This, however, is just the presentation of the game. The real strength of the games has always been in how they played. Not only did the series define what fighting games were about, over the next 20 years we would see endless clones, some really poor ones courtesy of early SNK work (World Heroes anyone?), to truly unique and legendary titles such as King of Fighters ’98. All these games had Street Fighter II as the bar against which they would be measured. Even later iterations of the game by Capcom were hit-and-miss affairs, with more going wrong than the other way. It is perhaps why there were so many versions of Street Fighter II.
With that said, Street Fighter IV is the only game that, without a shadow of a doubt, surpasses all of Capcom’s previous attempts, if only because it plays so much like a modern day Super Street Fighter II Turbo would. However, it is not agitatedly fast, the balance is just right between all but one of the 25 available characters (Seth) and, best of all, it is no longer the combo frenzy that made Street Fighter Alpha III and a few others almost unplayable. This time around, strategy will win the battle and it must be said that the battles are hard. Post SSF2T this must be the most difficult of the series, but certainly the most fun to play. Beginners and experts alike can pick up the game and instantly enjoy it. Patience in this game with planned and controlled aggression will win the day. It is in the small changes and additions where the brilliance of the game lies. EX moves, cancels, revenge attacks and an Ultra combo gauge that fills up only when you get hit give Street Fighter IV an incredible balance and depth. Despite porting perfectly to the Xbox360, the single player experience falls short of what you would find in Soul Calibur 4, for instance. This is the single worst part about Street Fighter IV: there just simply isn’t much to do outside the arcade and versus modes. The challenges can be fun but far too repetitive, and there’s more fun to be had in the training modes, despite them being less than adequate when compared to modern 3D fighters.
Still, despite the several short comings of the single player experience, net play is an interesting addition which allows you to take on experts and beginners alike from all over. There are ranked matches which allow you to accumulate Gamer Score points and medals, but ultimately nothing beats two players playing on the same console, just like they would at the arcade. Street Fighter IV is not only the best looking and playing Street Fighter title ever, it is simply the most complete 2D fighter ever created.