Street Fighter IV iPhone – REVIEW

Capcom’s solid fighting series is back with a Street Fighter IV portable version. Does it hadouken it’s console daddy? or sonic boom it’s way to a non successor?

Story

Street fighter doesn’t really have much of a story mode unless you classify tournament mode as a story mode but in this case we won’t. I will basically just let the casual gamer know what Street fighter IV iPhone is. Street Fighter IV iPhone is, if you haven’t already guessed it, a 2D level fighting game. As you will see in the below screen shots it has been enhanced with some 3D graphics which make it look hot. In this handheld port you will be able to get your hands on 8 characters from the console port of Street Figher IV. Sadly the full 19 list didn’t make it, but that is not a major issue as you still have the choice to choose from Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Guile, Chun-Li, M.Bison, Dhalsim, and Abel. Overall the tournament mode consists of 5 battles until you get into the “boss” battle at the end. Once you have done this with one character you can keep trying for better times or try with the other characters. It’s hard to say its a story but the tournament mode itself is solid like the console version.

Gameplay

I know a lot of fans would be cautious about the game play and if it has frame rate issues etc. To be completely honest Street Fighter IV iPhone runs smooth and the animations look as good as the console counterpart. It really does look identical but just in a condensed version. The ultra moves also look and feel very similar to the console version and makes it a really nice chance to have the ability to pull the ultra/combo moves off. I know a lot of you are wondering “how the hell do you play with touch screen controls” and before I received the game I was thinking the exact same thing. The touch screen controls do take some time getting use to especially if you have big thumbs. There is a nice mode that Capcom have put in this version which is called Dojo. This is basically a training mode for learning all of the controls. I myself didn’t find it too tricky picking them up but it is a nice feature to have and I wouldn’t have even imagined playing Street Fighter with touch screen controls. Another good feature Capcom has put in is for people having difficulty perfecting special moves. There is now a designated button to perform it! It is much more easier even for veterans to have the mode turned on for the first few times of play until you can master it for yourselves.

Once you have become the ultimate Street Fighter warrior it’s time to “fight your rival” quite literally over Bluetooth iPhone/iTouch connectivity battles. You and a friend can battle it out in ‘Versus’ mode via iPhone to iTouch and vice versa. I think it is a shame that a Wifi function wasn’t put into the handheld port but then again you don’t want to be waiting endlessly to connect to someone who has a terrible iPhone connection and end up constantly getting disconnected so really I’m not complaining but it would of been nice to have the option to connect to Wifi Battles. Even without the Wifi battles you still have ability to beat up your friends in a portable on-the-go battle. It is a nice a really enjoyable function to have and it is worth mentioning that it runs really smoothly and is very responsive, keeping up with the fast pace flow of the game play. You can also save your match replays and watch them later to show off to your friends how much you embarrassed them /CPU.

Graphics

I think the majority of you have already seen the screen shots and the video on our YouTube showing you how beautiful this console handheld port looks. It really does look amazing for an iPhone title and I guess you can even say is a superior replica to the console version. The colours look lovely and vibrant whilst maintaining the classic feel to Street fighter that we have all grown up to love and enjoy. You can also have the choice of choosing between 2 alternative costumes for each character which also gives it a nice touch. Doing a Sonic Boom or a Hadouken looks stunning like the console version and really does make you acknowledge the effort Capcom have put into this port.

Capcom have really put a lot of effort into making an already successful console version into an handheld masterpiece. The controls aren’t fully there and do take some time to get use to but over a few hours you will already be fighting and defeating your friends like a pro whilst keeping you glued to it for hours more. The game play runs very smooth and is solid whilst keeping the Street Fighter IV graphics and special moves are a blast to whip out on your iPhone. Other developers that are creating games for the iPhone seriously have some competition against Capcom’s 2D/3D fighter.

Pre-Order Super Street Fighter IV here for PS3 & Xbox 360 £24.99

UK PRICE £5.99 & US $9.99