Street Fighter IV

At the end of the day, that's really what this Street Fighter is: it's a title that's built for newcomers, yet tweaked for old school vets from the arcade and console days. [Mar 2009, p.75]

Street Fighter IV is not just a top notch next-gen version of Street Fighter, it is in essence what Capcom always wanted the Street Fighter franchise to be.

Street Fighter IV combines old and new in powerful ways, resulting in a game familiar enough to bring retired fans back into the fold while being different enough to appeal to the players who have stuck with the genre since day one.

If you ever dabbled in fighting games, you need to check this one out, and if you haven't, there's no better introduction than what Capcom has crafted here.

Capcom and DIMPS have done an amazing job with Street Fighter 4. It's obvious from front to back that the people working on this game knew the legacy they were contending with, and found the guts to finish this project with conviction. This is no mere copycat; this is a proud new addition. It's a bold, confident fighter that celebrates its heritage while bringing fresh, new ideas to the table, arriving in a remarkably complete package that -- if this were the last Street Fighter to ever be created -- earns its rightful place in the series' canon.

This isn't just a prettier SFII - it's the absolute king of fighting games.

It will be like playing SFII for the first time all over again, only with the years of love and experience you've since gained already built in. To long-term Street Fighter fans, everything old is new again. To the new players, we simply say welcome to the party. You're going to have a hell of a good time.

The best version of Street Fighter ever, the best 2D fighter ever and probably the best multiplayer ever.

Even if you haven’t touched a fighting game since the 16-bit era, one match of Capcom’s new masterpiece will remind you why you spent so many hours at those now long-shuttered arcades.

Capcom has no trouble in fulfilling the expectation that was hovering over the new installment of the Street Fighter franchise. It's going to be a tough job for the developer to improve this superb version of Street Fighter. The only thing that we can do now is to make a deep bow for Capcom and Street Fighter IV. Currently the best fighting game there is.

Street Fighter IV is the greatest fighting game ever created. Only Capcom can do this kind of thing with this much flair; it's a game that will definitely create a massive online community and, unless there's some kind of apocalypse, it'll thrive for a very long time indeed.

This game deserves a place on everyone's shelf, from the most casual fan of fighting games to the most hardcore. No matter your personal skill level, you owe it to yourself to buy this game. SFIV's incredible art style, rock solid gameplay, and infinitely compelling multiplayer make it stand out as one of best games of this generation.

It's the first game in years which inspired me to play it enough to get a blister on a blister on a blister.

A tight-fisted gut blow of wow! Must own. [Mar 2009, p.70]

But overall this is an incredible package that is without a doubt already a contender for game of the year.

SFIV had to be a Street Fighter that can be played by anyone who’s ever picked up Street Fighter II, and a Street Fighter that gives everyone all the help they’ll need if they’re starting completely from scratch. It’s effortlessly both of those things. While every other fighting game has become an elitist club for the best of the best, Capcom have given Street Fighter back to the people, where it belongs.

Street Fighter IV is no less than the new standard for beat-‘em-ups. It's a triumphant return for the series after an eight year hiatus and is a seamless blend of the old and new, at once accessible to lapsed pugilists while being nuanced enough for the dedicated core to wallow in its depths.

Capcom reincarnates the essence of the classic Street Fighter II in this fourth chapter: a tribute to the old school 2D fighting genre embodied with outstanding visuals and online capabilities. Street Fighter IV should be considered a new climax among beat-'em ups: perfect in its execution, solid gameplay, addictive as a masterpiece, and extremely fun. It is only weakened by a few pale scenarios and uncharming tunes, not to mention Capcom's decision to charge for the alternate costumes.

Since it arrived last week, I've found it hard to put the game to the back of my mind. I woke up this morning and all I could think about was jumping online for a blast.

From the moment you turn the game on and sit through the arty CGI intro, to the moment you chuck your first punch and see the game's incredible visuals, you can feel the amount love poured into making this game.

Right now, Street Fighter IV is pretty much the best fighting game out there. There's a wide array of balanced characters to choose from and more that enough challenges to keep you off the streets for weeks. Whether you're a walking Street Fighter library or a newcomer to the series, this game is recommended for everyone who loves inviting some friends over for some quality time ass-whoopin'.

If this were 15 years ago, I wouldn’t have to write 2,000 words explaining why Street Fighter is awesome, but since we’re here, stop reading this review and, for God’s sake, go out and buy this thing.

Endlessly entertaining and featuring a fantastic selection of fighters, Street Fighter IV is the best one-on-one brawler your PS3 is ever likely to see. It deserves to be experienced by anyone with even a passing interest in the genre.

The deepest fighting game ever released. It's combat engine is incredibly in depth, with even the hardest of the hardcore likely to be discovering new possibilities years from now. Even if you're new to Street Fighter, you can get up to speed with the training system and there's plenty of challenges to keep you entertained offline, with the best online implementation ever seen for those that like to spar over the internet.

Its gameplay is straight out of the great days of old, add the inclusion of challenges and online multiplayer into the mix and you have yourself a thoroughly enjoyable title with a sustained life cycle that will permanently fuse game's disc into your consoles discdrive.

Street Fighter IV is the culmination of two decades of learning what works, correcting what does not, making good things better, and discarding baffling missteps.

Street Fighter IV is a very welcomed arrival of a classic that returns stronger than ever. Its adaptation to current times, making the most of the current graphical capacity to enhance the experience without taking unnecessary risks, and keeping the same gameplay which made it triumph, yet with interesting changes, is an example of how a franchise can be resurrected and led to present without losing its essence.

Audio aside, Street Fighter IV is without question the best fighting game available right now, yes, better than Virtua Fighter 5. It boasts the amazing fluidity, balance, and appeal of Street Fighter II and III, with a great sense of reward.

If you want to buy a good arcade stick or one of the SFIV-compatible control pads coming out for the game, then Street Fighter IV is a lot of fun.

Quotation forthcoming.

Street Fighter IV is proof that you can take classic gameplay and update it for today’s game consoles and it will be hit.

Street Fighter IV is a fantastic game overall and Capcom should be commended for designing a game that can work on so many levels by appealing to both casual and hardcore players.

A distillation of everything the genre does right. It delivers the intensity of competition and the thrill of victory, all through elegant techniques that are easy to learn and difficult to master. Street Fighter IV is more than mere nostalgia - it's the best thing to happen to fighting games in years. [Mar 2009, p.82]

On the whole, Street Fighter IV is a fantastic achievement. It has a great fighting system, excellent visuals and decent audio.

Fighting games have long been out of the spotlight, and Street Fighter IV basically carries the future of the entire genre. It refuses to make itself accessible, doling out tough love in place of true tutorials or simplified control schemes, but by proving to be deep and fundamentally enjoyable, the series has once again proven itself worthy of attention.

The Street Fighter series goes back to its origins with this new chapter. Introducing a new amazing graphical style, this is THE must-buy for everyone out there. What’s more, it could be the best way to start a Street Fighter experience for newcomers, thanks to a great control system.

An excellent beat 'em up. It's pretty, fluid, surprisingly multi-layered and well-balanced. Too bad the statistics work in odd and mysterious ways. [Apr 2009]

Street Fighter IV makes difficult things look easy, and achieves one of the best fighting games in this generation. Apparently simple but plenty of possibilities, this game is accessible and deep at the same time: Capcom has done a great job once again.

This blend of familiar gameplay and contemporary aesthetic lends incredibly well to the game, giving you the sense that it’s something wholly new, with plenty of nods to a bygone era.

The must-own Street Fighter sequel. SFII fans have been waiting more than a decade for a game like this.

It's a brilliant game and – despite not offering the weightiest selection of modes, and failing to incorporate replay functionality for launch – deserves huge success.

It's instantly familiar but with enough innovation to interest fighting game fanatics willing to dig a little deeper. Yes it's a conservative effort, a safe bet if you will, but it's still the best 2D fighting game since Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

Despite its thin selection of modes, the core of the game is so remarkably solid that anyone with a passing interest would be a fool to pass it up what’s clearly solidified itself as the new standard for the future of fighters.

None of the modes - Arcade, Time Attack, Versus - scream innovation, and confusing anime-style cut scenes had us scratching our heads, but the wealth of hidden content, online play and addictive combat make Street Fighter IV one of 2009's most exciting video games.

Street Fighter IV is Street Fighter at its best. It's not the obtuse canvas for virtuosity that Street Fighter III was, nor are its subtleties bogged down by anything like Alpha 3's alphabet soup of "isms." All the stuff that makes it go is more or less plain to see, and more importantly, easy to execute (comparatively speaking -- if double-quarter-circle motions give you cramps, expect no quarter from even this game).

Amazing presentation, intricate and enjoyable fighting gameplay, and long-term appeal with online play make this a must-have. Street Fighter IV is undoubtedly one of the finest examples of the fighting genre in this generation.

The extensive character list, tried-and-true mechanics, gorgeous graphics, and quality play modes (including online battles) have updated this franchise in such a way that it feels both fresh and familiar. If you own a PS3 or Xbox 360, you simply have to go out and pick up Street Fighter IV - it will be remembered as one of the marquis fighting experiences of this generation of gaming.

Street Fighter IV doesn’t have the potential to dethrone genre kings like the Smash Bros. or Soul Calibur. Still, it’s a great game and one of the best Beat’em Ups out there.

When all is said and done, Street Fighter IV establishes itself as an excellent example of what a high-quality 2D fighter is capable of.

Overall, Street Fighter 4 doesn’t bring a lot of new ideas to the table but it does do everything better than any previous incarnation, which is exactly what we wanted.

Although it's unlikely to rekindle the impact of Street Fighter II, there's little denying that Street Fighter IV is a return to the joyful simplicity of the game that spawned an entire era.

It's taken nearly two decades, but SFII finally has a sequel that does it proud. [Mar 2009, p.96]

Essentially a renaissance for the fighting game genre. Its style and core game mechanics are so incredibly strong that they outshine the few missteps that the title contains. It’s familiar enough for someone who hasn’t played it in 10 years to pick it up and execute the same special moves they grew up with.

If you are a fan of the series, or are looking to get into fighting games, Street Fighter IV is one of the best we have seen in many, many years.

Street Fighter IV brings back a refreshing wind of kicks and punches to the genre. It has placed itself amongst the top five beat 'em ups ever, with gorgeous graphics and highly advanced gameplay. The only drawback is the lack of more offline content and an online tournament mode. But who cares when you once again can set up perfect Hadouken in your mates face, but this time in glorious HD.

From the perspective of a huge fan of the genre: Despite some minor flaws Street Fighter IV is nothing less than the best Beat’em-Up money can buy. The graphical style is amazing, the balancing good and if you use a decent arcade joystick the handling is great as well!

Street Fighter IV changes the series' overall look to 3-D but still sticks to its root with the normal 2-D Street Fighter style gameplay that we have come to enjoy making it quite an enjoyable fighter to play for Street Fighter purists.

A very good game which will entertain more than simply fans of the Street Fighter series. Long-term motivation and retro-charm are a good combination, which will guarantee the success of this title.

Street Fighter IV gives the series the slap on the back it needs to catapult into the current and shake the fighting genre to its core.