Then we had the SF4 announcement, a beautiful trailer came in, Ryu and Ken going toe to toe with classic Japanese ink art work and swirling fight scenes, it was a great appetite wetter for what we didn’t realise was worthy a sequel to the true original SF2. I was so down trodden with the series I couldn’t even pay attention, Soul Caliber 3-4 had claimed my heart on the PS2 with its 3D arena style combat, weapons and armor breaking special moves. SF4 had one hell of a job to get noticed again but the classic selling points that made it so good in the first place came back the fourth edition. Its 2D for a start, a really bold move for the 7th generation systems, a huge stripping down of the character roaster and a refreshed simple reproach of the move list. It was a coming home essentially, a product aimed at the old generation who grew up around the arcade machine. It was complete pleasure to play, all the original specials still intact, the reflex mechanics and contact physics had been tightened up. It wasn’t all back to basic’s however, the game featured a couple of awesome additions that didn’t get in the way of the nostalgia, you could execute an Ultra-special, this was a beefed up hugely powerful move that pulled the game into a small cut scene and could reverse the entire course of the game if pulled off but the move command was lengthy so it was a great risk reward challenge. The other addition was a build move that was activated by just pressing two buttons, it sucks up one move room the opponent and can be released to snap out a large punch or kick, black ink much like the stuff in the intro swirls around the character making the whole thing look very slick, both additions add massive depth to an already brilliant system.

 

To answer my question about it being the best the fighting franchise available, I would probably say yes because of the word franchise. Capcom has (just) kept its head above water with this series but the release of SF4 put the game firmly back in the top draw. SF4 is a game that can compete with the likes Soul Caliber 5, Tekken and Mortal Combat, there’s newer versions out that have got added characters and tweaked mechanics, but they haven’t over cooked it.
 
 Closing statements are, this title revamped my love for the series, my friends and I have become experts once again to a game I thought long forgotten in the modern genre, 2yrs ago I entered a completion in London to fight against some real talent and I enjoyed every second of it. Capcom made this game look gorgeous, the lavish artwork is stunning, sitting and watching friends have epic battles is almost as fun as playing. Killer Instinct is now out on the Obox One and has kept its 2D charm, I’d like to imagine this game gave the developers the confidence to so 

 

Regards Oscar