Street Fighter 4 iPhone Review
Street Fighter IV on the iPhone is actually a pretty decent attempt to bring Capcom’s Next Gen classic to the touch screen; unfortunately the game is let down by a crappy roster of warriors and a control system that rewards ‘button’ mashing and not precision.
The big question on everyone’s lips is: are the controls any good? The answer is: meeeeaaah kind of. Using Ken and Ryu to do their classic moves is pretty reliable but not always consistent. Trying to slide Ken into a Dragon Punch will sometimes result in a less then desirable skip and punch or worse – he will just crouch and stand back up again. These characters are not as bad as the fighters with charge moves though; I don’t think I ever landed a sonic boom or flip kick with Jedward fan Guile and M Bison only dived across the screen when I rubbed the screen so hard it squeaked before some clear liquid came out the head phone socket….. A shame because besides my two boys Ken and Ryu, Bison was the only other of the fighters I had any interest in playing as.
The best strategy seemed to be rubbing in the general direction you think a move should be inputted and hope for the best. I was able to launch fireballs pretty consistently using the arrows around the left hand side of the screen as a marker but that was the only move I could hand on heart say worked when I wanted it to ever single time.
The roster is pretty meagre and with that hefty price tag – a little bit of a disgrace, what Dhalsim and Abel are doing there I don’t know. I would have much preferred to get Sagat or any of the new characters apart from the very boring Abel. €7.99 is high end for the app store and where as the production values are nice (particularly the character models) a few unlockable characters may have been enough to pop another half a star onto the score. There is always the chance to update the roster via the app store but I get the feeling from the Super Street Fighter 4 trailer that plays after you beat the game (eh, where’s the Manga intro’s and endings?) that its not something that’s at the top of Capcoms things to do list.
The game runs pretty smoothly with one area of the screen dedicated to your fighters super moves and a simply touch launches into a fast (if obviously ripped from the console game) cut scene of the character charging up for his or her attack.
I couldn’t find anyone rich enough to test the Bluetooth multiplayer with and tournament mode lasts all of 11 mins. Yes, there is a Dojo mode for you to test your screen squeaking combos in but come on, its not enough. The technology is obviously there for Wifi matchmaking (the inclusion of which would have made the game more then worth the price) but sadly its no where to be seen and Capcom have said that its never going to be included.
So what are we left with? SFIV is a pretty but expensive distraction that will excite at first, with its flashy visuals and easy to do super moves but once you beat the 10 minute tournament 3 times in a hospital waiting room your unlikely to ‘touch’ it ever again.
nice review. dont know if ill pick this one up purely because its so expensive
I wouldn’t to be honest, I did it out of pure curiosity
, I sold the cost to myself by repeating ‘ you can review it’ over and over in my head. 7.99 is 650 MS points. I could kit out my Avatar for a year with that!