It was my birthday on Monday, and my girlfriend Jenna got me Street Fighter IV. I haven’t played fighting games in a long time, the last being Soul Calibur II for the Gamecube, but I was excited to try the next installment of the venerable fighting series.
The short story is that I’m addicted. The fighting is fast, furious, and fun. There are some great characters and the challenge is on par with what I feel fighting games should be at (which is high. Fighting games were always about the arcade experience, laying down quarters to claim the next round, constantly filling the machine with change in order to beat the final boss).
Unfortunately, the challenge has also fueled some hate-filled rage at my controller.
The last boss of the arcade mode, Seth, is so infuriatingly cheap, and I’m playing on the easiest difficulty level! Any fighter I throw at Seth will come away bruised and beaten numerous times before I manage to continuously use kicks to sweep his legs off the ground and keep him in the corner.
I will say that the difficulty has only made me hungry. I’ve played training mode, I’ve gone through a lot of combo tutorials. I’m even looking at tutorials on youtube for help with the game!
What has me so determined? Why am I not walking away from a game that seems to mock my very being?
There was a time in video games where players would find themselves throwing and abusing their controllers in rage at almost every game. Lately though, video game developers are on this kick about assisting players, allowing all users to enjoy the full experience their money buys them. I can appreciate that. If I spend $60 on a game and the final levels are too difficult for me to play through, I’d be pretty upset.
While games like last December’s Prince of Persia are definitely narrative driven, Street Fighter IV is a different breed. Games can be skill based too, requiring users to have a fair amount of practice and time invested in order to play at high levels. Games like this certainly lend themselves to competition too. I don’t see any Prince of Persia tournaments popping up anytime soon.
I guess I’m just not good enough. Try as I might, am I going to be able to best another Street Fighter? Maybe not, but I’ll continue playing SF IV in the hopes that I’ll get better at some point.
Luckily, my controller survived the vicious attack waged by my foot. I’ll be playing a little more SF IV today against some real people and my hope is that I’ll find some sort of skilled growth in one of the many matches I’ll fail. In short: its really fun, it feels like an old-school arcade brawler, but it still has very deep mechanics that only the most practiced fighters will be able to tap into. The gameplay is great, and the visual style and aesthetic is also outstanding. The animations are crisp, fluid, and they look very organic. Nothing seems forced, but it all comes off flashy too. You can pick Street Fighter IV up for either the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 for about $60.
You can read more of Daniel’s writing on Video Games at playreadwrite.blogspot.com.
I have lost a few controllers this way. I only play sports and fighting games at this point on consoles. I will say this though, I had when a game gives me cheat options, I cant stop myself sometimes, I would rather it be hard so that I get a sense of accomplishment after weeks of bleary eyed hours I get lucky and beat that boss
Get an arcade stick, make your life worlds better with any fighting game. It’s the only way to play fighters.
@ Brody
Yeah I’ve actually been looking at the Hori sticks and I know that the Madcatz sticks that were released alongside SFIV are top quality too. I don’t think I can justify the cost of a Tournament Edition stick (or find one for that matter), but maybe the regular edition stick will find its way into my budget.