Street Fighter IV
I don't like it. I've played for about two hours, and I really don't like it. I want to like it. But I'm afraid I can't.
I'm not here to say it's a bad game. It's very nicely done in many respects (sound being a notable exception). But it certainly is not a game that appeals to me.
Remove the Ultra and Super attacks, and it's decent. Except for all the ranged attacks. I was playing online against Gouken, and he was throwing fireballs at multiple angles. It's as if a rogue Ken player was let loose on the game design. Partway through the round, I left the game to write this, and I doubt I will ever go back.
I played Street Fighter II Champion Edition a lot, and I loved it. I played Chun Li, as she had no ranged attacks and I could focus on a defensive finesse-based style. After that, I moved on to Tekken, as it didn't have all the silly ranged attacks and power-bars that SF was developing.
Maybe I've been in Tekken too long to go back to SF. But with Tekken 6's rage and item moves, I may not advance beyond Tekken 5, either. I wonder if Virtua Fighter will follow the trend.
What I like about 1-vs.-1 fighting games is careful timing and subtle move interactions. When there are too many moves that are unblockable, deal damage through a block, or remove 3/4 of your health bar, it focuses too much on offense and getting the big hit in.
In Tekken 3-5, I've played Lei Wulong enough to learn almost his entire move list. When I have battles with other well-trained players, we get very complex strings of dancing moves, blocks, counter moves and throws. In SF 4, I get the feeling people are just letting me hit them so they can power up for the Ultra move. Or they take Sagat and throw hundreds of fireballs until I get close enough for the uppercut. It doesn't feel either balanced or fun to me. It's probably because I prefer to play these games defensively, and SF 4 is clearly not designed for that. Maybe I just haven't figured out how. In any case, I don't feel the desire to wade through the over-aggressive punishment to learn. I'm an EVE player, so I can take punishment if I think I'll be rewarded in the long run. But I don't relish the idea of becoming good at landing Chun Li's Ultra Combo.
I'm not here to say it's a bad game. It's very nicely done in many respects (sound being a notable exception). But it certainly is not a game that appeals to me.
Remove the Ultra and Super attacks, and it's decent. Except for all the ranged attacks. I was playing online against Gouken, and he was throwing fireballs at multiple angles. It's as if a rogue Ken player was let loose on the game design. Partway through the round, I left the game to write this, and I doubt I will ever go back.
I played Street Fighter II Champion Edition a lot, and I loved it. I played Chun Li, as she had no ranged attacks and I could focus on a defensive finesse-based style. After that, I moved on to Tekken, as it didn't have all the silly ranged attacks and power-bars that SF was developing.
Maybe I've been in Tekken too long to go back to SF. But with Tekken 6's rage and item moves, I may not advance beyond Tekken 5, either. I wonder if Virtua Fighter will follow the trend.
What I like about 1-vs.-1 fighting games is careful timing and subtle move interactions. When there are too many moves that are unblockable, deal damage through a block, or remove 3/4 of your health bar, it focuses too much on offense and getting the big hit in.
In Tekken 3-5, I've played Lei Wulong enough to learn almost his entire move list. When I have battles with other well-trained players, we get very complex strings of dancing moves, blocks, counter moves and throws. In SF 4, I get the feeling people are just letting me hit them so they can power up for the Ultra move. Or they take Sagat and throw hundreds of fireballs until I get close enough for the uppercut. It doesn't feel either balanced or fun to me. It's probably because I prefer to play these games defensively, and SF 4 is clearly not designed for that. Maybe I just haven't figured out how. In any case, I don't feel the desire to wade through the over-aggressive punishment to learn. I'm an EVE player, so I can take punishment if I think I'll be rewarded in the long run. But I don't relish the idea of becoming good at landing Chun Li's Ultra Combo.
posted by Almo at 10:59 PM
1 comments
