Review: Super Street Fighter IV

Just over a year ago, Street Fighter IV ushered back 2D fighters in a big way. Now, with the release of Super Street Fighter IV, Capcom proves that if it ain’t broke, tweak it and make it better. The genre is here to stay, as this game has been eagerly anticipated since hints of it dropped last summer. But is Super Street Fighter IV worthy of a full disc release or is it simply just minor DLC-esque add-ons to an already great game?

On one hand, there’s nothing entirely new about SSFIV, but that’s not to say it’s unwelcome. The addition of ten new characters, new stages, new bonus stages, new online modes, new achievements and more make it more than just a light upgrade. Yet, on the other hand, it’s still Street Fighter IV. It’s familiar, but new. It’s literally a $40 shot of steroids into a video game that was still in its prime.

Out of the ten new characters, two are completely new to the series. Juri is a petite seductress, who plays aggressively and fast. Hakan is an oiled up technical grappler, a sort of cross between Zangief and Abel. The other 8 newcomers have seen a Street Fighter game before, but bring with them skill sets and tactics that will definitely change up how you’ve been playing SFIV. Fighters like Adon and Makoto, for example, bring an extremely technical approach to the game. Their move set requires an opponent to be somewhere very specific, so your random button mashing or turtling might not be your best strategy anymore. Super Street Fighter IV requires you to continue to adapt to these new opponents and learn how to best play against them. It’s a game that keeps you thinking and learning, even after years of iterations.

The returning 25 characters (this game’s roster is huge!) stay true to form, but all have added Ultra Combos. Each fighter has two Ultras to choose from, furthering the new strategies and tactics one can dish out. Also, damage output has been lowered a bit across the board, resulting in longer matches, and chances to catch up if you’ve taken a beating early on. No longer are you doomed after one mistake and taking a multiple hit combo to the chest.

The Bonus Stages from yesteryear are back, and while not incredibly deep, do provide a brief moment of nostalgic bliss. But once you’ve beaten a car to pulp, and smashed some falling barrels a few times, the novelty wears off. If you’re really tired of it, there is an option to turn it off in Arcade Mode.

Online play is totally revamped. All character selects are now blind, meaning your opponent won’t wait to see who you choose, and then counter. Your choice of Ultra is blind as well. Ranked Matches pit you against a random opponent and earn you newly defined points. There’s an overall Player Point system, which represents your history of online wins and losses, as well as Battle Points specific to each character. So if you’ve racked thousands thousands of Player Points as Akuma, then start to play Chun Li, her BP rating is going to be zero. This doesn’t mean you’re not good with her, it just means you’ve never played as her online before. It makes much more sense than SFIV point distribution.

The biggest changes to online play are the Endless and Team Battles. Endless is sort of a round-robin. X amount of players in a lobby take turns fighting each other, the victor continuing his streak. This is great in theory, or if you have a group of friends you can chat with while waiting, but for the solo player joining a random lobby, there’s a lot of waiting going on, and you risk being kicked by the host for no good reason after spectating several matches.

Same goes for Team Battle. I’ve been randomly assigned into a 3 on 3 Battle, with me being the third entry on my team. The first fighter on my team won all 3 matches, and the Team Battle ended. So I sat and watched him fight 3 rounds, and that was it. I never touched my controller or had any input. Like I said, the new online modes are much more fun if you’re in there with friends and headsets. If you’re setting out on your own, stick to Ranked Matches.

Those are the big changes, but there are a few tiny pet peeves I have. The announcer, while having the same dialogue, is a bit more aggressive and toned down than in SFIV. I miss the enthusiasm of the original voice work. The car and barrel bonus stages aren’t equal substitutes of the Time Attack and Survival Modes of the first game. And truth be told, I kind of miss that annoying “Indestructible” song.

Super Street Fighter IV is exactly what you though it’d be. A great upgrade to the original SFIV. Not a new style, not a complete revamp, but there are great changes where needed. The amount of characters available, and the online matching make this a game you’ll keep playing for years. Do you need this game if you already Street Fighter IV? Depends. If you’re content with SFIV, by all means keep playing it. But if you love SFIV and can’t get enough, definitely invest in this upgrade as you also cannot play Super Street Fighter IV with people playing online in the previous game. There’s no real reason to have both, but SSFIV is the one to have. When Capcom continues to release fantastic 2D fighters, made with love and the hardcore fans in mind, the consumer consistently wins.

Doin’ It RIGHT: - Same great 2D fighting, more bells and whistles. - Total overhaul of online system, fairer matching. - Lots of new content for budget price.	Doin’ It RONG: - Online modes work better for playing with friends, not alone. -Minor changes might bother diehards.
FINAL SCORE: 9 / 10