Having played this on Twitch this morning for about 2-3 hours, and judging by the surprise of most viewers, gamers have been dying to get their hands on Ultra Street Fighter IV for the PlayStation 4 quick, fast and in a hurry. I can see why, too, as the PlayStation 4 definitely brings a solid experience to the table. To say that the 8gb of DDR5 RAM did the game justice would be a gross understatement.
First and foremost, you get this game in 1080p/60fps, and it runs very smoothly in 60 frames per second. I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing 60fps in a Street Fighter game that I’ve wanted to play since my first Nine Inch Nails concert in Louisville, Kentucky where there was a Street Fighter III arcade game running the frame rate perfectly in year 1997 (some of you were probably not born then). It was something to behold then, and it’s just as impressive now. The added resolution bonus really helps to seal the deal with the game, though I do have some reservations about the visuals.
Being that I’m an old school Street Fighter fanatic, and I mean OLD fanatic, I remember the first Street Fighter in 80s during the final heydays of the arcade world. I know, amazing, right? Anyway, the visual progression of the series over the years took a giant leap weird-ways with Street Fighter IV’s introduction. I felt, and still feel, that they have made the characters into over-sized giants. I like Ken and Ryu muscular, but not Incredible Hulk muscular. They design is certainly out there, but I do appreciate the attempt at a new direction. Of course, that’s my opinion and I know for a fact gamers care more about the controls and gameplay feel anyway, and rightfully so.
Anyway, visually you will get everything that you saw in the last generation of consoles, though cleaned up a bit and more high-end PC-like than PlayStation 3. The characters look great and move so damn smoothly onscreen. It’s really gorgeous to behold.
As for the rest of the goods, the environments and characters in the background are just as lively and lovely as they always are, though more active thanks to the bump in the frame rate. Lively background distractions add some great personality to the overall package. For example, the street market in Asia is nuts with lots of people moving and shifting during the fight. It’s quite impressive to see in 1080p/60fps. For the record, the backgrounds were always one of my favorite portions of the series. Us arcade folks were obsessed with the overall package of these games.
Now, speaking of lots of people and things, you get all the characters ready to go with this release. From the start you have 40+ characters at your disposal, each containing the costumes that came free with the last generation (including the Vacation and Wild costume packs). If you were dying to see Ken in that big yellow bird costume, it’s there from the start. If you’re wanting to see Akuma in a fully armored dress-up, it’s there to unleash the badassness. If you were dying to see Dan in his owl/bear/whatever-the-hell-it-is costume, you should probably stop playing the game because people are just going to laugh at you. And Dan is just an awful, awful character — on purpose, of course.
Essentially, everything that you could have gotten to date with the game is included in this package, which is better when you think of the price point you’re getting it at ($24.99).
Lastly, the new release of Ultra Street Fighter IV for the PS4 includes…wait for it…drivers for licensed PS3 fightsticks! That is one of the bigger additions to this release and something that should be a regular occurrence with games like this, or just any game that comes with special controls. I know when that particular info was mentioned on Twitch today, the audience rejoiced. For me, personally, I have no stake in the matter, as I have no fightstick (maybe if the wife gives me the green light, I can rectify that, but until then no). At least I now know that I have choices.
With all this said in regards to what you get that’s new with this release, I must confess that Street Fighter III still holds my heart over IV. I think Ultra Street Fighter IV successfully inflates the original package of SFIV, but it’s still missing that SFIII charm. It’s a charm that goes back to the original SF. Street Fighter III feels and looks like the versions prior and offers up a less-anime edge to it, which is absolutely fine by me. Street Fighter IV just doesn’t feel as mean and raw as the previous. I know it sounds silly, but it’s a reason from an old school SF fan.
Old people’s opinions aside, the actual gameplay for the PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV is solid. The button push/reaction time is spot on and it honestly doesn’t miss a beat. That was one of the bigger questions during the gaming session today and I’m positive that you SFIV fans out there will be impressed. Sony and Capcom did a great job with translating this to the PS4 and definitely wanted to make sure you got the most bang for your buck. I certainly walked away from this feeling like the fighting mechanics were spot on where they should be for a good Street Fighter experience.
As for other elements of gameplay, you still get a solid online mode, though I have to keep playing it to form a good opinion about it. I know that in the past it has been hit or miss, but I’m sure that once the online aspect is nicely populated and everything is smoothed out (and it should have been prior to launch), then all will be well. As of right now, I have not spent enough time with online play, so I don’t have enough of an opinion about it to provide you with a yay or nay. I will update this section when the time comes.
So, is this new stuff enough to warrant a potential re-purchase of the Street Fighter IV game from last generation? I think it certainly, as 60fps does make quite a bit difference visually and style wise when playing. The 1080p helps and the inclusion of everything up to date with Ultra Street Fighter IV is an added bonus. One of the bigger draws, and something that makes the $24.99 price tag worthy (outside of resolution/fps) is the ability to use old fightsticks with the newer game. I hope that is a noted by SCEA and/or Microsoft for future titles that require specific hardware to experience maximum enjoyment. Investing in a $60-90 controller (maybe even higher) and then asking a gamer to purchase something new for essentially the same game on a different platform is a big request. Including a driver to make this ‘request’ go away is just fantastic.
Anyway, onto the summary!
