Round 3 - FIGHT!
Written: Nov 07 '00 (Updated Dec 01 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The ultimate 2D fighter on the PSX, Easy to pick up...
Cons: Cheezy announcer, time it takes to auto-save is quite long.
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| setzergab's Full Review: Street Fighter Alpha 3 for PlayStation 1 |
I have been a big fan of the Street Fighter 2 games from way back on the SNES.... simple to learn.. yet nigh-impossible to master.. These 2D fighters pulled the crowds not only in the arcades but cornered the beat-em up market on the home consoles pretty well. But today in our new world of 3D fighters does this 2D approach still cut the mustard?
Anyone who belittles 2D fighters because of their comparitively inferior graphics when compared to the textured-polygon-fests of Tekken Tag and Soul Calibur, are sorely missing the point.. I am a big believer in gameplay over everything... what's the point of having awesome graphics and sound if it plays like a brick? The cartoony style of Street Fighter Alpha 3 conceals an engine that plays like a dream... and a tried and tested formula that will have you coming back for more.
The graphics are excellent considering their sprite based nature.. animation is fluid throughout attacks, jumping, moving etc. The engine can handle 3 (possibly more!?) character sprites on screen at once... which makes for some interesting 2 on 1 possibilities.... collision detection is spot on... with a definite priority system in place... so stopping the opponents attacks isn't just random.... skill is the deciding factor. There are about 32 characters to choose from... each with their own attacks, home stage etc... so everyone will be able to have their own favourite to suit their own fighting style... all the old favourites from the SNES outings are here... along with some of the character from Final Fight.... with a few new faces to boot...
The sound is of good quality.. nothing ground-breaking however... which is just right for a fighting game... as long as the music suits the mood I'm happy with it..... The impact sound effects are suitably crunchy... (one of the problems with Super SF2 when it came out was the impact hits had been toned down from SF2 Turbo... which made it less satisfying to plant that crossover 5 hit dragon punch combo ;-)).... but in this title the hits are pretty good... there is dual shock vibration built into the game... however... it is not made much of... the vibrations are quite weedy when compared with what the controller is capable of... (see Final Fantasy 8 GF summons... heh).. but that might have been intentional to avoid distracting players from the fight at hand... The is however one slight annoyance with the sound... the announcer with his cheezy comments... but once you're used to them they just become a running joke... a good indication of how this game doesn't take itself too seriously..
The game sports a few extra game modes than your usual arcade and VS battle... the ever popular training, knockout and time-trial type modes are also there as well as 3 extra unlockable modes to entice you to play...
- The first and most mundane is the final battle mode.... which basically allows you to skip fighting all the normal fighters... and puts you straight into the fray with the Psycho-Drive fuelled king of fighters M.Bison... the plus point of this is it allows you to see all the characters endings without having to plough through the entirety of arcade mode with them....
- The second is Dramatic Battle mode... which basically allows that 2 on 1 action I mentioned earlier... picking either the predefined teams of Ken & Ryu or Juli & Juni, or by making your own dream team, you take on the boss roster... it makes an interesting counter point to the VS battle mode... allowing 2 players to co-operate instead of laying into each other mercilessly....
- The third mode, World Tour, is the most different... In an RPG-esque style your fighter travels the world attempting challenges in order to gain more skills... skills denied to your average fighter... your world tour character can then be saved and added into the normal character selection in the other game modes.... up to 6 of these uber-fighters can be created... each of them very much more deadly than a normal fighter....
- And for those of you are lucky enough to own a pocketstation too.. there's an extra game tucked in there for you somewhere.... though you'll need a game shark to get ahold of it as they disabled the code..
I would heartily recommend this game to hardcore SF fans and newbies alike... and anyone who wants to rediscover the joys of 2D beat-em ups... the true strength of the Street Fighter series lies in multiplayer... and that's where the most fun is to be had... though the single player game is still excellent in every respect.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
setzergab
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Member: Dan Adams
Location: Nottingham, England
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 5 members
About Me:
Video Games, Music & anime are amongst my passions...
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