Feb 20
Street Fighter IV VERY Initial Impressions
I was and still am a BIG fan of Street Fighter III.
The problem with that game was of all the fighters you had to choose from, only a handful of them were interesting to play and compelling to learn. But if you could get past that and find a character you liked, the game was a masterpiece.
At the heart of the greatness was certainly the gameplay, moves, and most importantly the parrying.
Ohhhhh the parrying!
Parrying Was a Little Bit of Alright
I’m sure I’ve talked about this before, but the parrying in Street Fighter III was so cool because it gave you the chance to never take damage (except from throws). You could parry every attack in the game – From normal moves to specials and even entire supers! Being able to do that, there was no more chip deaths, you could jump freely because you could parry Dragon Punches… And if you played someone who could ALSO parry, man oh man the chess matches you could have.
Here Comes a New Challenger
So Street Fighter IV has no parrying. Before I picked up the game yesterday I was reading a cool e-book I found at http://gootecks.com/. It’s called The 3rd Strike Players Guide to Street Fighter 4. (You had me at hello). Well anyway, it was a pretty decent read… Enough so that I picked up SFIV. But I was also worried when I read one of the passages in the book that said something to the effect of “You know you could jump in safely in SF III? Well, those days are over.” *groan* And let me tell you, I understood that all too well when every time I jumped into Zangief I kept getting Lariated and there was nothing I could do about it.
Initial Thoughts
Um, I dunno. I only have about an hour or so of SF IV experience under my belt and admittedly, coming from Street Fighter III, the transition is PAINFUL. At first I was going to say that you don’t have the trickness coming from cool movesets like you see in Alex and Dudley (SFIII) but after seeing some vids on the net, I’m very optimistic that with another hour into the game that I will be proven wrong. So I guess, WE’LL SEE.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I’m not a big SF fan like you Bush, I played a lot of SF2 in the arcade, on the SNES and other platforms in college. But with IV so far…I dunno I played a few matches last night but I’m just not feeling it so far.
But I’m sure with some quiet time to sit down with the game and get to grips with it then it will all come good. Those incredibly high review scores can’t all be wrong.
Keep us informed!
February 20th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Absolutely my man, I’m trying to play it now but have been stopped by wife and children. It really does seem promising, and at least compared to its 3D predecessors (SF EX, SF EX + Alpha) it’s very smooth and plays just like a 2D fighter.
February 21st, 2009 at 1:28 pm
I havn’t really played since SFII (I know I am lame!!) But the graphics on this one look awesome and true to the original… I may download the demo a little later (If one if available).
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:07 am
@Forest – I WILL say Forest, as a glimpse into my review that the presentation and graphics are FANtastic! They DO stay true to the original but bring life to the characters in a way we haven’t seen before.
And don’t worry about not playing a SF since II… I mean don’t get me wrong, there were a bunch of good ones in there like the Alphas and SF III but it’s never too late to jump back into the mix. IF fighting games are your thing that is. (#):)
February 24th, 2009 at 6:02 am
I think the trouble is that you really need to play the game with a proper arcade stick, not the regular controller.
I don’t want to be shelling out even more money for a peripheral right now.
February 24th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
@Pete – …Don’t even get me started on the controller man.