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It's been a LONG time coming, but it's finally here – is Capcom's Street Fighter IV a New World Warrior, or just punch drunk?

Thankfully, Street Fighter IV is an incredible return to form. Producer Yoshinori Ono's desire to create a new Street Fighter game that was simultaneously inviting for new and deep enough for the hardcore fans has resulted in a sublime beat'em-up without equal.

Tried and bested

Sticking with tried and tested 2D gameplay, Street Fighter IV instead chooses to modernise itself behind the scenes with some new tricks and tactics and, more obviously, in its 3D graphical spit and polish. SFIV looks incredible in motion, with chunky cartoon style fighters oozing charm and style thanks to beautiful character design, stupendous animation and bags of neat touches. Eyes and tongues pop out after a heavy blow to the gut, while chins crumple under immense uppercuts. Looks of panic spread across faces as an Ultra Combo move heads their way. Nothing beats comedy character Dan's tears though, streaming down his face after each and every blow received!

All the great animation and silly touches would be for nothing if Street Fighter IV's gameplay didn't stand up. However, it's here that Capcom have truly excelled. Fans who lost interest in the series as it became progressively more intricate will love the new simpler system, as will newcomers. With it's back to basics approach, Street Fighter IV plays much like Street Fighter II, while offering longer windows of time for special moves, and easier to pull together combos. Hardcore fans needn't be disappointed though – EX moves, cancels, Ultra Combos, Super Combos, and the new Focus Attack system all combine to create countless new strategies and styles.

Street Fighter IV's gameplay is just as addictive as it always was – if you lose, you WILL be hitting the continue button straight away. The CPU is fairly well balanced on most levels, although Easiest setting sees the AI pretty much stand dumbly in the way of your fists and feet. Boss character Seth however seems to obey Capcom's standard boss rules – cheap, cheap, cheap! Fortunately VS play is always available, and memories of classic SNES and arcade matches will come flooding back as you and your friends go head to head to find the champion.

Together again

With the desire to capture lapsed Street Fighter fans a high priority, it's perhaps unsurprising that Street Fighter IV chooses to stick with the classic Street Fighter II characters for the main roster, with Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, et al returning to fight again. It's not long before you're rolling out Shoryukens and charging up Spinning Bird Kicks like it's the 90's! New Focus and Ultra attacks add depth and variety, and with the fantastic new animation and graphics it's no bad thing to have the old gang back together!

As well as the classic pugilists, Street Fighter IV initially offers up four new fighters. Mexican Wrestler El Fuerte, CIA Agent Crimson Viper, amnesiac French grappler Abel, and burger scoffing Rufus make up the new additions. El Fuerte is perhaps the hardest to use, with his fast but weak chaining dash attacks, while Abel has a nice bag of powerful attacks and useful evasions. Rufus meanwhile, looks frankly ridiculous, with his massive stomach bobbing around in his tight outfit. Thankfully, he's a pleasure to beat up! Lastly, there's a handful of extra unlockable fighters, ranging from Street Fighter Alpha's Sakura to the boss of the new game Seth. All in all, Street Fighter IV boasts a good selection, generous enough to keep everybody happy.

Generous too, are the game modes. As well as the standard Arcade and VS modes you'd expect from a 2D fighter, Street Fighter IV also offers up Training and Gallery modes. More interesting is the Challenge mode, which gives players multiple challenges, from Time Trials to Survival. Each has varying conditions for success, and differing degrees of difficulty requiring mastery of Street Fighter Iv's moveset, with rewards including collectible tags, titles, medals and player colours.

Perhaps most important of all is the online mode. Allowing you to take on friends or strangers in ranked or player matches, Street Fighter IV's online play brings the vibe of a Japanese arcade into your home – take on all comers, improve your skills, learns some new ones, and have fun! You might even win a few rounds! Online is the BIG thing for Street Fighter IV's home release, and it's going to be VERY competitive for a long time. Expect a solid community of Street Fighter IV players to build up, with some incredible matches to be had!

Up to the task-umakisenpukyaku

With Beat 'Em-Ups having almost died outside of Japan, Street Fighter IV has the onerous task of revitalising interest in the genre. Luckily, it's more than up to the task, with bright arcade style graphics, addictive gameplay, intuitive moves, and an almost perfect balance of immediacy and depth. Can we call this the best fighting game ever?

SUREYOUCAN!

GAME's Verdict

• Colourful graphics and animation.
• Never-ending awesome gameplay!
• Easy to learn, hard to master – especially with the new online play!

• One cheap boss character.
• Awful menu music.
• 360 owners will need an alternative controller – the standard D-pad is nigh-on useless.

Review by: Ian 'E-Honda' Macdougall
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 17.02.09

How do, Ken?

For a long time it was but an old-skool gamer's pipe dream. Then, almost out of the blue, it was announced – Street Fighter IV was on the way!

Initial excitement soon turned to trepidation as the stunning teaser trailer gave way to real footage. 3D footage. Street Fighter's last 3D outing, the EX series, failed to capture the charm and flow of the pixel perfect 2D originals – so naturally, fans were worried.

Top of the tree

They needn't fear; with Street Fighter IV Capcom has made a conscious decision to rewind the series back to its populist heyday. With a cast that fans will remember, and a move back to the more simplistic combat of SFII, Street Fighter IV is looking to retake its place at the top of the Beat ‘Em Up tree.

Sitting down with Street Fighter IV, it's amazing how quickly moves flood back to you – even if you've not played a Street Fighter game for years. Ryu and Ken are a joy to control; fireballs and dragonpunches exploding from their fists as you get back into the old flow. Chun Li and her incredibly large thighs unleash mighty volleys of kicks and flips; Guile hurls Sonic Booms; Blanka envelops himself in electricity – it's like they've never been away!

The standard three punch / three kick system remains, with light, medium and heavy versions of each. Combining light punch and kick performs a throw, while both hard buttons execute a taunt; perfect for winding up your opponent. Medium kick and punch unleashes one of the games new features, the Focus Attack, seeing you charge up power and unleash it for a knockdown. During the charge you can absorb one hit from your opponent, although a second will halt your assault. Tricky to instigate, Street Fighter IV experts will learn to time it right, catching opponents unawares.

While many of the more hardcore battle systems from Street Fighter 3 have been dropped, one has found its way to Street Fighter IV. The EX attack is basically a fast version of a character's special move, executed by pressing two punch or two kick buttons when an EX bar is filled.

Souped-up

There are four EX bars in Street fighter IV, and when all are filled you then have access to your Super. Basically a souped-up version of a special move, they can be chained in with other attacks for a devastating combo – perfect for turning the tide of a battle!

All-new for Street Fighter IV meanwhile is the Ultra Attack. Take enough damage and you can unleash this massively powerful move, which, if left unblocked, can take over half your opponents energy in one go! There is a long animation sequence, however, so you usually have time to block them well in advance. The skill comes in firing them in when the other guy has his guard down.

Other than these refinements, Street Fighter IV is classic Street Fighter. It's smooth, fast and surprisingly tactical as you await a make a mistake, the perfect chance to strike, or wade in to put your enemy on the backfoot.

Thankfully, the Street Fighter IV arcade machine's four new characters have all made it to the home conversion, alongside a host of Street Fighter Alpha faves. Of the arcade characters, Abel is easiest to get to grips with, employing rolls, bone crunching multi-part punches and grapples which make for massive damage. Chun Li rival Crimson Viper has potential, but strangely plays like she looks – a refugee from SNK's King of Fighters series. El Fuerte, the Mexican wrestler, is perhaps the oddest of the new inclusions. He's fast, nimble and athletic, with moves that chain from dash attacks – certainly one to watch out for in online matches! The other characters included in Street fighter IV have to be unlocked, but include Sakura, Dan, Fei Long, Rose, Cammy and Akuma. Plenty of choice to suit everyone's play style.

Hurricane kicking

Graphically Street Fighter IV is a joy to behold, with big bold and brightly coloured characters, beautiful animation and feature packed stages. The facial animations are brilliant, with characters responding to punches and kicks with goggled eyes and slack jaws, and the Japanese ink brush effect on Focus Attacks is very nice indeed. Sonically it's an equal triumph, with modernised remixes of classic music, crunching sound effects and ludicrous vocalisations. We never get tired of hearing "Hadouken!"

It's not long until Street Fighter IV will be hurricane kicking its way onto home systems, and unless something goes drastically wrong in the next few weeks, we think it's going to be one of the games of the year.

Preview by: Ian 'Tatsumakisenpukyaku' MacDougall
Preview Published: 16.01.09