Street Fighter: Anniversary Collection Xbox Review

Combos are something we take for granted in fighting games today but back before Street Fighter II ruled the world with its Dragon Punches etc, it was something unheard of. Indeed if it wasn’t for the release of Street Fighter II, who knows if the likes of Tekken and co would be sporting characters with 10-hit combos today. Back then it was influential, but obviously the genre has moved on to bigger things these days. Now at the grand age of 15, Capcom celebrate the anniversary of their immortal franchise with this excellent collection, which should please the hardcore completest and newcomers alike.

The package is composed of Hyper Street Fighter II (which was previously released on PS2) as well as the more up to date Street Fighter III: Third Strike. The PS2’s edition was a bit disappointing to say the least, especially with the exclusion of the third game. Xbox owners even get the anime movie as well as online play. As we said earlier it’s one excellent collection.

Hyper Street Fighter II is basically what we are celebrating for, but it’s one that will please the SFII purists amongst us. Street Fighter II was quite a cash cow back in its day, having been released in various forms to please the hungry Street Fighter Populace. There were no less than five different versions, which were basically slight upgrades, some brandishing new characters, costume colours and even the introduction of super combos. This is the good or bad bit, depending on your loyalty to SFII. If you fancy going head-to-head with the Super Turbo Ryu, using your very own Turbo Ken then your dream has come true as Hyper allows you to do just that. The really hardened purists will be delighted about this, whilst others may wonder what all the damn fuss is about.

Whatever the case may be Street Fighter II is still one excellent game. The well-poised characters are a diverse bunch. What we like about Street Fighter is the fact that each character only has a modicum of moves, simply because it means that we don’t have to devote our life to it to learn moves by the hundreds.

Street Fighter 3 is obviously the more modern of the two games, boasting a beautiful art style and the playability that Street Fighter has become famous for. You are able to parry opponents attack, by simply pressing forward, but like the rest of the Street Fighter characters arsenal, it’s just as much of a discipline, requiring pinpoint response to any given hit. The brand new grade system is also a worthy inclusion, the better use of a characters set of moves and the better your lettered ranking will be at the end of the match, which means only the true experts will only really ever achieve a admirable ranking. It’s just a shame that the majority of characters have been ousted for newer blood (Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and Akuma are the only remaining), but they’re an interesting bunch nonetheless. Oh and not forgetting to mention that the system direction makes this into one of the most customisable games ever.

Both games can be played across Xbox Live and often against tremendous opposition. Rarely have we seen any lag on any of the two games, things remain buttery smooth and only falter if you go up against someone with a dippy connection, although you are always forewarned of this when you are challenged or vice versa. Xbox Live play is a very nice inclusion and brings both games kicking and screaming into the modern online arena.

Two competitive brawlers that are tremendous fun to play and a large part of gaming history, is what you get for your cash. True, one-on-one fighting games like the Dead or Alive series may boast ideas such as scenery interaction, but Street Fighter still manages to entertain without such things but yet still has a lot to answer for in the genre. This is one historic collection for an important series, brilliant.

9/10