For whoever still hasn't already bought this game, AusGamers' in-depth review of Street Fighter IV is now online. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and the gang are all back in their first true sequel since 1997's Street Fighter III.

This really is one of those games that will serve as a the new benchmark for the genre. Read on for a detailed list of reasons why this game should be in your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 right now.

You can check out more media and info from our Street Fighter IV game page.

Lazy lipsync animation between Japanese and English dialogue.

Weak character storylines, a cheesy script and cheap anime cut-scenes that contrast the game's otherwise slick presentation.

i disagree, i like how they kept it old school and didnt even bother trying to do the lip sync... and i like the old school manga sort of cut scenes, its street fighter not some fancy ass tekkon 6 or something

f***in' A Dan - Where the f*** is the original SF2 score on title sequence? Bummed on that.

Even playing this with the original Japanese audio might be better.. Possibly more authentic.

Some commentary on the controls would be nice, I've read a lot of criticism of this game on 360 due to the 360's D-pad.

I honestly can't say I had any problem. Although I never used the d-pad, personally I found the analog stick to be sufficient.

An arcade controller is going to do the job better for the pros. but for the average player the 360 pad is just fine (haven't tried PS3 as yet so can't comment).

Wow you gave it a score of 9.8 huh, that's a big score.

The biggest let down is actually the horrid title song.

I didn't like at first it but i must say it has grown on me. "In..de....structable... na na na na nana nooo nooo nooo". For some reason i prefer the Japanese version of it too. Also sif set in game audio to english, they all sound like a bunch of american f*****s. Though I reckon it'd be cool if both players on live (or PSN) could hear each other's selected in game audio language, e.g. my kick ass mean Jap speaking sagat vs his americanised freedom fries eating homo sagat.

As for controls I tried the analog stick and I think it works but it feels too loose compared to the Dpad, and for some reason i don't trust when it comes to combos.

Dpad will end up giving you a sore thumb. i find especially hard trying to consistently pull off moves using Dpad + LB and LT just because they're on the same side of the controller. It really is a bitch of a thing and its frustrating knowing you couldn't win a match because you couldn't pull off the move that would've KO'd your opponent.



last edited by MatchFixer at 03:55:03 28/Feb/09

Real SF 4 super hyper championship turbo EX plus alpha players use sticks, not joypads ;P

Getting used to the ps3 control pad, pulling off ultra combo's without a hitch.. but still arcade sticks 4lyfe.

I'm so f***ing pissed off though, this morning I was playing through arcade mode to unlock gouken.. This one is f***ed right, you gotta have 2 perfect rounds, 3 ultra combos (this is all before you play Seth).. After you beat seth you have to play Gouken himself, and you can't lose any rounds at all... So when I did all that bulls***, I beat Seth amazingly first go, I then had a f***ing instaboner and was waiting in anticipation to take on Gouken, then the f***ing credits came up.. I was like wtf!! I then realised I missed the part where it says you have to do it with Akuma :/

last edited by Martz at 11:17:58 28/Feb/09

Yeah same^

Though the perfects and the ultra combos aren't hard to get. If you miss getting a perfect just go for the ultra combo and even if you miss out on a round for both you'll still have one up your sleeve against your rival.

I pretty much got perfects against Akuma, gouken and even Seth in an attempt to unlock those 2 fuqqers, and i'm no expert by an means.



last edited by MatchFixer at 11:53:01 28/Feb/09

For the noobs here (life myself) the easiest way to kill Seth is to get him on the ground and keep sweep kicking his arse to the ground. You have to time it perfectly though or he'll block and take half your life off ya :/ I did this with bison (requirement to unlock rose) against Seth. Otherwise been beating him fine with other characters playing normally. How f***ing bad ass is akuma.

last edited by Martz at 13:45:23 28/Feb/09

I was like wtf!! I then realised I missed the part where it says you have to do it with Akuma :/

You don't have to do it with Akuma. I did it with Bison, doing exactly what Martz mentioned. You just have to have finished arcade mode with Akuma once before hand (doesn't matter how many continues or anything you use).

You don't have to do it with Akuma. I did it with Bison, doing exactly what Martz mentioned. You just have to have finished arcade mode with Akuma once before hand (doesn't matter how many continues or anything you use).

Are you sure?? see here:

1. Complete Arcade Mode playing as Akuma and watch (not necessary to watch everything) an ending.
2. Then, unlock Gouken as an opponent, and defeat him.

http://spicytunas.com/2009/02/unlocking-characters-in-street-fighter-4/

Ok they've updated it, official quote from Capcom: (found in above link)

1. Complete Arcade Mode playing as Akuma and watch (not necessary to watch everything) an ending.
2. Then, unlock Gouken as an opponent, and defeat him.

Necessary conditions to unlock Gouken as an opponent:

- Play with any characters with which you watched the ending once (so play using a character you have already beaten the game with)
- Do not continue at all.
- Do not lose at all. Not even one round (easier if you only play 1-round matches)
- Achieve certain number (or more) of “Perfect” rounds. The number of Perfect Win you need to achieve are:

If you play on
- 1 round match: 1 time or more
- 3 round match: 2 times or more
- 5 round match: 3 times or more
- 7 round match: 4 times or more

- Achieve certain number (or more) of Super Combo -OR- Ultra Combo Finishes. Super and Ultra finishes both count toward this number. The number of Combo Finishes you need to achieve are:

If you play on

- 1 round match: 3 times or more
- 3 round match: 5 times or more
- 5 round match: 7 times or more
- 7 round match: 9 times or more

- Achieve certain number (or more) of First Attack (this means you must score the first strike in a match—the screen gives you the “First Attack” message, and you can mostly do this without even noticing):

The number of First Attack you need to achieve are:

If you play on
- 1 round match: 5 time or more
- 3 round match: 10 times or more
- 5 round match: 15 times or more
- 7 round match: 20 times or more
- Then Gouken will appear. Kick his butt to unlock him!

Edit:

- Achieve certain number (or more) of Super Combo -OR- Ultra Combo Finishes. Super and Ultra finishes both count toward this number.

Does this mean the combo has to KO the opponent??

last edited by Martz at 14:19:03 28/Feb/09

I can't get used to using the xbox controller, its absolutely disgusting for this game. Moves I've done a hundred times just spontaneously stop working in the middle of a fight when I really need to do them, ultras just refuse to go off, s*** I practise over and over and over again in the challenge mode just doesn't work in the heat of a real battle, its making me really hate the game. I've bought one of those sf4 branded madcatz fightpads off ebay, because I can't justify spending $300+ on a stick, so hopefully thats an improvement, because right now playing the game just pisses me off.

Are you sure?? see here:

I'm absolutely sure, it's how I unlocked him. To begin with, I just did it with Bison, without first playing as Akuma. Gouken came up at the end, and I beat him, but he didn't unlock. I then played through arcade as Akuma (not worrying about getting perfects or ultras or anything), then did it again as Bison. Gouken Challenged me again, I beat him, and he unlocked. That massive list of stuff you just posted seems overly complicated. Just do what I did and it'll work.

I've bought one of those sf4 branded madcatz fightpads off ebay

Khel, how much? any other info? got a link?

Just go to ebay and type in "fightpad" as a search term and you should find them all, they're all in the US and UK though, so theres a bit of shipping to pay, but all up I got mine for $120 including shipping, which isn't *too* bad. Some people are charging ridiculous amounts for them though, so you gotta look for the cheaper ones, took me a few days of checking ebay to find one that was actually listed at a reasonable price (and that I could buy straight away).

Also, I just noticed, JB hifi is selling more of the tournament sticks on their website, but the shipment doesn't come in till mid june :(

Jesus f***, $249 for a controller is retarded. You can buy a new 360 for that much.

yeah I have a couple of old 'TANK' joysticks from SNES days at home, which I made RS232 a few years back - wouldn't be so hard to make USB.. Back then for a full microswitched solid metal joystick that was $100 AUD. Tempting to ship them over here!

Some definite profiteering going on right now.

The tank isn't $100 anymore

http://www.gamesmen.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=23233

Martz: Yeah, the key is you can't lose even a single round. So set it to one round matches. That's probably what prevented you from getting the Gouken match.

On very easiest it's not an intensely difficult feat. There are a few special moves that the computer hardly ever blocks on very easiest. Bison's pyscho crusher and heavy kick slide were the most consistent I found but I suck at Bison's Ultra so I unlocked Gouken using Ken.

ok I've summarised capcoms gouken unlock procedure:

To unlock Gouken:

must have akuma unlocked
complete arcade mode with akuma (watch some of the ending)

then...

choose a character you have beaten the game with and watched the whole ending
no continues
don't lose a round

Following is based on one round matches:
1 x perfect
3 x ultra
5 x first attacks

Beat Gouken to unlock him.

I tried what you said Midda but didn't work :/

last edited by Martz at 00:51:00 01/Mar/09

I dunno the D pad on those fight pads still look rather chunky? how can you be sure it's just not gonna be the same s*** as the xbox controller? i mean sure it has 6 buttons on the face but damn $120 is expensive.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.gamedaily.com/gear/media/2009/01/chun-li-fight-pad-front.jpg

Weren't CD wow selling the non TE fight sticks for 160 at one stage? they don't seem to have them on their website anymore for some reason..


last edited by MatchFixer at 01:55:53 01/Mar/09

You paid $120 for a pad? I got a HRAP3 for that price, no fancy stickers though...

Link Plz.

How the hell did you get a hrap3 for that price, I looked at them and it was going to cost at least $350 to import one.

And yeah, I was dubious of the pad too, but after reading some reviews of it, it sounds like it suffers none of the problems of the 360 pad. And I'm desperate, because short of paying the ridiculous asking prices for sticks people are selling on ebay, or spending upwards of $300, theres no other alternatives. All the madcatz sticks, of all kinds, are sold out till late march/april, and even the shipment that comes in then, is probably all pre-ordered and pre-allocated by now (at least play asia's are, I would assume its no different elsewhere).

No stores I've asked at have any plans to stock them in Australia either, which to me just seems baffling, theres obviously a demand for them (when I asked the JB hi-fi guy about them he said he'd had heaps of people asking the same question).

You paid $120 for a pad? I got a HRAP3 for that price, no fancy stickers though...

explain?

wanna see crazy???

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Hori-Real-Arcade-Pro-EX-Xbox-360-neu-Street-Fighter-4_W0QQitemZ140303720369QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPC_Viedeospielzubeh%C3%B6r?hash=item140303720369&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

plus shipping, I can't believe so many people have bid so much.. When will noobs ever learn to bid in the last few seconds :/

This part of the pad looks really difficult to do combo's with, I canjust imagine how sore your thumbs would get practising combo's:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e21/joekool1983/chun-li-fight-pad-front.jpg

last edited by Martz at 03:30:40 01/Mar/09

I think with all the crazy prices i'll just have to stick with the xbox360 controller. Personally i'm far from the point where the game is unplayable because i can still pull off most moves when i want, it's just that left trigger that occasionally gives me the s***s.

If i was to get a stick it'd be this one from CD WOW for around 160, which is only $40 more than that fight pad (but they seem to have sold out):

http://www.ps3informer.com/playstation-3/images/street_fighter_stick_madcatz.png

Even then i'd be going halves with my mate cause he doesn't have an xbox 360 yet and i'd be happy forced to share until we buy another stick.

Yeah, I wanted to get one of those sticks, but they're sold out absolutely everywhere.

Do you know when they're having their next shipment? if it all?

(hurry up with the stimulus package krudd lolza)

I don't know if it's because I'm playing it on PS3, but I really haven't had too much of an issue with the controls. I've found myself using the joystick more than the D-pad, because my fingers don't seem to be able to handle the same punishing that they could back in the SNES days.

The only thing I've had really annoy me with the controls is sometimes when I go to do Ryu's ultra combo, he keeps doing Shoryuken, which is kind of annoying.

I tried what you said Midda but didn't work :/

Well, I don't know why, because I had no issues at all unlocking him. If you've already beaten arcade mode with Akuma, just get Bison and slide kick your way to victory, getting 2 perfects and 3 ultra finishes without losing. That's seriously all I did.

Do you know when they're having their next shipment? if it all?

Well, play asia has some more coming in March (no exact date, just says March), but it also says that they've already sold all the ones they're getting then. Other places are talking April as the time new ones are coming in, and then after that, theres apparently another run coming in around June.

Well, I don't know why, because I had no issues at all unlocking him. If you've already beaten arcade mode with Akuma, just get Bison and slide kick your way to victory, getting 2 perfects and 3 ultra finishes without losing. That's seriously all I did.

yeah that's what I did last night, 1 x perfect, 3 x ultra finishes and 5 x first attacks, fought gouken and owned his arse... (you probably did the 5 first attacks without even knowing.)

Dude, it's 2 perfects, not 1.

Just browsing through play asia, some of of the s*** there looks cheap.. apparently it's only 77 AUD for this???? seems too good to be true.

http://image4.play-asia.com/640/5c/pa.96308.1.jpg

I just remembered that i actually have a logitech dual shock USB controller lying around. Had a feel of the Dpad and even though it looks chunky it feels so much better i tell ya. I plugged it into the xbox thinking there's that 1% chance that it might actually work. How foolish of me to think that MS would even allow such a disgraceful thing to happen...

http://images.macworld.com/images/legacy/images/content/rumblepad2.jpg

:(

I wonder if there's some sort of console/controller hack mod out there somewhere...

last edited by MatchFixer at 13:44:32 01/Mar/09

I dunno if I'd trust an arcade stick that has broken english printed on the case, "for Powerful Game"?

But yeah, the reason the hori's and the mad catz SF4 ones cost a lot more, is because they use good quality (arcade quality for the most part) sticks and buttons.

Fair enough, but in saying that i think they're still way too overpriced for what you get. I guess there's more demand than supply so they can charge whatever they want for them really.

I dunno if I'd trust an arcade stick that has broken english printed on the case, "for Powerful Game"?

haha, i didn't even notice that, but it looked just so polished..

Got it from play-asia when the dollar was high, ended up spending another $30 on sanwa buttons though.

I'll give you 150 for it, final offer, you have 2 hours to respond otherwise i walk away and it's your loss.

I have to give this game up for a while. Questionable tactics are making me get very angry when I play this. :P

i tried for 3days to win,0 even one extra character, and cant even do that >< f***ing zangief or e-honda just f***in hammer me :@

RRAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Dude, it's 2 perfects, not 1.

true.. lucky I got that second one by accident then eh :P

Seth is easy to beat in the first round but 2nd and 3rd, most of the time i end up with my balls in a sling. I reckon the one thing that's really missing from this game is the mini time attack challenges from SFII like smashing up the car etc, that type of thing would rock in this game.

Yeah, I was expecting those too, I thought I'd heard a while back that they were actually going to be in the game but I guess not.

Heading out to pick this up now. Can't believe it took me this long.

Raging Demon heading your way soon, so add me: Cemax

edit: xbox360

Added

Those new costumes for Gouken & Akuma are annoying & look stupid

Oh so the shoruken pack is out? no worth getting?

I downloaded this one earlier. Havent looked yet though

Man I suck at this game online lol :/
For those who have it on PS3, add me and lets have a few rounds: martz83

I've been giving The GuVna a few goes online and sometimes he can be a handful to deal with cause he's damn good.

Classic Ryu vs Sagat rival matches is hours of fun.

Need more QGL newbs, Khelzor?



last edited by MatchFixer at 00:25:20 09/Mar/09

had my first go of this over the weekend, just using standard xbox controllers;

felt like they have noobified controls, was way too easy to get out my dragon punches, im used to having to work hard to get em out:

was definately fun though

Is it really worth the money.. Because if it's like the new movie, i dont wanna know.. haha

Is it really worth the money.. Because if it's like the new movie, i dont wanna know.. haha

I've never really been a huge Street Fighter fan, but even I've gotten into it. I really enjoy it.

I've found online matches to be completely unplayable, because it doesn't seem that there's any way to limit match searches to Australia. It's really f***ing annoying.

Need more QGL newbs, Khelzor?

Yeah, I haven't played online much, but I might start having a few games this week, give everyone a new punching bag to beat up.

I do agree that the online play should have a country location you can set on your profile which would influence the matchmaking decision when finding opponents.

Also remember the SNES Version of Super Street Fighter 2 which had a local tournament mode for up to 8 players? I think all home versions of Street Fighters should have that! Also would be nice to have a way of somehow remembering a profile/players custom config if there are 3+ people playing on a local Xbox.

The Shoruken pack is good for Ryu & Dan, playing against people using Akuma's Alternate though goes against their entire art style of highlighting an attacks contact point with this stupid big arse rope on his back

/end whine

Other than that, it's a great game & worth the money. I just gotta learn to remember how fast Matchfixer's Tiger Knee is :)

Aren't they releasing a free tournament update pretty soon?

Yeah, it needs some kind of tournament play, I'm suprised at the very least they don't have the ability to make a party of people on live and make a tournament with your friends online.

I just gotta learn to remember how fast Matchfixer's Tiger Knee is :)

I must say, in terms of playability i was never really a Sagat fan in previous street fighters because he was a lil slow compared to the likes of Ken. In this one he's more agile than ever before. He's also got good projectiles, good reach, decent combos and packs a punch to deliver big amounts of damage. Finally, i have found a new SF favorite character that's not the usual Ken :P

I've even noticed a lot more Ryu players than Ken with this one. Ryu seems to chain the combos better and is just a well rounded solid character all round.

Yeah, I really do like using Ryu, but my favourites at the moment are Akuma and Gouken. Akuma's ultra and super combos are pretty f***ing awesome, and they can't be blocked, whereas Gouken just seems to be an all-round powerful bloke.

I'm getting better with Chun-Li too, she seems to be pretty effective, though I'm limited to playing against the AI and my incompetent mates. I really need to get my missus playing it so I have someone to present a challenge. I'm not that good by any means, but my mates are terrible! =P

Yer very exciting, we're working with the ozHadou guys to bring some tournaments to Brisbane for SF4.

I'm getting my ass handed to me all the time though - goddamit!

anyone seen the new street fighter chun li story movie yet? its f***ing horrible, dont bother!

When I heard Bison was an unscrupulous land developer in a suit, any small hope I had of that movie being not s*** was crushed. Does he even Psycho Crusher anyone?

nope, there is no cool aspect of the movie at all. the way ken/ryu does his energy blast ball is s***house

I guess some games were just never meant to be made into movies, and street fighter is one of them.

Sc00bs, are you talking about old SF movie or the new one? because ken/ryu aint in the new one..

Got my mad catz fightpad on friday, so I just thought I'd post up my impressions.

Just busted it out for the first time and played through arcade mode with Sakura. Previously, with the xbox controller, I couldn't get past the 3rd or 4th (or sometimes 2nd) person in medium, and couldn't get past about the 4th or 5th on Easy, and to even get that far I had to use continues.

With the fightpad, played using Sakura on easy, smashed every opponent up till Seth without having to continue once, and beat Seth after only a couple of attempts. And when I did beat him, it was a clean sweep, he didn't win a round.

Ultras and Supers go off perfectly, exactly when I want them to, no more frustrating losses cos I'm sitting there trying to pull off an ultra that never comes. Every special move I did came off perfectly, I never accidentally jumped or crouched or did some random movement that wasn't intentional, every time I f***ed up it was purely because of my noobness, the controller was doing absolutely everything I told it to perfectly.

While the dpad looks like a larger version of the 360 dpad, it feels nothing at all like the 360 dpad. They call it a "floating" dpad on the box, and thats exactly what it feels like, it doesn't feel all stiff and s***ty like the xbox one, it feels smooth and awesome but at the same time very tactile, not loose and mushy. It took a little bit of getting used to, because its significantly bigger than the xbox one, you really have to move your thumb around it, you can't just sit your thumb on it and tilt, but once I got the hang of it (which only really took the first couple of rounds), it was far far superior.

All up, I got no regrets, was worth every dollar and its reinvented the game for me, its turned what used to be a frustrating experience into a hell of a lot of fun.

If the 360 controller really is that bad for Street Fighter, I suppose I'm kind of glad I got it for PS3 (despite all my mates getting it on 360). As much as I prefer the 360 controller in every other instance, I haven't had too many problems with Street Fighter. Seth is still a f***ing c*** though.

Why don't games allow interconsole gaming?

Because they are afraid.

im enjoying the game (although still s*** pretty s*** at it) but finding it hard to find other players with a decent connection.. any other 360 QGLers add me: krispysteve

Saw SF4 being played for the first time today in JB, gotta admit I was thoroughly underwhelmed.

^ needs joysticks.

For the first time, Street Fighter IV brings the characters to life in 3D

False

How about, "For the first time, Street Fighter IV brings the characters to life in 3D that doesn't look like s***"?

Khelzor, now that you're armed and dangerous, add me.

The Match Fixer