First off, let me tell you a little about my experience with fighting games. I played a lot of the arcade cabinets back in the day. Except of course, Street Fighter. I know it's kind of funny considering... But I digress. I was a big Tekken fan, Soul Edge, and yes I played EVERY SINGLE Mortal Kombat that came out. I was even into the SNK Fighting titles; especially Samurai Showdown.
I starting playing fighting games heavily again around the time the Dreamcast version of Soul Calibur came out. That was probably the most I've ever gotten into a fighting game. I played that game so often and so hard I actually wore out my Dreamcast controller buttons. One actually popped out. I loved that game. No one could beat me. All my friends thought I was some kind of savant or something. But I had just practiced until, yes, the button of my controller popped out.
Then I have to admit. I stopped playing completely. Except for Mortal Kombat a little, here and there. But I came back to fighting games when Soul Calibur 2 came out. Which I played to death. I even got to the semi finals in a local tournament. I also managed to play the arcade cabinet version at the time to much success as well.
But since then, with the exception of Dead or Alive 4. I've pretty much hung up my fighting game spurs. So when I heard the RAVE reviews of Street Fighter IV and having just finished up a brief stint with Soul Calibur 4 to some mixed results. I like it, but not as much as VF5 don't get me started on that game. So I decided to give it a shot. I all ways hated the fact that Street Fighter required SO MANY buttons and the fact that the game was 2D. The whole thing just seemed a little cheap. But this game had everyone buzzing about a fighting game Renaissance and heck, who doesn't want to be part of that. Besides, I figured I could finally learn the game.
So a few days before the game came out I downloaded Street Fighter HD Remix. Which I found difficult but not impossible. I did beat the game with Blanka. I also tried out Dhailism and a couple of others. All using an Arcade Stick of course. I've had one since the XBOX 360 came out, just about.
The game was fun and relatively difficult for ANYONE to even try. Many pros say that Street Fighter HD Remix is just about the same game as Street Fighter IV with the exception of the new features. So this is VERY interesting in itself.
There is more.... Street Fighter IV is the single most challenging fighting game I've ever played. The amount of learning associated with the game is probably higher than anything I've played with the exception of games like Guilty Gear and other Japanese 2D Fighters. The game teaches you through a Trial mode, that REQUIRES you to hit the enemy. Which I thought was removed from Training modes in Virtua Fighter 4. There isn't anything showing the move you entered into the screen except when you hit the RIGHT combo. This can be a problem. I just would have liked to see what I was doing wrong so I didn't keep doing it. There is little to REALLY be learned here; except a few special moves. The only benefit I found to the mode was the unlocks that it granted. They are fun and silly. Given this is an online fighter it's fun to see all the crazy titles and colors in the multiplayer.
The game as a whole looks beautiful. It has better graphics than I've seen in any fighting game. But I would have to say that they needed to REALLY work on the quality of those anime prologues and endings. Some were just terrible. But there were one or two that were really great. Like Akuma's and Rose's both were good.
As SO many sources have all ready mentioned this game is DEFINITELY NOT for casual players. In fact, there are lots of people who seem to be learning all of Ken's moves and think they are hot. I'm sure they will have this idea beaten out of them Most haven't fought, or at least not fought too many skilled players yet. Ken's great but I've all ready beaten a few people with Blanka; myself. Which on the whole just means that when the big stir over the game ends; so will their winning streaks.
Virtua Fighter 5 and Street Fighter IV seem to have one really big thing in common. You pick one or two characters and become incredibly good with them. These are HARDCORE games. They aren't like Dead Or Alive or Soul Calibur, where you learn a bunch of characters and at some point are able to hit Random and beat up the average person. What makes this game so hard? Linking combos, focus attacks, and ultras. All pretty much require you to practice ALOT. Now that isn't casual.
The quality of the game is certainly not in question here. I'm sure there are probably boat loads of professional Street Fighter players who tested this game for Capcom and were SO THRILLED with the game when they first saw it. And maybe even the folks who played Street Fighter all those years back and were good then; will maybe have enough muscle memory to be competitive once the initial group of causal players gets tired of the game and there are mostly only pros left. There are certainly plenty of burgeoning competitors out there now.
While Street Fighter IV is probably the greatest fighting game ever made next to Virtua Fighter 5; it is not for casual players.
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