Street Fighter IV

The Good
Street Fighter IV returns the series back to its roots which brought it success. Set in the timeline between Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III, SF IV includes several characters from the the original series with a slew of new characters as well. In addition to new characters, Street Fighter IV also includes fully animated (complete with voice overs) cut scenes for each of the playable characters during the intro and post final boss fights.

The controls for Street Fighter IV a quick paced and very fluid, giving the game a very arcade feel, making for intense fights between friends or the computer and ensuring a good amount of challenge.

The Bad
Where Street Fighter IV falters is trying to find a balance between good challenge and flatout frustration. Even on the easiest setting, Street Fighter IV is a challenging game, but not on a consistent level: Rather than building up challenge as the player progresses, the difficulty fluctuates from character to character, leading to sometimes very imbalanced fights and some very aggrivating boss fights. This makes Street Fighter IV a slightly frustrating game for single players.

Also, despite upgrading to the XBox 360, Street Fighter IV is lacking in technical upgrades. Post fight victories lack voice work, and only one in game cut scene appears per character (not including the animated cut scenes, which are still short).

The Bottom Line
Street Fighter IV does an admirable job of bringing the franchise forward with its quick action, new characters, and story elements. However, its controller throwing frustration and lack of features commonly found in other games may be a deterrent for most casual gamers.