The Street Fighter Blog Reviews SSF2THD Remix

Ah, feels so good to finally have my hands on SSF2T HD Remix, the one game i waited so long for, but enough of that, i give you here myReview of SSF2THD Remix:

Anybody of you remembers the feeling we had when we played super street fighter 2 for the first time in 1992? that excitement of wanting to try everything new since Street Fighter II turbo on snes? that feeling of being amazed by the music and graphics of the game? that same feeling that makes you want to talk to all your friends on the next school day and tell them how awesome the game you played last night is? Well guys and gals i had that same feeling again after i layed my hands on  SSF2T HD Remix.

Presentation:

Unfortunately we do not see Ryu shooting hadoken  towards the screen in HD, but the menus are in Hd, clear, and right to the point. You have the bility to choose between single player on multiplayer. You have access to options that very clear and gives you total control over the game. the dip switch options lets you change evry single thing you could think of about the game, such as damage of Akuma etc. An option to switch to old 16bit Sprites and original music is also availabe.

Presentation score: 9.5/10

Graphics:

Udon delivers again, the beautiful new HD sprites drawn by the talented people behind the excellent Street Fighter Comic series looks stunning on HD sets. The backgrounds are really colorful and vivid. Select Screen have never looked better with great looking portraits. Charcaters look big and menacing (bison, sagat, zangief) and endings are all well drawn and last longer (endings are now 4 to 5 pictures unlike the previous versions where they were only 2) When it comes to graphics, the game really feels more like a new game than a revision of ssf2t

Graphics Score: 10/10

Gameplay:

You probably know this by now, but hd graphics are not the only changes in SSF2THD Remix. David Sirlin, a Street Fighter tournaments veteran was responsible for re-balancing the  whole game, since we all know that the original SSF2T was not well balanced. What that means is that we dont have high tier characters and low tier characters, the re-balancing help made the characters all pretty much in the same tier, making Fei-long and Cammy for example highly usable. So far this is working and the rebalancing feels great. 

Capcom also made pulling some difficult moves easier, Sagat's tiger knee is done with shoryuken motion now, 360 moves have been made easier and characters now have some new moves (Ryu's fake hadolen, bison's fake slide etc) which adds to the gameplay. To read the full list of changes made to every character, check Sirlin's website here. 

Gameplay score: 10/10

Sound:

In addition to new graphics and new gameplay elements, the sound in HD Remix has also received an update. Every music track from the original game has been redone by the OCremix group (a group of talented musicians who are big fans of the Street Fighter series) and boy! does it deliver! The music of every single stage is, in my humble opinion, far superior than the original tunes and probably because of the use of modern music instruments. There were backgound music tracks that i used to hate in the original game that i now love because of HD Remix (Bison's stage and Dhalsim's).

The lame announcer from the super street fighter series has been replaced by a new one that might needs more time from us to get used to him but nonetheless sounds great. Guile's sonic boom voice that was the reason for thousands of complaints when super street fighter 2 was released has been replaced by the original voice from Street Fighter 2 and Turbo games. 

sound score: 10/10

Online:

One of the main reasons that so many people have bought the game and were excited about is the ability to play against your friends around the globe and spam them with endless hadokens and tiger shots. The online options in SSF2THD Remix allows to: Play ranked matches to climb up the world leaderboard, play friendly quarter matches where you create a room of up to 6 people  battle it out like in the arcades glorious time where the winner stays and the looser gets to spectate. last online option available is tournament mode, where you can participate in an 8 players tournament and see who will defeat sheng long to stand a chance ;)

But how does the Online deliver? While SSF2T HD Remix's online is great and by far the best online code i have seen in a console based 2d fighting game, it is no ggpo nor 2df and the lag can get really annoying. 

I have the ps3 version and the online experience can sometimes get ruined with a bunch of bugs i have found (random disconnects while joining a game, freezes during vs screens and error codes while joining a game ....) 

According to internet reports, both the 360 version and the ps3 version suffer from these bugs and glitches but the PS3 version seems to be the inferior one in terms of Online code and that could be due to the fact that the Xbox360 benifited from the beta which helped Capcom polish the net code.

i had the beta on the xbox 360, and the problems i have encountered on the ps3 version are very similar to the beta issues on the 360 before it was patched. But Rest Assured, i am 100% sure Capcom will patch the game the same way they did for the beta. Sven from Capcom Unity has already reported that they are looking at the issues and examining the causes.

All bugs and Glitches aside, the online is really great when it works, fighting against friends or random people in street fighter is really amazing. I had fun with a lot of you guys from the Blog and i was honored to meet you and im looking forward to play against you again ;)

Online Score: 7.5/10  (the online part will be re-reviewed once capcom patches the game)

All in all, SSF2T HD Remix looks great and plays great, the changes made by Capcom to the gameplay and the new tools that every character got gives us old timers a reason to play the game and try every new move. The online is not what i hoped it would be, with some lag and few bugs and glitches (that i am sure/hope capcom will fix) makes the netcode quite inferior to the famous ggpo client. The price tag is very reasonable and the game is worth every penny you spent on it since this is truly the definitive Street Fighter 2 game that we will be playing for years to come. 

Overall Score: 9.4/10  (GREAT)

The Street Fighter Blog reviews Street Fighter 2 Turbo #2 Comic

Street fighter 2 Turbo issue 2 came out last Wednesday, the comic is the first in the series to feature a back up story of Street Fighter IV's new Comer Abel. How does the whole issue stands up against issue 1, lets find out (be advised few spoilers ahedd):

Story: The Story picks up right where the last issue ends with The main cast getting ready for their grand fights. Ryu and Ken are on their way to enter the tournament, Chun-li is training with yun and Yang to improve her skills that she will soon need to fight her way through the tournament. It is also important to mention that this is the first Udon Comic to show bison's true power and why he is a threat to the world, as he destroyed a whole island with his Psycho Drive just to announce the start of the tournament and shows how powerful it is. The issue ends with a big WTF moment (spoilers ahead) as Bison tells his 3 henchman to supervise the qualifying matches that will be held in Japan, China and …... Metro city (home for the Final Fight Series) the last panel of the issue is great surprise but I will not spoil it for you, all I will say is that it marks the comic debut of a Street Fighter Alpha character.

The story was really enjoyable and really sets the mood for the starting of the tournament. It was definitely better that last issue which was a re-introduction of the main characters. Still, nothing majored has happened during the issue. As For the back-up story it is also well written but way too short, it was more of an appetizer for the upcoming Street Fighter IV comic series.

The Art: It is not unknown that I am not a big fan of Chamba's style of drawing the street Fighter world. And if you read my review of the first issue, you will notice that it was the main drawback of Issue#1. If you happen to share the same opinion then I have a good news for you as I was very surprised when I read through the second issue, Chamba's style has greatly improved, it is still not perfect but way better that issue 1, the lack of inking problem has been resolved, the backgrounds are not as empty as they were in the first issue, and character's faces are now better (for the most part) I do hate though the way he draws chun-li, she looks too manly for our sexy big thighs lady and I hope that this will change with future issues.

Chamba's style big Plus are the action scenes and he does deliver in this issue with an amazing looking fight between Evil Ryu and Ken where we see the Shoryu Reppa (ken's super) for the first time in the Comic.

The back-up story was illustrated by Joe Ng (another new comer to the street fighter world). Joe Ng Style is so close to Alvin lee's and Arnold Tsang's style that if no one had told me it was Joe who drew the comic I would have thought that Alvin lee is back to finish what he started. Joe's Style has the anime/Manga feel we have gotten used to from the previous Street Fighter Comic series made by udon and would have suited best for the Street Fighter 2 Turbo Series.

Closing Comments: The Second Issue of Street Fighter 2 Turbo is with no doubt a page turner. With good writing from ken sui Chong, and more than decent art By Chamba cruz as well as the welcome addition of the Street Fighter IV back-up stories illustrated by Joe Ng, Issue #2 is definitely better that #1 and is, indeed, A MUST buy for any Street Fighter fan.

Final Score: 8.5/10    

Street Fighter Blog reviews Street Fighter II Turbo #1 Comic

After almost a year and a half of absence from the comic stores shelves,  the Street Fighter comics made by Udon are now finally back!

Udon has started publishing Street Fighter II Turbo series which is the direct continuation of their main street fighter storyline that has left off when the various street fighters around the world received an invitation from Bison to participate in the second street fighter world tournament.

It is also worth mentioning that Street Fighter Turbo #1 is the first issue fully drawn by new comic artist Chamba Cruz. How does his art holds up against veterans like Alvin lee and Arnold Tsang? Keep reading to find out

The Story: The Story for Issue 1 is more or less a re-introduction of the main cast of the series, we see Ryu fighting various people during some kind of street fights, Chun-li getting ready to to enter the street fighter tournament as she sees is the only way to get closer to Bison. We see Guile exploring military options to destroy bison, and then finally Ken who is training while worrying about his pregnant wife Eliza we also witness the four heavenly kings (bison and his 3 henchmen) reunite for the first time after quite some time. 

While the story in Issue 1 does not really move the story forward it does help to set the mood for things to come. Ken Sui Chong, writer of the street fighter comic series since its debut, makes you feel right at home with the smart way of re-introducing the characters without using flashbacks of things that happened in the previous issues of the series. So many writers have tried interpreting the street fighter story into a book and only few of them have succeeded and Ken sui chong is really in top of the list with Masahiko Nakahira (writer of the street fighter alpha and Ryu final Mangas)

The Art: As i previously Mentioned, This is the first issue fully drawn by Chamba Cruz. Chamba's art style is quite different from his predecessors and is, unfortunately, the only drawback i found in the issue. If you prefer the anime style Alving Lee and Arnold tsang used for the previous issues i am afraid you will be disappointed. Chamba's style is a more of an artistic style, the panels looks more like oil paintings than comic book drawings.

While the action scenes are wonderfully drawn, the characters themselves do not look quite appealing, there is a lack of inking that i couldn't help but notice. The backgrounds of the panels were the biggest problem as they were most of the time consisting of couple colors and really empty. I would not say that the art is horrible, not at all it is actually good, but in my opinion does not live up to Alvin lee and Arnold Tsang's art style. Good news is his drawings seems to be improving as we will see with issue#2

Closing Comment: The Street Fighter Comics are back and i cannot be happier, even if Chamba's drawings are not as good as what we got used to from Udon the the Street Fighter 2 Turbo series does look very promising and this issue is a must have for any Street Fighter Fan.

Street Fighter Blog Score: 7.5/10

look for issue#2 review that will go live tomorrow.