Remember what I said about not being bias about reviewing games? Well, in light of my unhealthy infatuation with the Street Fighter series, I need to get a few things out of the way beforehand. First: I love Chun-Li. I refuse to apologize for it. Whether 2D or 3D she gets my inner gamer aroused. Yes, I said aroused. Still, despite my love for the digital goddess, I will be completely unbiased. Two: I will not base this review on any previous or possible future Street Fighter titles. There will be no outside influence, just my personal experiences. Three: this game is fucking awesome.

Let me get it off my chest and say that its been a long time. I've loved Street Fighter since the World Championship days and its been 20 years (I'm 19, ironically enough) and when this was even announced I pulled a Lonely Island. It took me a little while to adjust to it and when I finally played it there was this feeling of nostalgia. Nostalgia, loyal reader, that's what you feel when you play this particular game. Nostalgia.

Let's get to the basics. Gameplay has always been the thing of beauty in Street Fighter. The old saying, "Easy to learn, hard to master" has been THE staple within in, along with the colorful cast of fighters. Keep it simple: three punch buttons and three kick buttons. Two buttons to throw, two buttons to focus, two buttons to fuck with the competition and taunt them. The formula is constructed for both the battle hardened veterans (that's me) and the raw recruits (new guys), so no one can claim to not get into the action. A new feature is the Focus Attack. Adding to the crazy style of the new masterpiece, Focus Attacks take the form of paralyzing ink. The move (activated by pressing both middle buttons simultaneously) can be done as an instant attack or charged up for a more showy and showstopping blow. The attack leaves a trail of ink from the source of the attack (fist, leg, head, monkey) and, at full charge, the move instantly stops the opponent in his or her tracks and knocks them to the ground. Not only that, but if absorbs the first attack from the opponent, adds the power to your own, and still inflicts damage. Ain't that something?

What's more is the new feature known as an Ultra Combo. Super Combos have been around in Street Fighter for a minute now. You attack the opponent or get beat up enough and the meter fills. When full you can unleash a character specific super attack that is guaranteed (if it connects) to inflict serious damage on the opponent. In this game the Super Combo meter serves that purpose as well as another. The Super Combo meter is broken up into four parts, and when all four are filled the Super Combo can be unleashed. So long as a part of the meter is full a Super Special Move can be activated. An upgraded Special Move, these are enhanced variations of the Special Moves characters have. For example, Ryu has the fireball. A Super Special Move hadoken is the flaming variety. There's even a light element of difficulty surrounding the new style because it requires you press all three punch or kick buttons simultaneously to activate one. That takes me to the Ultra Combos. Ultra Combos are initiated by the Revenge Guage, a small meter next to the Super Combo meter that fills as the character takes damage (hence the revenge aspect; the Super Combo fills from dishing out damage). When halfway full the character can perform his or her strongest attack, complete with theatrics and a fun show, if it hits. I like to refer to these as Desperation Attacks because of how you need to fill the meter. Usually the attacks follow the same activation button pattern as the Super Combo counterpart, only, like the enhanced special moves, they require the three punch or kick buttons pressed at the same time.

It seems like a lot to balance out, but that's where I'm headed now. This game is surprisingly well balanced. If we were to play against each other right now neither one of us could complain about who won because anyone was stronger or weaker. Faster characters usually hit lighter but compensate with speed. Slower characters are usually powerhouses. Every has a style that has unique strengths and weaknesses and none of them are anymore or less advantageous than the other. The best example I can use is when my friend and I played the game the other day (I know what day the post says but it's actually about a month later) and I was using Chun-Li as he was using Blanka. Chun-Li's speed caught him off guard but Blanka's electric charge caught me by surprise anytime I launched the offensive. The speed was somewhat equal but Chun-Li's habit of landing multiple hits and Blanka's habit of anti-air attacks and rolls made it a close round. I won, of course. Even Seth, the boss, though appearing to be the cheapest son of a bitch boss in a fighting game since Dead or Alive 4's Alpha-152 (yeah, I remember that bitch!) is essentially Shang Tsung (I remember him too!) with teleportation and crazy combos. He isn't the easiest person to battle and its a hard fight, but it's a boss battle, it's SUPPOSED to be more difficult than the rest (except for maybe the rival battle). That being said, on to the characters and graphics.

I was originally turned off by the blocky graphical style. I was taken back to the Street Fighter EX thing and a shiver went down my spine. Sidenote: EX wasn't a bad series, just... out of place. Anyway, what made it more and more appealing was the cartoonish effect. Not just that, but its even kind of real. We have to remember that this is a game of electric fantasy, so the exagerrated faces the fighters make when they take a powerful hit or fall is classic. It fits so well. That's why the graphics work so well. The cartoonish characters blend in flawlessly with the obscure, updates locales. Just as realistically cartoonish as the characters themselves, just as brightly colored in some places and orgasmically dreary in others... enough said. I like how the environments move with the characters too. In the boat stage there will be splashes of water as the characters move, and in the "'Train in Old Country' as I like to put it" stage the onlookers watch with genuine interest. All I can say about that is fantastic.

You may, I repeat, MAY be turned off to the opening song, however. Personally, being the eclectic bastard that I am, I find it rather good. No, more than tolerable and a little less than good. Maybe I just have a thing for J-Pop. Every fighter has their own battle music (I suggest you pick up the CD or listen to the tracks, you might hear something familiar). Remember the tracks from Street Fighter 2? Do you remember Ryu's classic theme or Chun-Li's infamous tune? The game music is a revamp, an upgrade, much like the entire game. Think of some of the songs as 20 year old covers from good artists.

You know what else is good about the sound quality? Every hit sounds authetic. We will never be able to see a man attack another with an uppercut surrounded in fire, or a low altitude horizontal drill like manuever of a man surrounded by weird purple power, but when you hear the crackle of the fire you get a sense of realism. It's comforting, if gut wrenching at some times.

BUT, my biggest beef with the audio is the voices. I have yet to listen to the Japanese voices, but what I have noticed is that the English voices suck. No, let me take that back. They don't suck but they are ill placed. The voices themselves are well enough but the dialogue itself is awful. Come on, Capcom, I know Ryu is an anti-social guy but, "The answer lies... in the heart of the fight!" is just corny. That's why I love Blanka; he don't say shit. He growls. You can't mess up a growl.

The voices are further intensified by the anime cutscenes that precede and proceed the arcade mode. They are bad. This is coming from a big fan of anime. They're drawn decently at best, not too bad but not too good, and the voices make it kind of unbearable. Not just that, but they don't do much to make the story much easier to understand. Oh, let's move on to the story. Shadowloo is dead, and so is Bison. Everything is all well and good until this new guy, Seth, decides to revive the Shadowloo and makes up the tournament to get (*SPOILER*) from the combatants. Everyone has their motives for battling, but who ties in directly to the main boss? Several of them. Hell, everyone but Ryu and Ken I guess, but that's because Ryu is thickheaded (all he wanna do is fight) and because Ken only wants to fight against Ryu, even though he doesn't want to leave his wife because (*ANOTHER SPOILER*). But, who plays a fighting game for the story?

Capcom's strong suit has never been a good story (you think the Marvel crossovers were just for show?) but again, you play Street Fighter for all the sexy violence. So let's keep talking about the sexy violence. Like I stated earlier, it doesn't take long to get into the game. Pick up the controller, XBOX or Playstation, and you can get right to work. Both controllers work just fine, easier for the thumbsticks on the XBOX for me, directional pad on the Playstation. What you really need to do, for the full experience at least, is buy an arcade stick. I won't endorse one over the other because I personally like the controller better, yes, I said it! Not to say I'm not a beast on the arcade stick mind you, heh...

And I know what you're thinking. DiZ, you chocolate Twinkee, you haven't said too many bad things about the game! No, I haven't, but that's how it goes sometimes. Some games are just great. You want criticisms? How about the online? We, that's to say the gamers that make up the almighty Street Fighter Nation, love to duel. There are people all over the world with the only common thread linking them all together being a fighting spirit. So with this in mind I'm disappointed with the online.

I see it more frequently with the XBOX version, but balance is necessary. If you have a perfect connection and your opponent's isn't so clean then the match won't look quite as fluid as it should. Perfect connections on both ends, oh boy, get ready to hand out an ass kicking or get one. Trash talking, invisible victory dances and ethnic slurs are sure to hit your ears.

In terms of downsides that's pretty much the worst that Street Fighter has to offer this time around. The music can get kind of annoying but I'm only really referring to the title theme. The voices can be annoying as hell too, but switch it to Japanese. Makes the anime about three fold better too, I find that pretty enlightening. Er... well, if I can think of any more I'll get to them.


I wanna go through the roster now. Needless to say, I like it. Love it? Maybe. There's a total of 25 fighters from all around the world, ready to kick some serious ass and take names. You have the original eight from the Street Fighter 2 times: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, E. Honda, Dhalsim, Guile, Zangief and Blanka, along with the boss characters from World Championship Edition: Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison. Throw in a few from the Alpha times: Gen, Rose, Dan, Sakura; and a few from the Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo days: Cammy, Fei Long, Akuma, and last but now least the new fighters: Abel, amnesiac MMA brawler; Rufus, fat but fast blubber; El Fuerte, Rey Mysterio with a frying pan; and my favorite, Crimson Viper, sultry, well endowed secret organization agent. But wait, there's more! Not only is there the boss, Seth, but there's the infamous Gouken. Who is Gouken? He's Ryu and Ken's teacher, and he's a beast. Definition of a beast: shoots fireballs with one damn hand! Out of the newbies my favorite is probably Abel (PHYSICALLY Viper is my favorite. Her chest is bursting out of the shirt, give a guy a break). He could be like Ryu actually, so simple in his character and just fighting so he can understand just why he fights. You know, that's not a bad idea...

I don't have much bad to say about this brilliant game. I tip my hat to Capcom for creating a worthy new edition to the Street Fighter library. They both successfully captured the spirit of the early games and made the new experience so beautiful it could stand alone. This isn't a criticism so much as a personal desire, but I wish it weren't a midquel. Ah well. Capcom, if you're reading this, hit me up! I can write the stories for you, I'm a writer by nature! Let me tell Ryu's story!

This has been a DiZ Review. Since you've been looking for the score for so long, here it is. DiZ, the arrogant douchebag, gives Street Fighter IV the score of:

Five stars, my highest rating. If Street Fighter 5 is anything like this then Capcom may yet get back on my good side. Peace.