A Conversation on "Street Fighter 4"

Mark Ayala: Well, I wanted to start this by saying that I was very, very weary of Street Fighter 4.

Louie-Spunkmeyer: Yeah. Me too.

MA: I honestly, you know, thought it was just a way of cashing out on nostalgia by throwing all those Street Fighter 2 characters

LS: Well, when I first heard it was a 3D fighter, I assumed something like "Street Fighter EX", which was horrible in terms in gameplay. So all those games made me very apprehensive of trying SFIV.

MA: I was preaching to you for a while how it may be potentialy awesome. I kept telling you that it handled like a 2D fighter, not like something along the lines of Tekken or Virtua Fighter. I'm honestly glad we took the time to go to the arcade and play it. What was your first thought when you started playing it?

LS: Again, the idea of a 3D fighter had still stuck with me, so I was completely blown away when the fighters were stuck on this 2D platform. It was only then I realized it was a 2D/3D fighter.

MA: I knew that all along and I think I tried to explain it to you.

LS: I wasn't getting it at first. I didn't get it. It wasn't until I saw it in motion when I finally got it.

MA: What I was most impressed with were the very detailed character models...

LS: Oh yeah.

MA: And the fact the gameplay bore closer resemblance to SFIII as opposed to the now clunky gameplay of SFII. It isn't that part two is bad, it's just the gameplay for SFIII is so much better.

LS: So much more fluid.

MA: Big time.

LS: That was one of my big hang-ups about SFIV. Could a 2D/3D fighter play as good as a 2D one?

MA: It did.

LS: Yeah, it did.

MA: The combat moved very fluidly; it felt like a 2D game! It was a little bit of a shock before. I felt games that have tried emulating a 2D style in a 3D world weren't well executed, and the only other game I can think of that had approached it so well was "New Super Mario Bros.", a game I ended up enjoying, which also handled like an old Mario game.

LS: What surprised me most was being able to pull off a perfect my first time playing! That just, it just showed the simplicity of playing. The controls weren't clunky, they were very responsive. Input for special moves wasn't a grueling task anymore.

MA: Yeah. It reminded me of the countless hours we've played of SFIII. I miss Dudley and the rest, but this one makes up for it's lack of SFIII characters by making an extremely solid fighting game. The question though: Does it offer anything new to the mix of fighting games?

LS: I think it's new in the sense that it's ground that no company has really tread on. It's a very novel idea and if they could pull it off correctly, it could be a new style of fighter. I can go so far as to say, it'll be the new SFII for this generation.

MA: The controls were as complex as they were simple. All the moves and specials were there, but the new parrying made it simple for someone new to the genre to enjoy. I thought they were going to do the lame attempt to appeal to the always talked about "casual gamers" and water down the gameplay. But nope. It felt juuuuust right.

LS: You know, I really like the parrying which I heard a lot of people did not like because it wasn't as complex as the system in SFIII. Personally, I feel the parrying in SFIV works better in the sense that anyone can pick up, play, and be a challenge while in SFIII, if you weren't parrying, there was a clear difference between two opponents.

MA: I agree. I also went in with the predisposition that I was going to hate the art style, though those worries were crushed quickly. When I saw how wacky Blanka's eyes looked when he got slapped, I was very empressed. The style reminds me more of the Alpha series. Anything to say about the art style?

LS: I was also empressed by the art style. Hold on, let me think... I was a little worried about the art style from the get go, because of all the early screenshots. I personally didn't think that the style would translate well with the characters movements.

MA: What about the trailers?

LS: There were trailers? Noooo... I, I, I didn't want to get too much hope and watch them fall apart.

MA: Like a wet burrito. In the end, I was very satisfied with the five dollars I spent to play this.

LS: Yeah, I didn't invest too much, 'cause I kept kicking those guys' asses.

MA: So what's your final thought?

LS: Kick ass. If the console version is as good as the arcade version, I want to get it first day.

MA: Agreed. Was definatly a worth while experience. I didn't mind the long train ride to play it. Again, was worth every penny.