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Game

Plot Synopsis

No plot synopsis or other information available for Street Fighter

Story & Playability

Big thanks to the mods for helping me out with the category situation I had with this review!

After reviewing the pathetic excuse of a fighter known as Capcom Fighting Jam(which for some reason ended up deleting itself when I tried to edit it), we now come to the fighter that reigns supreme in the world of 2D fighters. The fighter as to which all other 2D fighters must kneel before. I'm talking about the successor to the ORIGINAL greatest fighter of all time. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. And yes, I'm absolutely aware of the other 2 incarnations of SF3; New Generation and 2nd Impact.

Although they were amazing games in themselves, those were truly just building blocks to the what 3rd Strike came to be. Story behind Street Fighter 3 is that Gill and his organization hold a tournament to see who the strongest warriors in the world are, and the chosen ones will go on to live in a utopia with him and the rest of the world will begin anew. To put it simply, he's like a twisted Jesus. A savior to mankind, where he leads people to the chosen land, but only to a certain few. So technically, he really is NOT an evil guy, just quite misunderstood. 3rd Strike, however, was more about personal achievement for each characters as far as the endings went, not so much a Gill related tournament. However bizarre this story may be, it's still enough of a reason to wanna kick his ass.

Rating

8 (good)

Graphics

From the character portraits, to the backgrounds, and to the character sprites, this game truly takes the crown for the best graphics in a 2D fighter ever. Yeah, yeah...Guilty Gear has hi-res sprites and this and that, but the sheer amount of frames per character is absolutely incredible and remains unsurpassed. Backgrounds range from pretty static images to very animated stages. The attacks, special moves, and super arts are all impressive and are really just a joy to watch.

Just watch any professional match take place, you'll find yourself picking your jaw up off the floor. And if all of that isn't enough, there's actually a lot of official artwork and illustrations out there of 3rd Strike that'll feed your appetite for more great eye candy.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

I absolutely LOVE IT. The soundtrack is hands-down, the greatest of any fighter I've ever played in my life. Composed by Hideki Okugawa, he truly captured the feel of what the game is all about and couldn't have done a better job at giving each character their own songs, even if a few shared the same track. The opening cut-scene, character selection, and credits are all great sounding hip hop and the fights themselves are all great mixes of drum 'n bass, techno, and just very untraditional music that will really catch you by surprise. Whenever I play, I always choose to fight the characters with the music I love the most, not by who's an easier challenge for me.

The sound effects and voices are damn good. Every punch, kick, fireball and KO just BOOM out of your speakers. It has the best sounding hit effects out of any fighter I've ever played. 2nd Impact and New Generation both used the same sound effects for their characters, outside of a few differences from the added EX moves in 2nd Impact. 3rd Strike on the other hand, boasts new voices for every single character in the game. The easiest comparison to tell how much better the voices are...is Sean from 2nd Impact with Sean from 3rd Strike. In 2nd Impact, he sounded cocky and laid back, but in 3rd Strike, he was replaced with a more brash, angry sounding voice. The same goes for Alex. It totally fit their personalities and just makes the game that much more enjoyable.

Rating

10 (excellent)

Fun

No matter who you are and how much you dislike the Street Fighter series, you just have to give credit where credit's due...and 3rd Strike truly deserves it. It's sad that the game was completely overlooked by many and even worse, the fact that there's many people that never even knew the game existed.

The gameplay is absolutely packed with depth and complexity, but not so much as to be unplayable or unenjoyable. It requires skill and you definitely can't button mash in this game and expect to do some damage. It's a thinking man's game, the kind where everyone wins by playing mind games and you can feel the heat when your opponent closes in on you. With the inclusion of parrying(tech blocks), EX moves, kara throwing, the perfect combo system, an amazing cast of characters, and a system that was tweaked beyond belief....you're pretty much guaranteed to be playing what is the definitive fighter of all 2D fighters to date. I just pray that if there's ever a sequal to this...it will live up to what they've already accomplished here. Dare I say it? FIGHTING PERFECTION.

Rating

10 (excellent)

Final Verdict

9.17 (very good)

Reviewed by JiZames, 2y 45wk ago