Ultra Street Fighter IV (2014)

Coming after the mass disappointment with Street Fighter III, the experimentation of mixing 2D and 3D with the Street Fighter EX series, and the return to simplicity of the Street Fighter Alpha series, Ultra Street Fighter IV feels like exactly what the Street Fighter franchise needed.

This is an excellent restart for this series, as is the rest of the Street Fighter IV games, as it updates the franchise for a new generation, going back to what made this series so great in the first place, while continuing to push this brand forward. Here, we've got all the characters from Street Fighter II and its iterations returning, Street Fighter III characters are integrated in a way that feels just right, and the Street Fighter Alpha favorites fit in perfectly. This gives me exactly what I want from a Street Fighter game, which is a ton of character options that all feel fun to play, while remaining unique. I don't just want to play as my favorites, I want to play as everyone and still have a good time. That's exactly what this game pulls off, and it had been a while since a mainline Street Fighter game did that.

And I know people don't usually play Street Fighter games for the story, but I think this one works quite well, finding a very simple story to tie everyone to, and give us actual character development. I like that Guile and Chun-Li have put together an anti-S.I.N. task force to get revenge for their separate losses, or that Sagat has finally gotten over his rivalry against Ryu. It's nice to see the story of these characters and feel like they're progressing, rather than just staying stagnant, as can often be the case with fighting games.

Ultra Street Fighter IV is just an incredibly well put-together fighting game that hits on exactly what I want this series to be. Capcom leaned into the fan service here, as opposed to shaking things up, and it really works beautifully, but without just doing the same thing yet again.

I play a bunch of different fighting games from different eras, but this has to be one of the worst yet, or am I missing something? Please tell me what's wrong with me. I don't play online mind you, and I mostly enjoy this genre either playing couch multiplayer, or just clearing characters story in Arcade Mode. But this...this...even on average difficulties the game just sometimes decides that - no, this action you just did will not be tolerated, we're just gonna decide that this time the button doesn't work - Now here's an animation of your opponent destroying you, even though you were mostly un-hurt and had your rival at 1/5 health, but we like it this way. YOU LOSE.

No thank you. Not even registering my actions and then having out-of-the-blue, scripted losses where the CPU just turns off your controller lmfaooo. Maybe if you're a competitive player there's some kind of depth to this game but personally I can't see it.

Cool graphics though.

[2.2] / [5]

(In 2014 I briefly wrote for RETRO Magazine at www.readRETRO.com. This is one of my few game reviews.)

Ultra Street Fighter IV is paradoxically many things and not many things. An upgrade, an expansion, a retooling, and, to some, a scam. That last one depends on your mentality when it comes to iterative expansion packs and your love (or lack thereof) of Street Fighter games. Sure, Ultra Street Fighter IV comes with some definite additions, but is it enough to warrant yet another upgrade? Since Street Fighter IV's first console release in 2009 we've seen three iterative upgrades, each containing new characters and mechanics. But what does Ultra give us? New mechanics! New game modes! Five new* characters to master! Six new** stages to do battle on! (*Four of the five character are from other games.) (**All new stages are actually cannibalized from Street Fighter X Tekken.)

The five new characters are of the quality we've come to expect. Each brings something new to the table, but not to fighting games. Hugo and Elena are from Street Fighter III, Poison is from Street Fighter X Tekken, and Rolento is from Street Fighter Alpha 2 and continued to be a normal character in games like Capcom vs SNK. Decapre is brand new and looks like Cammy. A lot. Each of these characters has an animated and voice acted opening and ending cutscene which is more than I was expecting.

My biggest issue with the new characters isn't them at all. My problem is the lack of a challenge mode for our newcomers. I had a lot of fun learning new characters and unlocking banners through the challenge modes in Super Street Fighter IV and it's very disappointing that it's not here. Capcom has stated that they plan to release new challenges in an upcoming patch, but until that's released I won't consider it a feature.

Let's take a closer look at our new World Warriors.

Cam...er...Decapre is another of M. Bison's Dolls along with Street Fighter Alpha characters Juni and Juli. Sister of Street Fighter mainstay Cammy, Decapre is the only character that's never been playable in any form. While she looks like her sister in many, many ways she has her own arsenal. Mostly. Described as “tricky,” Decapre can teleport, dash, and mix-up her opponents to death. She can keep the pressure on and deal some massive damage.

Next up we have the hulking titan that's so big his head covers your health bar. Hugo is from the Final Fight series, but became playable first in Street Fighter III. He's a grappler like Zangief and can be devastating if he gets in too close. He's got some full circle moves, some crazy armored EX moves, and can even automatically place you in a corner if he's able to get his monstrous hands on you.

Poison has a long history in Capcom games, from Final Fight to Street Fighter X Tekken, where she finally became playable for the first time. Wrestling manager for other newcomer Hugo, Poison joins our tournament looking for new talent with her riding crop, massive Super Saiyan 4 Goku hair, and a bad attitude. Poison is good at keeping other characters away from her and can absolutely murder you in the corner if she can pull off her combos. She doesn't do a whole lot of damage compared to some other characters but if she gets control of you she can just keep you pressured until the end.

Elena is a capoeira fighter from Africa and first showed up in Street Fighter III: New Generation. She only uses her feet much like how Balrog only uses his fists and can poke like a mother. One of Elenas ultra moves is actually a heal, which has only appeared a handful of times in other fighting games. She has very long legs and can keep the distance, but some players are finding her difficult to win with. There's some heavy debate currently of whether or not she's completely awful. One thing for sure is that she's a contender for the “Least Clothed Street Fighter Character” award.

Rolento if the most prolific of the new characters. He appears in more fighting games than any others and, like some, also started his career in the Final Fight series. A military figure that leads an army of his own, Rolento gets to throw grenades at you. That's right. It's somehow OK in the World Warrior tournament to throw grenades at people. Then again, I suppose it's OK to throw magic fireballs at people so perhaps it is appropriate. Rolento has a lot of utility. He's mobile, strong, and has a good assortment of attacks to mix things up, however this variety can be confusing to some new players.

Ultra Street Fighter IV adds a lot both inside the game and out. New game modes include Team Battle Mode and Online Training Mode. The former is an elimination style battle where players form teams to fight and each winner has to fight the next opponent with nearly the same health as was left from the previous fight. Keep in mind that this feature is only new to Street Fighter IV. King of Fighters had this on lockdown years ago. Online Training Mode is exactly that and it's a good addition which can really help you to hone your skills. A nice little new touch to the normal training mode is the ability to simulate network latency for those seeking a truly real experience.

We have three new mechanics and one new character option to further confuse new players. This is all on top of balance changes for every character in the game. Did you like Akuma from Super Street Fighter IV, but not the version from Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition 2012? Well you're in luck. In Ultra you can select what edition of a character you'd like to play with.

For in-battle mechanics “delayed wakeup” allows you to increase your knockdown time by eleven frames to play with your enemies mind. “Red focus” is like the other focus attacks but, at the expense of super meter, will absorb multiple hits as long as they don't armor break. Finally, you can take both ultra combos for a character instead of having to choose between both. The catch? They do less damage, but the utility is amazing for some characters. If none of this makes sense to you don't worry. Most of it is meant for at least mid-level players.

Look, this all feels a little strange. I know. As someone who has followed fighting games for years and played some pretty serious Capcom vs. Snk 2: EO on Xbox, a game having four proper releases nowadays still seems a little much. Plus, almost nothing here is new in the true sense. Characters are from other games, stages are from other games, mechanics are from other games, and Decapre looks way too much like Cammy. You have to take a different look at it, though. Street Fighter IV, in some form, has been around for seven years. The people who are still interested in it are hardcore. This is an upgrade for those players, not casual players. They just need to keep tightening Street Fighter until it's as good as it can be. Capcom are trying to sharpen a sword into a lightsaber, and they're coming close.

If you've never owned Street Fighter IV and have some interest, the $39.99 price tag isn't bad for all that you get here. You're getting seven years of refinement. If you already own Super Street Fighter IV and want to digitally upgrade for $14.99 it's not a bad deal, either (keep in mind you cannot upgrade from the original Street Fighter IV.) If you're not interested in all of the nitty gritty changes, think of it like a character pack with each costing $4.99, much like Killer Instinct. Either way, for the people who are still excited about Street Fighter IV in some capacity Ultra Street Fighter IV is actually awesome, even if four releases for the same fighting game is a little much.