Review: Street Fighter 4

Works like magic.

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CHOICE PICK

9.4

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Maintaining the consistently high standards of a legendary franchise like Street Fighter is a job that conjures a certain level of risk. On one hand, Capcom has to retain the core gameplay mechanics and feel of the previous Street Fighter game in the next new rendition to satisfy the millions of old-school Street Fighter fans, while on the other, it has to constantly update the series with new mechanics and reinvent the general look of the game with new styles to pull in new players yet ensure the game remain familiar enough to keep the Street Fighter veterans on the inside. It’s a balancing act that would intimidate lesser developers.

When Street Fighter 4 burst into the arcades, and onto players’ Xbox 360s and PS3s early last year, there was applaud. Capcom had done it again. It introduced smart, advanced fighting mechanics like focus attacks which added an immense layer of tactical depth to the game. The combo system was also overhauled to provide players with new ways to rack up power for devastating combos and additional attack options. The new characters drawn into the rooster brought along with them new fighting styles that served to complement the familiarity of popular old-timers like Ryu, Dhalsim and Bison. Whether you were a player who depended on fundamental, yet strategic punches and kicks to win the match or someone who was enticed to explore the more advanced inputs of the game to unleash more complex techniques on your opponents, Street Fighter 4 was a fun and intense fighter which cemented the franchise’s rightful position as the king of the genre.

All these good work could have been undone in one careless move. Capcom’s decision to port Street Fighter 4 onto the iPhone is as much of a risky move as cutting the right wire in an explosive device is. The idea of a having a game which requires precise controls on a platform which has no buttons or sticks is disastrous. But Capcom being Capcom, disaster is turned into paradise. Street Fighter 4 for iPhone isn’t merely functional; it’s extraordinary. The fact is that Street Fighter 4 works like magic on Apple’s device.

From the get-go, you’d notice that this is the fighting game you know and love. The impressive visual style and animations from the console editions are immediately recognizable. To circumvent the limitations of the lesser hardware and smaller screen, Capcom resized the backgrounds and flattened them into still 2D imageries. The 3D character models seen in consoles have also been translated into high resolution sprite models. Spread into bullet points, one could have easily dismissed Street Fighter 4 for iPhone as a weak game from the technical point of view, but take a step back and look at the bigger picture, and you will quickly realize that these trade-offs are necessary for the greater good.

It’s amazing how the animations for each character have been painstakingly recreated here to resemble those from the console editions as much as possible. Move into the super combos and ultra combos and it’s clear that the game just knocks your socks off. Capcom has faithfully ported over the massive ultra combo animations which result in a variety of flashy moves and glitter which fills the entire screen. There are, of course, some differences – like how the game is so reluctant in panning your view beyond the upper reaches of the backgrounds to reveal the entire sequence of Bison’s Nightmare Booster or Abel’s Soulless, but these differences are next to ignorable on the small screen. All in all, Capcom has done an excellent job at scaling the visual prowess for the iPhone and it really feels like you’re playing the game on a console because both the home and portable editions of Street Fighter 4 look nearly identical.

But as outstanding as the presentation may be, they wouldn’t count for any should the controls be flawed. Fortunately, Capcom has done the unconceivable. The touch controls are tight and extremely responsive and it actually feels like you’re playing the game with real buttons and sticks. The control scheme has been simplified from 6 buttons to just 4, namely punch, kick, Special Power, and Focus Attack, but that doesn’t mean the fighting mechanics are any less complete than the console editions. All the movesets are represented here – it’s pleasing to see Ken throwing his flaming Shoryuken and Guile executing his flash kick on the small screen. Considering that there are only 4 buttons to work around with, you may need some time to relearn some of the trademark moves of your favorite character, but it wouldn’t take longer than 5 minutes to master you character again.

While players who have played Street Fighter 4 on the consoles before can go right into turning the virtual joystick and hitting corresponding button to execute the unique special moves of each character, Capcom provides another option in the Special Power button. While pressing onto the Special Power button and maintaining the joystick in a specific direction, players can execute the various special moves without worrying too much about turning the virtual joystick. And while players can still initiate a super combo or an ultra combo via the traditional, albeit more challenging method of repeatedly turning the virtual joystick and hitting the punch or kick button a specified number of times, there’s another option in hitting the super combo bar or the circular ultra combo meter to bring out the fearsome finishing moves. Make no mistake. This isn’t the mere simplification of the control scheme, but rather, the admirable decision to make Street Fighter 4 more accessible to a larger group of audience who may have never touched any fighting game before but happened to chance upon the game on the Top Grossing App list. For the hardcore player, there’s the option to turn off the Special Power button for some conventional quarter circle joystick turns and what not. There’s a really fine line between making a game more accessible to new players and downgrading a game to make it easier to play – and Capcom treads that thin line with great panache. Afterall, there’s still the same immense level of tactical depth here as in the console editions and players who are willing to explore the more complex techniques like Focus Attacks and EX moves would be rewarded handsomely.

The game’s shortcoming comes in the form of content. With only 8 characters available here, all unlocked from the start, the game slides more towards the lesser side of content. It’s disappointing how Capcom couldn’t include more fighters like Zangief, Sagat or Crimson Viper. On the single-player side of things, there’s the tournament mode which is essentially arcade mode. Then there’s training mode where you can test out the moves of the characters. Finally, there’s the complete-the-challenge Dojo mode which represents trial mode from the console editions. Multiplayer is represented by local Bluetooth play – and only local play. The lack of online multiplayer over Wi-Fi is a pity considering how Street Fighter 4 is best enjoyed with human competition. The missing content is puzzling. Could the asking price of $9.99 be the factor? Hopefully, Capcom could patch the game with additional modes like survival mode and time attack mode in the near future.

Closing comments
There’s no doubt that Street Fighter 4 for iPhone is an impressive game. The look and feel of the console editions are retained. You’d never believed that the iPhone/iPod Touch is capable of supporting such a snazzy production, but seeing is believing. It really displays Capcom’s effort in crafting the game for the handheld. And for many, the tight and extremely responsive controls will surprise. With a simplified control scheme, the game proves to be more accessible to more players, while players willing to explore the more complex aspects of the controls would be rewarded. The only complain I have is the lack of content here. With only 8 characters to choose from, there isn’t much variety. At $9.99, Street Fighter 4 is reasonably priced especially for such a high value production. Hardcore Street Fighter 4 players can finally have their dose of fighting on the road.