Street Fighter IV gets its first reviews

Street Fighter IV’s home console iterations have received their first reviews, both “exclusives” coming from Future Publishing’s “Official” Xbox and Playstation magazines. They were positively glowing; The 360 scored 9.5/10 claiming such superlatives as :

“Does the impossible: Preserves the past while embracing the future.”
“Just about everything else about the game, however, shouldn’t just make Capcom proud, it should make every fighting gamer proud,” and “Online play is really where SFIV will shine the brightest. “

The PS3 versioned garnered itself a perfect review, scoring 5/5 and festooned with PR quotable gems like :

Street Fighter IV is easily one of this console generation’s best fighting games.”
“…a proud addition to the Street Fighter legacy that fighting fans will love.”
“SFIV kicks ass and takes names.”

You’ll have to excuse me if this seems laced with cynicism; these “exclusive” reviews tend to be paid for, and thus need to be taken with just a smattering of salt. Don’t get me wrong, of course – I’ve been eagerly chomping at the bit to get my jaded, old-man gamer hands on this sucker. Street Fighter II, along with Super Mario Bros. 3 cemented my status as a gamer. The success and long lines this game has generated in Japanese arcades, along with my rose-tinted nostalgia glasses have made this one of my most anticipated titles of the year.

If Capcom have managed to recapture the magic – and by all accounts it seem like they have – we’ll all be in for a treat when Street Fighter IV drops towards the end of February.

Last Updated: January 14, 2009