Although you might feel it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early to post a review of the Street Fighter 4 arcade release, Scott Popular has been playing the location tests for a long time. Now that I have played SFIV, I feel pretty damn good about the game. I was a bit apprehensive about the whole 2.5D, the return of the original 8, and no parries. But this is a different game compared to the other SF game. For you, what are the slight and obvious things that make SFIV stand apart from the other games in the SF series?
The first thing that jumps out is the look of the game. It has a really strong artistic style that stamps it as uniquely Street Fighter, instead of just another random 3D game going for photorealism in unrealistic situations, or a lot of funny hats.
The game also really has a ton of details. In addition to all the tiny gameplay features that hardcores work hard to discover, there are also a lot of really great graphical flourishes that just take a loooong time to notice, because you’re staring at the on-screen action.
The thing I am also really liking about SFIV as a hardcore player is the aggression of the game. Between very dangerous focus attacks, new cancel options, ultras, and even throws, SFIV is shaping up to be a real slugfest. Meter also charges REALLY slow if you try and sit on the other side of the screen and spam specials, so if you want to power up you’re better off mixing it up than running away.
