Well, what can we say about the film company known as Pixar? We can say they have a lock on the 3D CGI film market. We can say they have something of a formula for good movies down. We can say that since Shrek came out they've been on a roll, gathering no moss and not slowing down. In fact, with Toy Story 3 around the corner, it could be said that they're ahead of many film companies. As a matter of fact, I'll say that this movie I'm reviewing today is arguably my favorite CGI movie ever. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, will take away the whimsical joy I get when I watch Spirited Away, but that's for another review.

Yes, Pixar can say they have a lot, but after this movie they can also say that have Edward Asner. If you don't know Edward Asner he's a legendary actor and voice actor. For the more modern crowd you may remember him as the voice for The Boondocks rich man Ed Wuncler, Sr. He's the stocky bald guy that befriends Robert Free-Man, funds Robert's death dealing restaurant, and turns Tom's daughter into a slave. For the older folk you may remember him as Lou Grant, of the Mary Tyler Moore Show and the spin off featuring his character's name. Me, I remember him best as Cosgrove from the short lived Freakazoid! And now this movie...

Up is a movie about an old man that wants to be an adventurer. It was his dream from being a kid, and luckily this dream was shared by a young girl he would soon encounter. They'd share similar dreams and get married, how nice. To say anymore would ruin the movie a bit. So on to the main plot. The old man flies to South America with his house, suspended by thousands of balloons, and accidentally has a stowaway. They reach their destination, almost hit the mark but miss it by a few miles, and start the journey. He comes the bird, then the talking dog, and finally the main antagonist. See, movies are hard to review because you can't go into the plot while reviewing it, but that's a bit crucial to the whole thing, don't you think? Hmm? To summerize the feel of the story is... impossible. You're taken back, WAY back, to when you were a little kid and wanted to explore everything. You wanted to fly and dig to the center of the earth and back and go back so you could reach China. The whole spirit of the movie keeps you there, with this theme of adventure. You're never too old to go on an adventure.

CGI has gotten to be pretty popular nowadays, and Up uses that CGI to a brilliant measure. The cartoonish humans combined with the gorgeous backdrops is a beuatiful thing. I particularly like the dogs. They combined the sounds and the visual imagery the best. Before I get into the sound I want to go into my favorite character: Dug. He's a golden retriever with, like all dogs in the film, a collar that translates his thoughts into words. He is priceless, that is all. Every line of his is pure gold and I even shed a tear at one line. He said: "I hid under the porch because I love you." That was... *sniff* excuse me, I need a moment...

I want the soundtrack to this film. I can't for the life of me remember too many of the songs playing throughout but that's a gift and a curse. A curse because you can't remember what was playing, but a gift because it blended in so well with the overall story that it was a perfect fit. You have the cheesy orchestral inspirational pieces mind you, but in this movie they aren't just good; they're necessary, and they occur at the perfect times.

Let me go back to Ed Asner for a bit. His voice is perfect for the old man. I know he seems like he's mean and ornery in the previews and commercials, but he's actually just lonely. That's part of the story once again, I won't spoil it, but everything plays a role in his development from a lonely old man to an adventurous, kind old man. And he succeeds. What does that mean? Watch and find out.

Putting a score on a movie like this is kind of weird for me. I had a feeling going into the theater (yeah, I paid 8 bucks to watch this movie; passed up a blowjob and some booty for it too) that I was going to love this movie and I did, but there was no bias before hand, just a desire. If I had any criticisms it would be the brevity of the movie and the fact that Pixar is pushing a few boundaries now with life and death, which isn't a surprise move so much as that Disney was attached to it this time. Otherwise this film is the best thing I've seen this year, animated or life action. There's only one thing to give this gem:

DiZ Rating; 5 out of 5

As humans we tend to want to be God. You know what I mean? We want total control over things, everything, and we want the sadistic, narcissistic pleasure of being able to toy with the lives of others. Some might call it slavery. Some might call it a violation of free will. I have to call it the nature of man, and in the case of games I call it the current trend.

You may not know me too well but something I do is play games on a huge scale. I don't just play for my enjoyment (though that is undoubtedly the main reason) but I also play because I study games. Video games are, in a sense, like music in terms of culture. They can convey a powerful aspect of a people or a society. Take Fable and it's sequel and you'll see various aspects of the English (British) culture. Take True Crime: Streets of LA or it's sequel and you see many aspects of the gritty stereotype of police in the largest cities of the United States. What I've noticed a bit more is that its more overt in Japan, I'm assuming because a lot of video game (electronic) commerce takes place in that great nation. Games have a huge influence there and there's literally a game for everyone, from the anime addicts (a host of games featuring otaku wet dreams and crossovers from shows we'll never hear about in the states in a board game fashion, to name a few) to carnal pleasure simulators (the company Illusion seems to have a lock on the 3D aspect of this genre; a number of others in the 2D department) and everything in between. We will never see the same kind of gaming market in the United States, but the variety is expanding through the world.

Will Wright has a lot of fame. Why? For one he created The Sims. Any gamer who hasn't heard of this series has been living under a rock. I won't call it the first "life simulation" game because even MY knowledge of games isn't that strong, but I can call it the most popular (outside of those carnal pleasure ones in Japan; the Artificial Girl series is pretty big I hear) in the world. I also think it's interesting that Will Wright creates these games, but only slightly. He's an atheist that exhibits a mighty large number of elements of "free" will (something I go through myself) with his games. That control over human life is what makes the Sims such a beautiful series.

We were all enchanted with the first one and the second one made us jizz in our pants. So how does the third one stack up? Well that depends. If this is your first juncture into the Sims series then it's not just going to appear good; it's going to appear so real. Take control of everything, from sleep patterns to work patterns to bathroom visits and cleanliness to shower time tinkering and jogging around. You'll love the parallels to your everyday life and you'll hate them at the same time. If this isn't your first Sims then you'll probably say, "It's better... but that's about it."

It's not really hard to review a game like this. The graphics are nice. The sounds are good. You get immersed into the game because of The Wire kind of feel to the sound. In The Wire all sound was organic, minus what was coming from a stereo. That's what made it so great... one of the reasons. Convenience is there when appropriate (a cab from out of nowhere is great and all) and the upgrades decrease the realism in exchange for some serious fun. Hell, even the jobs are realistic: pay you piss poor money for the equivalent to hours upon hours of stress. You get over it by getting your rocks off, preferably due to a female. Have kids and eventually your sim DIES miserably (no, it can be peaceful) and his kids carry on the legacy. Blah blah blah, yak yak yak, dribble dribble dribble. A lot of games have been trying to pack more realism into their titles (Grand Theft Auto 4 for example) and this one works with only keeps in when necessary.

Okay, graphically, audio wise, replay wise, this game is a keeper, a true PC/Mac/Linux(?) classic. Why? Because it proves that real life can be fun in a false capacity... so long as you don't live an exact life of a Sim... but even that can be funny if you put in a cheat code... the game, not real life. Let me explain my Sim's life so far. He's Tripp Mims, an aspiring rock star that has cornrows because he "doesn't want to be confused with hippies". He bought a house he just barely had the money for and spent the first week of his life in the new city eating 6 dollar pancakes in his bathtub. He found a job at the local theater on his first day and convinced a woman to pretty much fall in love with him in that same day. After two more weeks he finally got enough money to afford a bed and earned a single promotion after stressful days. Then he learned how to slack off at work and get paid as if he was working his ass off. When this happened he bought his guitar, finally, and spent three more weeks eating pancakes and mac & cheese before finally going to the grocery store. His house was a mess because he rarely picked up the newspapers outside and every other day either his sink or his cheap black and white TV broke. He invited that girl over once and tried with all his might to get her to woohoo with him, but because it was so ealry in the morning she either left and went home or just slept. His life sucked...

ALAS! Then he started to miraculously get 50,000 every few minutes... he bought thousands of dollars of things and upped the property value of his house to about six, seven times what he paid for it and moved to a better house on the other side of town. After adding a couple of nice touches (including a snazzy beverage maker) he invited that girl over again and they make woohoo about thirty times in a row. After their familiar relations he tried for a baby fifteen times and smiled when she had morning sickness. He smiled when he was robbed and he smiled when he bought a jet for his backyard and smiled even wider when he bought a military watch tower and a windmill. After getting off from work a little while later he was informed of his son's birth and met with his girlfriend halfway on the way home to see his baby, and changed his diaper on the street. He hasn't seen either one of them yet, but he has learned how to play a couple of new songs on his guitar. Now, isn't virtual life fun?

Rating: 5 out of 5

If Mos Def’s first outing, Black on Both Sides, was any better then he would be in the exact same boat that Nas is in now. That’s to say he’d be afflicted with the eternal sophomore jinx. Everyone is mad at Nas for never meeting the critical acclaim of Illmatic, but he really can’t help it at this point, or ever. Mos is in a similar boat; Black on Both Sides is considered a classic for good reason. Not many rappers combine peerless lyricism with socio-political tracks, jazzy vibes and gluteus maximum tributes, and even fewer can do it whether rapping or singing. See, Mos Def is an interesting case because BoBS was kind of his second album (first was with Talib Kweli as half of Black Star, an even better album in my humble peerless opinion) and when he said The New Danger was his next album people put him on a pedestal. Then they heard the album. The immediate reaction, a resounding “Ewww….”

Don’t get it twisted though; The New Danger was NOT a bad album. If anything, it was a boat change. If Mos Def was (is) on the same sort of path as Nas then The New Danger was a detour into the channels of Common territory. Like Electric Circus, the album was something of an experiment, sans the influence of a neo-soul goddess. Fusing elements of rock and rap and metal he crafted a decent album (B- at the best) that was booed like a marijuana-addicted rehab patient because it was too drastic a change from the base he established with BoBS. Did this deter the Chuck Berry of Rap? I want to say it did, because his next effort was the poorly publicized and critically canned True Magic. I know sometimes an artist has to put something out because of A&R demands (Nas, Nastradamus) or sometimes the rapper wants to do something new and fails miserably (Common, Universal Mind Control) but True Magic was bad nearly all around. There were a couple of standout tracks; scratch that, there was ONE standout track that was saved for the album. To be mean I’ll leave that for you to listen to yourself.

For three years we’ve waited for Mos Def to do something musical again. His acting career has been on a high lately (Cadillac Records; Be Kind Rewind) and he’s been pretty vocal in the world of politics and conspiracy theories, but musically, what’s he been up to lately? Aside from a few Youtube videos where he’s hinting at new shit or freestyling while drunk or just talking introspective like he always seems to do (and yet he’ll still marry a woman he’s only known for a couple of days) or about how nothing rhymes with orange… you get the irony? Until you give The Ecstatic, Mos Def’s true and powerful return to prominence, a good listen, you may not realize that Dante Smith brought us The Ecstatic long before it hit stores. If you still don’t get the irony you will when you listen to the LP.

In a return to form, Mos starts out with a standard intro (Supermagic) with a few lines, a quote I’m assuming, from who knows who (I want to say Malcolm X) and suddenly the Boogeyman busts out the gate with his crazy brand of lyrical genius, declaring that he’s back (been back for about a year if you see the irony). He goes from there right into Twilite Speedball, switching from his somewhat swift flow to a slower pace as his words perfectly compliment the tuba-laced bass line. From here Def drops down to Auditorium, the first of three guest featured songs. With the help of the legendary Slick Rick and the production of Madlib the two spit some pseudo stream of consciousness rhymes that make just as much sense as they don’t. There’s a definite reasoning behind this track, but it almost gets lost as the combination of the beat and the two legendary emcees puts the listener into a dreamlike state.

Wahid is a familiar track, lyrically at least. The second Madlib production puts yet another masterful beat behind Mos Def’s more DOOM-like flow, and considering the chemistry of Madvillainy it’s no wonder this track works so well. Drifting from Madlib for a moment to the more “soul” vibe of Preservation’s musical methodology, the Mighty Mos goes on a couple of lyrical warm-ups (exhibitions trump these but these are still better than your favorite rapper’s best verse) with Priority and Quite Dog Bite Hard. Next is the first single from the album, Life in Marvelous Times. This track had to grow on me a little bit but I’m feeling it. The beat just feels out of place in comparison to the tracks that came before it, but it sets up the rest of the album at the same time. Otherwise it’s another Mos Def lyrical warm-up (exhibitions are rare in Mos). Mr. Flash is a weird cat, as shown with the next track The Embassy, which has a “Middle Eastern” feel to it halfway through (something else I get a feel of through the LP) and, of course, Mos Def blesses the beat with his words.

No Hay Nada Mas… don’t know how to call this one. He’s either speaking Spanish or doing some scat rapping, and I am an expert in neither. Chill beat behind it, and it’s a welcome sort of intermission for the remainder of the album. I’ll be sure to do some serious translating (or I’ll pay someone to do it for me) in the near future. Otherwise I like this track, if only because it breaks the path of the album even more. Pistola is the ever-popular “love” song that every rapper has to do, but leave it to Black Dante to put a spin on it; and he does. Is he talking about the gun or the woman?

Pretty Danger is my favorite solo track off of the album because of the history I see of it. It sounds like a drunken Mos Def freestyle (which usually turns out brilliant) and the beat behind it makes it sound… inorganic. Combining the natural flow and the inorganic beat sounds like an uneven combination, but the fact that they don’t seem to meld as one, at least to me, is one of the strengths behind it. Workers Comp addresses the recession a little bit, an expected move considering Mos Def’s socio-political wordplay. Revelations, the last of the Madlib productions, is like a Saturday morning cartoon: fun to observe and over the top. The track isn’t breathtaking but the xylophones of the beat awaken feelings of nostalgia.

I thought Roses was the full version of Flowers, a video Mos Def did as a promo for this LP a while back, but while the Georgia Anne Muldrow assisted track is not Flowers arguably the most sincere track on the album. I love it the most because of the beauty of it but I don’t like that it takes forever for Mos to start spitting on it. When he does, however, he more than makes up for his delay. The short verse is a lyrical exhibition, a rarity in Mos case because his bar for such things is so high. This goes into the fleeting but exquisite dream track of History, a reunion of Mos Def and Talib Kweli (Black Star) and production from the late great James Dewitt Yancey, J. Dilla. History has the capacity to be the best track on the album if only because of how eargasmic it is to hear Black Star trade verses once again. The title says it all really. The album closes with the most recent single, Casa Bey, where Mos Def goes on one more lyrical free-for-all before coming to a close. The Ecstatic is a great album, wonderful, but how does it stack up to the others? Well it is better than True Magic but what isn’t? It is superior to The New Danger too, but does it touch Black on Both Sides? No. Why? For a number of reasons.

When I first saw the track listing for The Ecstatic I started to draw comparisons to Madvillain’s Madvillainy. Most of the tracks are rather short and the stream of consciousness wordplay complimenting the odd, sexy production, yes, sexy production. While I admit that Madvillainy is one of my favorite albums I have to admit that it’s not user-friendly for the most mainstream crowd. The fact that it wasn’t so user-friendly is part of what made it great. For Mos it doesn’t work as well; that’s to say he isn’t quite as abstract as DOOM to pull off a feat like that. The format of the album is a bit off; it flows flawlessly between tracks as if it were one huge track but the eclectic nature of the production on this LP makes the flow purely physical in its flawlessness. Also, in a small complaint, where the hell are the singing tracks? Umi Says is probably one of the best tracks off of Black on Both Sides!

The biggest problem with the LP is the same one that Nas has with his discography, and it’s an unfair gripe, but Dante has to deal with the eternal sophomore jinx as well. All of his work will be compared to Black on Both Sides (if you’re really cruel you’ll compare it to Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star) and to this day nothing has. The New Danger didn’t reach that prominence and True Magic was a total 180, but at the very least The Ecstatic is the closest Mos Def has gotten to the bar he set for himself way back when. If this is a taste of things to come from one of New York’s Thieves in the Night then he might be nearing that bar, but until then this album stands as the strongest effort since BoBS. It doesn’t achieve that same classic status, but if this is the road Mos Def is traveling now then he just might reach that status once again…

Rating: 4 out of 5

(P.S. – I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t the official release of The Ecstatic. If this was something of a precursor to the actual album I wouldn’t be surprised in the least. This is a great album, the best thing out of a legendary NY emcee in a while, but… I would use a video game reference but it would probably fly over some heads. Forget I said anything.)

This is a message to all living mortals... nah, just kidding (or am I?). Well, I haven't been posting too much on this blog, much to my own dismay, so I had to make a hard, necessary decision. Like Chairman Kaga of Iron Chef fame... I am... shutting down... my beloved Kitchen Stadium...

Wait, what? No, not Kitchen Stadium. Not shutting down either! Electronic Underworld, as I have come to accept, isn't wide enough. While a focus on games is good enough the fact that financial situations and the recession era are in full effect make a pure gaming site for someone like me a pipe dream. As I was widening my horizons I realized that I have seen more movies and listened to more albums than I have normally recently, and something registered in my head. It's all electronic; it's all digital.

So that's what this is about. I'm expanding the walls of Electronic Underworld to some opinions and maybe even some news stories about music, games and movies, and anything else that could fall into those categories. Hope you like the expansion.

This is a new one. I haven't reviewed anything in a hot second, but I had a thought earlier today when I was clearing my computer of porn and music. I was going through all the games I have ever played in my head and said, "DiZ, how many stories in these games gave your digital self a stiffy?" I say several. Good stories in games are coming through more and more, and I can't complain. I'm a writer and I love good stories. When a game combines a good story with good gameplay and good graphics then you have a great game. That's why I'm so giddy over Chrono Cross. To say that that is a candidate for my favorite game of all time is a massive understatement; Chrono Cross is my favorite RPG ever, bar none. As for game, well, I can't say.

Still, a good story is required for a game like Chrono Cross. Why? It's an RPG. Role Playing Games need a good story to keep the game moving; what's the point of getting stronger if the characters forever stay in place? Square-Enix knows how essential a good story is for an RPG, hence the unprecedented success of the Final Fantasy series and all other games they've created. Even The Bouncer had a decent story; VERY farfetched, but at least it was applicable. Sion still one of my favorite video game characters of the PS2's reign.

Still, while RPG's are almost destined to have a good story (I know from experience that the "almost" is essential for this post) there aren't many other games that need that great story. Fighting games, for example, don't need such a thing. I've been trying to figure out what was going on in Street Fighter since it was eating away at quarters from millions worldwide in its initial days, and I'm just as confused now as I was nearly twenty years ago. In essence they are the only genre that can get away with a piss poor story too.

It's when stories excel, however, that the game can be elevated to a level of prominence. I don't think we give enough credit to the games that have great stories and little popularity. Peerless storytelling outside of an RPG is something that deserves the highest praise in gaming, I promise you. So this is just a little tribute to a few of the games that deserve that greatness.

• Silent Hill 2

Why don't I like horror games too much? False horror. If something doesn't inspire fear in me for more than an hour or so then I can't call it horror. Edgar Allen Poe wrote scary things; his short story The Cask of Amontillado had me scared shitless for about three years. The story itself wasn't horribly scary, but the capacity for one human being to murder another human being in such an elaborate and terrifying manner IS horribly scary. I was scared to cross anyone for months for a fear that they would put me being a wall. I won't get too deep into the story (hypocritical, isn't it?) because I don't want to ruin it, but while I wasn't scared to the point of years of sleepless nights I was scared to the point of looking around the corner with a set of fake nunchuks in hand at all times from the time I started playing it to the time I stopped. Never finished it, have no intent to. Pyramid Head still haunts my dreams and Konami has proven that you don't need quick scares to inspire fear. Real fear comes from a feeling being totally alone... and demonic creatures raping manniquins.

I should have said the Silent Hill series for this, but Silent Hill 2 takes the cake for having the most memorable story. You will never forget it, nor will you talk about it unless the person you are talking to has completed the story. That is all.

• Shadow of the Colossus

1. Was I the bad guy?
2. Did I do the right thing?
3. Why am I am (spoiler) now?

• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
  

Adventure games have great stories too. Dreamfall takes the cake as the best sci-fi story I have ever played outside of an RPG. You have a girl in the future (year unknown, can't be too far out) that is undeniably loveable, a girl in the past who is from the present future, and a guy in the past from the past. All of them intertwine and confuse the hell out of you. Aside from that you have a cast of characters that either make you happy or angry, never in between, and there's this constant sense that can only be described as, "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" I can't get into this one for real because it's a bit of a distant memory; not just that but I want to play the prequel to it before I give it more praise then I mean to. In any case the story kicks the hell out of some RPGs. I just wish I still had it... ah well.

Well, there's a little tribute. I'll be back at a later time. Peace y'all.

Just stare at the kitten for a minute, loyal reader. Imagine that you're in this scene, looking at the kitten. Me, I'm the kitten. I'm Puss N Boots. This is me asking for forgiveness for slacking off on the blog. Can you forgive me? Pwwweeeeaaaassse?

Thanks! Aight, I'm back to the work, peace!

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.