Thread: Super Street Fighter IV - Review

Super Street Fighter IV review

With the recent budget release of Super Street Fighter IV many people have been undecided due to maybe owning the original or because Fighting games are typically a short quality game with poor additions tacked on for longivity.

So, Does Super Street Fighter IV stand against it's own spiritual predecessor *Street FIghter IV* as one of the best Fighting games on the 360,
Or is the ?30 price tag still not enough to warrant the re-release.

If you're looking for a quick answer, then it's no easy feat, so you'll have to read on,

Firstly Super Street Fighter IV (or SSFIV) isnt just a re-release of the original Street Fighter IV with abit of added DLC.
nor is it an attempt to slap on disk the original game,and ?10 of DLC and charge people again,
Because anyone who played the original SFIV will soon notice things aside from the extra content.
Avoiding the obvious additions for now, the main thing is a full rework of moves & balancing, Which while not obvious to the more casual gamers, many will notice that Ryu is a little bit slower, Qick-hit specials (Chun-Li's Lightning Kick, E HOnda's Thousand Hnd-Slap, Blanka's Electricity... etc) have a slightly lower limit, meaning they're harder to spam.
Overall the balancing has worked really well, and while some people are certainly easier to use than others, In the hands of a dedicated gamer, Any character could be a killing machine.

Now for the main additions, the things that make you go oooooh!!
Well to begin, there's the Online side, you can now create Party Lobbies, and jump into an Endless Battle (winner stays on 1v1 fights) or Team Battles, both for upto 8 people. And you can also now spectate as you're friends battle, and save replays from the match while it's in progress.
This might not sound much fun to the masses who prefer to play offline, and it wont go far towards easing you're pain if you're a casual Street Fighter, and got sick of getting your ass kicked on SFIV.
However, with Friends, in a Party, it's great fun, And if you've got 2-3-4 friends on your friends list who have SSFIV then these additions are well worth shouting about.

Finally, the thing that most wanted, and got, are New Characters, but not just a few.
10 additions to the original Street Fighter 4 cast, and 2 of those are brand new characters appearing for the first time,
To keep it short the 8 Returning characters are,
T HAwk & Dee Jay (from Super Street Fighter 2, etc)
Adon (from Street Fighter)
Cody & Guy (From Final Fight & the SF Alpha Series)
and finally, Dudley, Ibuki, and Makoto (from Street Fighter 3)

So onto the new characters,
Firstly there's the Rather Wierd "Hakan" who seems to have a tendancy for covering himself in oil, I'm told that he's a Turkish Oil Wrestler, But I think he's a WWE outcast with a few odd sexual tendancies.
Hakan is a tough character to get to grips with, with what initially seems like a very limited move list, but quite a strong selection of standard moves, With a little more time and dedication, he becomes abit more fun to use, but is still equally as limited, even though his slide/dive & belly flop are an impressive move to spam when you're trying to annoy someone.

Finally, There's Juri (Which looks more like Juki on the game)
Juri, is said to be an associate of Seth (1st game boss) And is by far thebest addition to Street Fighter IV in a long time.
She has a varied move set, which includes, low, high & air fireball/kicks, as well as a cyclone kick, and best of all is an air-kick that is the easiest way to counter a fireball as you naturally learn to jump a fireball and the kick is quick enough to hit your opponent before they've finished the fireball animation.
Meaning the Juri, is not only an easy character to learn, but within a few hours, you feel as though you're close to mastering her.

So what else is there', well for any previous owners of Street Fighter IV you'll know exactly what to expect, Silky Smooth, well animated 3D fighters on a 2-Dimensional plane. bright contrasting colours, and characters that stand out yet feel part of the scene at the same time,
Graphically, SSFIV doesnt do much that SFIV didnt do,.
And sound wise, well there's the adde dooohs, and ahhhhhs, which all fit in very well,
But while there isn't much new, It's all still done very well, and is almost jaw-dropping to watch,

Finally If you're tempted with Super Street Fighter IV it's worth mentioning how awkward the D-PAd is on the official PAd is, bad, to the point that, you will often miss a special move leaving you vulnerable to incoming attacks.
This isnt too much to worry about offline, or against friends, But if you're playing online, and end up battling one of many "Hardcore Fighters", you can expect to get your ass kicked the second you miss-time a fireball let alone miss it completely.
THough from what I've noticed the Matchmaking also seems to have been improved on SSFIV and you're usually end up fighting players close to your own skill level.

So, The main question is... Is It Worth it??
Well considering you can easily pick up a copy of SSFIV New from Supermarkets & Online stores for close to or little over ?20,
Then yes, SSFIV is a worthy addition to anyone's collection, especially with the lack of decent fighters out any time soon, and Tekken being pretty short lived,
So for ?20, or even the RRP of ?30, You're getting a refined version of Street Fighter 4 (already one of the best Fighting games Ever)
and on top of that, you're getting various new online modes, and ten new characters.

With Improved balancing, new characters, new modes, and the good'old Street Fighter Gameplay that's easy for anyone to get into, *cliche* but Hard to Master,
Super Street Fighter IV is a worthy purchase.

Even if you decide you want the most of of the game and decide to get a "Fight Pad" you're looking ?40 ish, for both, which will give you more enjoyment and cost the same than most new releases, and the high quality fight pad, will be useful in years to come for much more than Fighting games.


9/10

Links (both can be found cheaper, but These where the first links I came to)

Super Street Fighter IV

Street Fighter IV Fight Pad

Great review mate my pad has now been delivered