February 28, 2009

• Around The World!

  I’ve been video gaming a lot lately. Well, I video game a lot anyway, but this is special. This is Street Fighter 4.

  Street Fighter 2 was my first true video gaming obsession. My best friend, Nathan, introduced it to me (like he introduced almost all of my obsessions to me; Final Fantasy, Harry Potter..) when we were 12 and we’d hunt down Street Fighter 2 arcades and get whatever gameplay we could outta a couple of pounds. After years of sequels, pseudo-sequels, off-shoot sequels, prequels and off-shoot prequels we have Street Fighter 4 so I’m gonna spend this update gushing about it!

  So, Street Fighter 4 is basically an “inter-quel” between SF2 and SF3. The entire original cast of 12 from Street Fighter 2 remains in tact; the 8 World Warriors; Ryu, Ken, Honda, Blanka, Guile, Chun Li, Zangief and Dhalsim plus the 4 Shadowloo Grand Masters; Balrog (M. Bison in Japan) Vega (Balrog in Japan) Sagat and M. Bison (Vega in Japan.) Along with the old guard are 4 new comers; Abel; a french ex-military guy with amnesia who uses a free-style, Vale Tudo-esque fighting technique. Crimson Viper; a secret agent-type chick in a suit complete with gadgety enhancements. Rufus; an overweight American with unsightly facial hair who uses his own brand of Kung Fu (I wonder if it was derived from a killing style……?) and El Fuerte; a goofy luchadore who’s also a chef and is fighting to learn more about other warriors’ diets (?? ??) I’m not that big on the new characters, to be honest. Viper is kinda cool and Abel is OK (except to fight against) but Rufus is more for comedic value than anything and El Fuerte is just…. stupid and doesn’t seem to fit in somehow….

  
  The game looks absolutely frickin’ sweet! The graphics and environments are cell-shaded 3-D, done in a graphic novelly water colour style. All the characters look suitably comic booky which is perfect for Street Fighter. I’m really not so keen on the constant attempts for realism in games, games that are often based in over-the-top, exaggerated versions of reality anyway. Though 3-D modelled the gameplay takes place within the original 2-D format giving the game a truly old school beat ‘em up feel. When performing certain dramatic moves, like Super and Ultra Combos, the camera breaks position to give a 3-D view of the action which is…. heaps cool!

  For the home console versions Capcom included additional fighters, unlocked by completing the game with various existing characters. Returning for a guest spot in SF4 are Cammy and Fei Long from the Super Street Fighter series, Rose, Sakura and Dan (yahoo!) from the Street Fighter Alpha (Zero in Japan) series, Gen from the original Street Fighter and the Alpha series and Akuma (Gouki in Japan) from Super SF Turbo and the Alpha series. In addition, and after years of rumours, speculation and hoaxes (Sheng Long, anyone? If you get this reference you are worthy of my geeky SF-related recognition) Ryu and Ken’s master, Gouken, is also included.  He’s pretty rock but tricky to use, as he plays somewhat unusually, compared to the other Ansatsuken (commonly mis-referred to as “Shotokan”) users.

  
  Street Fighter 4 plays like a dream. I really enjoy immensely many 3-D fighting games; the Tekken series and Soul Calibur series, especially. But there will always be room for the 2-D fighter. They play in a totally different way and comparisons are kinda pointless. The subtle sophistication in Street Fighter’s 2-D gameplay is unmatched and responsible for the game’s legendary status in the video gaming world. Combined with the beautiful cell-shaded 3-D graphics Street Fighter 4 is a joy to behold!

  There are a couple of weak points, however. The crowning turd in the waterpipe is the game’s boss; Seth. I hate Seth. I hate him so very, very much and, for that reason, refused to put a screenshot of him in this post. His design is lame; little more than the standard Uses A Mesh Of Existing Fighter’s Moves Guy that seems to be the unfortunate standard for bosses in 3-D beat ‘em ups (VF: Dural, Tekken; Ogre, SC: Inferno.) His look even screams “Dural,” just a bland, shiny, silver action figure-type guy. Admittedly, his moves are a little more original; usually alternative versions of existing moves such as Dragon Punches, Spinning Piledrivers and Hundred Foot Kicks but….. he suffers from a  severe case of SNK Boss Syndrome (if you get that reference, take another 50 points!) Dear God…. he is the cheapest, saddest most  rage-inducing son-of-a-bitch EVER!!! I’m not gonna get into the hows and whys of that statement, just play the game and you will understand. Oh, you will understand. To the extreme!!! Part of what makes him such a twat is Weak Point 2; the throw timings. The rather generous allowances the games makes for characters with special throws is supremely annoying, as you can find yourself sucked in a Spinning Piledriver or Abel’s whilrwindy throw as you are getting up, mid-move, mid-combo, even mid-Super Combo! It makes fighting the likes of Abel, Zangief, Honda and, of course, Seth supremely irritating. My only other point of contention, slight as it is, is the backgrounds. They are beautiful and the music (though I don’t normally go in for synthy electronica stuff) is really well done. But I really miss the character-specific stages and leitmotifs . How cool would updated versions of Ryu’s castle (with breakable screens), Sagat’s Buddha statue or Vega’s private bullfighting arena (compete with climbable chain-link fence have been?

  

  

  So, in other news, I went snowboarding for the first time in Japan a few weeks back with some teachers from my base school. I’ll be going  again this Sunday with Gianni, another British Altia ALT from Tajimi. After 4 years without boarding getting back into it was an absolute killer. Snowboarding relies heavily on your thighs so a weekend of it was like doing 1000 squats, at least that’s how it felt. I was also so rusty at the start I spent most of my time inching my way down slopes on my heel-edge. Still, by the last hour of the weekend I found myself shredding my way through heavy powder on a 45 degree slope, better at boarding than I’ve ever been! It really is awesome once you get going!

  I’m pretty tense right now has my contract is being decided for next year. I’ve been given no reason to believe it won’t be renewed but the business of being a private ALT in Japan can be pretty cut-throat. It’s March tomorrow, which is the last month of my current contract and I’m still not 100% on where I stand. Japanese bureaucracy sure loves to drag things out…..!
  

  OK. That’s all from me. 一瞬千撃！“Let is pass, let it pass it on to the future…!”

  • 12:14 am
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