is the ability to watch competitors battle as a spectator from Turbo HD Remix – it’s certainly going to be on the minds of online players due to its exclusion.
Having played against both veterans and newcomers, it’s safe to say that Street Fighter IV has taken the reigns as best fighting game of this generation of consoles. When goofing around with a friend in versus matches, he complained that the game was a button-smasher, but little did he know that I was going easy on him. So the next match, he continued on with his button-smashing ways while I concentrated on blocking, countering, throwing, and dashing out of Super Moves to enter into a Focus Attack to win two perfect rounds against him and taking the victory. The lesson learned here is that veteran players will immediately know if a user is new to the franchise or not; and that’s extremely important to pay tribute to how much depth Street Fighter IV sports.
In the end, it’s highly recommended you give Street Fighter IV a shot as it’s clearly one of the best games to release in 2009. From hours upon hours of replay value to fantastic visuals, it’s a well-rounded game that should please everyone that’s looking for the next best thing on the Xbox 360. So put down your Xbox 360 controller and go out and buy an Arcade stick (highly recommended if you want to avoid the poor D-pad controls on the 360 controller) and join us in online matches here at PlanetXbox360.
