Seriously! He did this for the zero's of people who read this site. Or maybe he did this because he loves Sonic. But, if you're someone who says, "I don't know about this game, I wonder what Shine thinks," then this is for you! - RFO ------
Running through stages is very similar to secret rings, however you have full control of sonic instead of auto-running. This games seems much more polished than Secret Rings was in all aspects: graphics, controls, presentation etc.
Sword controls are indeed random waggling, however if you just go nuts you’re not doing to do that well. You have to time your swings as you're running along, so you can maintain a constant running speed, otherwise you're going to end up slowing yourself down and getting a lower ranking. Speaking of which, there's an honor ranking that goes up and down depending on whether you attack enemies or villagers.
No repeating stages like in Secret Rings, either, unless you want to. You can repeat stages to increase your star ranking, or to gain more followers and items to ID for the treasury. But if you want you can just go from new stage to new stage and not worry about them. Like in Secret Rings though, some parts of "new" stages in the same area will consist of small sections of previous stages, giving you a larger scope of the whole area. (Like the first area is Misty Lake and there's several stages and boss fights surrounding it)
Overall, I would say this is a slightly better game than Secret Rings, and it's deserving of those 8.0's it got. Matt (from IGN) may have thought this was a 3.9, but I've played worse games on Wii that have gotten 6's and 7's from him, so whatever. He's entitled to his opinion.
- Shinget64
3/16/09
Street Fighter IV, Son
So Street Fighter IV has been out for awhile now, and lots of people have said lots of things about it. For the most part, these things are good.
Its Gamerankings average is 93%.
IGN said: “Capcom has managed to strip away the baggage that has accumulated around the series over the years and returned to the franchise's roots. The result is a game that plays very much like a purified, simple fighter -- but with several modern enhancements to enrich the combat.”
1UP said: “whether you're a veteran or a newcomer to SF4, you'll find the combat fast and furious, egging you on to play "one more match." That's because the game is designed with the notion that "the best defense is a strong offense."
Gamespot said: “Fighter IV isn't a success simply because it's one of the most technically complex 2D fighters ever made, it's a success because it's also wrapped inside a layer of absolute accessibility. Never has the old "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master" adage been truer than it is here.”
And then Game designer David Sirlin (the guy who directed SSF2HDR) had to go and throw a monkey wrench in the praise engine by saying things like:
“When I read about the 100/100 scores, I see again and again how "simple and elegant" the game is. Two super meters, a 3-tier focus attack system, and all the complications above seem to fly in the face of that. Even more though, I hear how "casual friendly" it is. This is deeply mysterious and I'm not sure why this so often claimed. Not every game has to be casual friendly, so it would seem more honest to just explain how casual unfriendly all these things are. Qcf x 2 +PPP all the time, extra button presses to throw, extra button presses to roman cancel, and many, many extremely difficult link combos work in concert to create that impenetrable wall of execution between you and the actual game (the interaction between you and your opponent). I wish we could get rid of all this stuff and focus more on the gameplay itself.”
So the game reviewers are saying that SFIV is old school, simple, fast paced, and accessable – while game designer David Sirlin disagrees completely on…well all of that. And they can’t both be right, can they?
Well, I may not be a professional game reviewer or designer, but I am a guy who’s been playing Street Fighter for almost 20 years. And unlike Sirlin and the reviewers, I’ve had the advantage of spending over a hundred hours with SFIV.
So is the game “elegant and accessable?” On one hand, Sirlin is totally right. Two quarter circles followed by three punch buttons was a pain in the ass for me to learn, even with years of two quarter circles followed by a single punch button under my belt. And once you get into the game, you realize that the Ultra moves are uncomboable. But ,in order to win consistently, you need to learn a juggle setup into your characters Ultra. These juggles almost all involve what’s called an FADC cancel. The nuts and bolts of it is you do a special move and then press medium punch and medium kick, simultaniously, to cancel the animation of the special move into your character’s focus attack. Then you tap towards twice on the stick to cancel the focus attack animation, and then execute two quarter circles followed by three punch buttons to initiate an Ultra Move. If this sounds complicated, that’s because it is. It took me almost a hundred hours before I was able to perform these setups, and I still can’t do them consistently. What I don’t understand is how any of this is supposed to be more accesable and simple than crouching medium kick, two quarter circles, and then a single punch button to do a super combo cancel.
However, the game has tons of unlockables and achievements, a cool art style, amazing animations, and a tiered (sort of) online system, so you don’t have to face elite players while you’re still learning the basics. So while the mechanics of the game are difficult to approach as a new player, the presentation of the game is incredibly appealing. What I think is really going on here is that the reviewers (who are probably not big fighting game players, anyway) are focused on the presentation of Street Fighter IV. Which is what they’re paid to do, and is what makes sense for most games.
Nobody cares about the implications of Halo’s needle gun (or whatever, I’m not a Halo player) at the top level of tournament play. We care about the different maps and modes and the bells and whistles. It’s the same way for most people who are going to pick up SFIV. However, I personally am frustrated that I’m stuck playing Chump Fighter against other people who can’t use their Ultra Combos, and that every time I finally build up a few thousand BP and start getting some real competition – I am swiftly cut to shreds by somebody who’s mastered the difficult cancels. Meanwhile, I curse my awkward thumbs and the millisecond precision required to clear the Hard Trial Mode, where the game actually tries to teach me the very cancels and combos that destroy me online. The great joke is that after all the time I spent playing SFIV, I have to beat every character's hard trials to receive the game’s coveted PSN platinum trophy. Doing this is, well…HARD. Almost everyone else I know has already given up. Some of those guys never quit and get every trophy in every game no matter how tedious or time consuming. But they quit. ( EDIT: Shineget64 wants me to clarify that he has not yet quit.)
So how do I evaluate a game like SFIV, that’s fun, but also frustrating to me? Well I can say it’s not as good as my favorite 2D fighting game -- SNK’s Mark of the Wolf. But that game was only ported to the Dreamcast, so if we want to look at 2d fighting games with online support it’s SFIV or HD Remix. And I’ll probably be playing more HD Remix than SFIV while I wait for the new KOF to come out and save everyone. Hopefully.
IGN’s review: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/954/954970p1.html
1UP’s review: http://www.1up.com/do/reviews?ct=REVIEW&p=PS3&g=Fighting
Sirlin’s article about what he likes in SFIV: http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2009/2/24/some-positives-about-street-fighter-4.html
And what he doesn’t like: http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2009/2/22/a-few-things-about-street-fighter-4.html
Gamespot’s Review: http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/streetfighteriv/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review
Gamerankings page: http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?search=street+fighter+IV&numrev=3&site=
Its Gamerankings average is 93%.
IGN said: “Capcom has managed to strip away the baggage that has accumulated around the series over the years and returned to the franchise's roots. The result is a game that plays very much like a purified, simple fighter -- but with several modern enhancements to enrich the combat.”
1UP said: “whether you're a veteran or a newcomer to SF4, you'll find the combat fast and furious, egging you on to play "one more match." That's because the game is designed with the notion that "the best defense is a strong offense."
Gamespot said: “Fighter IV isn't a success simply because it's one of the most technically complex 2D fighters ever made, it's a success because it's also wrapped inside a layer of absolute accessibility. Never has the old "A minute to learn, a lifetime to master" adage been truer than it is here.”
And then Game designer David Sirlin (the guy who directed SSF2HDR) had to go and throw a monkey wrench in the praise engine by saying things like:
“When I read about the 100/100 scores, I see again and again how "simple and elegant" the game is. Two super meters, a 3-tier focus attack system, and all the complications above seem to fly in the face of that. Even more though, I hear how "casual friendly" it is. This is deeply mysterious and I'm not sure why this so often claimed. Not every game has to be casual friendly, so it would seem more honest to just explain how casual unfriendly all these things are. Qcf x 2 +PPP all the time, extra button presses to throw, extra button presses to roman cancel, and many, many extremely difficult link combos work in concert to create that impenetrable wall of execution between you and the actual game (the interaction between you and your opponent). I wish we could get rid of all this stuff and focus more on the gameplay itself.”
So the game reviewers are saying that SFIV is old school, simple, fast paced, and accessable – while game designer David Sirlin disagrees completely on…well all of that. And they can’t both be right, can they?
Well, I may not be a professional game reviewer or designer, but I am a guy who’s been playing Street Fighter for almost 20 years. And unlike Sirlin and the reviewers, I’ve had the advantage of spending over a hundred hours with SFIV.
So is the game “elegant and accessable?” On one hand, Sirlin is totally right. Two quarter circles followed by three punch buttons was a pain in the ass for me to learn, even with years of two quarter circles followed by a single punch button under my belt. And once you get into the game, you realize that the Ultra moves are uncomboable. But ,in order to win consistently, you need to learn a juggle setup into your characters Ultra. These juggles almost all involve what’s called an FADC cancel. The nuts and bolts of it is you do a special move and then press medium punch and medium kick, simultaniously, to cancel the animation of the special move into your character’s focus attack. Then you tap towards twice on the stick to cancel the focus attack animation, and then execute two quarter circles followed by three punch buttons to initiate an Ultra Move. If this sounds complicated, that’s because it is. It took me almost a hundred hours before I was able to perform these setups, and I still can’t do them consistently. What I don’t understand is how any of this is supposed to be more accesable and simple than crouching medium kick, two quarter circles, and then a single punch button to do a super combo cancel.
However, the game has tons of unlockables and achievements, a cool art style, amazing animations, and a tiered (sort of) online system, so you don’t have to face elite players while you’re still learning the basics. So while the mechanics of the game are difficult to approach as a new player, the presentation of the game is incredibly appealing. What I think is really going on here is that the reviewers (who are probably not big fighting game players, anyway) are focused on the presentation of Street Fighter IV. Which is what they’re paid to do, and is what makes sense for most games.
Nobody cares about the implications of Halo’s needle gun (or whatever, I’m not a Halo player) at the top level of tournament play. We care about the different maps and modes and the bells and whistles. It’s the same way for most people who are going to pick up SFIV. However, I personally am frustrated that I’m stuck playing Chump Fighter against other people who can’t use their Ultra Combos, and that every time I finally build up a few thousand BP and start getting some real competition – I am swiftly cut to shreds by somebody who’s mastered the difficult cancels. Meanwhile, I curse my awkward thumbs and the millisecond precision required to clear the Hard Trial Mode, where the game actually tries to teach me the very cancels and combos that destroy me online. The great joke is that after all the time I spent playing SFIV, I have to beat every character's hard trials to receive the game’s coveted PSN platinum trophy. Doing this is, well…HARD. Almost everyone else I know has already given up. Some of those guys never quit and get every trophy in every game no matter how tedious or time consuming. But they quit. ( EDIT: Shineget64 wants me to clarify that he has not yet quit.)
So how do I evaluate a game like SFIV, that’s fun, but also frustrating to me? Well I can say it’s not as good as my favorite 2D fighting game -- SNK’s Mark of the Wolf. But that game was only ported to the Dreamcast, so if we want to look at 2d fighting games with online support it’s SFIV or HD Remix. And I’ll probably be playing more HD Remix than SFIV while I wait for the new KOF to come out and save everyone. Hopefully.
IGN’s review: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/954/954970p1.html
1UP’s review: http://www.1up.com/do/reviews?ct=REVIEW&p=PS3&g=Fighting
Sirlin’s article about what he likes in SFIV: http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2009/2/24/some-positives-about-street-fighter-4.html
And what he doesn’t like: http://www.sirlin.net/blog/2009/2/22/a-few-things-about-street-fighter-4.html
Gamespot’s Review: http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/streetfighteriv/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review
Gamerankings page: http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?search=street+fighter+IV&numrev=3&site=
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