Special Guest: Issac Clarke

So Dead Space 2's out all around the world. From the hour or so I've played of it, it's quite a fun game, and if you've got the means to play it - Dead Space Extraction HD is also quite fun. But it's thanks to Dead Space 2 that I've gotta look at EA and question their crossing over ability, because it's something suspect.

For those who purchase a new copy of Dead Space 2 (either of the three versions), you'll get a code that allows you to download the "Ser Issac of Clarke" armour to use in the upcoming Dragon Age II. It's kinda similar to the same type of deal EA pulled with Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins, in which you recieved a code in new copies of the latter which allowed you to use the same armour in the former.

But the weird thing about all this, is why Issac Clarke? It's not that the character hasn't got the greatest design out there (the engineering suit has a neat look to it), but EA have this really odd habit of putting the Issac skin in a whole series of games that don't make a lick of sense. Don't believe me?

Here's Issac in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10:

Here's Issac in the PSP version of Army of Two: The 40th Day:

Here's Issac in My Sims Agents:

Here's Issac in Skate 3 :

Here's Issac in Dante's Inferno :

I mean, I can understand EA's strategy here - they're putting Dead Space and Issac out there unlike a lot of their other brands and trying to get the name out. Compared to other EA games, Dead Space has two animated movies, three comic book series, a Wii (now PS3) prequel game, and XBLA and PSN prequel game to the sequel, and even an iOS game. Not even other, and possibly more popular, EA games have this type of additional items.

However, it seems just so random and pointless to do so - and worst of all, the Issac skin is completely out of place for most of those games I mentioned above. You'd have to be mad to justify the costume being in Dante's Inferno, it clashes with the design aesthetic in Dragon Age; but the most jarring is in Skate and Tiger Woods - more so in Tiger, which uses real-life locations and people. It just feels...weird.

For comparison's sake, Sony have it down pretty well on how they let Kratos be used in non-God of War games. Sure, he's made appearances in games like Everybody's Golf (subtitle?), Modnation Racers & Little Big Planet, but at the same time - you look at his use in PSP title Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny and the upcoming Mortal Kombat. Thanks to the God of War games being kinda-fighting games, he's a natural fit in playing, plus his backstory actually makes him fit in with the Soul Calibur storyline better than every guest character not named Link. As for Mortal Kombat, anyone who's played a God of War game can tell you that he's an absolute perfect pick.

I mean, I'm all for EA trying to get Dead Space out there...but putting him in every bloody game ever isn't going to work. What's next, an Issac Clarke driver/car for Shift 2 Unleashed?

2010 in Review

When all's said and done, 2010 was probably a bit more of an interesting year than I'd have anticipated. When it started, I created a list of things I wanted to achieve before years end (such as get a girlfriend, get a full time job, leave the state - that kind of thing) and wanted to see if I can achieve at least one of those. I'm glad to say that I did.

Let's start with the thing that defined most of the year for me, which was getting a job. Between finishing up University in November and going through the graduation sometime afterwards, was the constant searching for a job. I spent pretty much half the year trying to get some work, had way too much free time than I really wanted.

Job searching would have to be the most painful and depressing experience I've had to go through in the last few months - constantly writing up cover letters and resumes, constantly getting rejection, constantly getting no explained reason as to why I didn't move to the next phase...it came to the point which I had to get some assistance from the local welfare groups, which was the most fucking depressing thing I'd ever have to do. There's nothing I hate more than not only being taught "HEY, THIS IS HOW YOU GET A JOB!", but also waiting in line to submit paperwork to be paid for effectively finding a job.

Things turned around in the middle of the year - I managed to get a spot in a somewhat local council which saw me volunteer as a trainee teacher, which if I had stuck around - would've seen me teach elderly or newer citiziens to learn how to use a computer. I had left because of a job interview attained by one of the people at the council, for a company that specializes in mail insertion and delivery, and it was a full time gig! And thankfully, I had gotten that job!

Getting used to it was probably the hardest thing. Initially, the job was quite a distance away from home, which resulted in a 5am wakeup, leaving home at 6am to make a 7am start, with a 3pm finish. Was a rough few months, in addition to learning how to actually do the job. Then there was leaving all the free time I had accquired, which meant that a few commitments I had prior had to be changed. Though this all got better when the job shifted much closer to home.

As for Level 3, it was a fantastic year. Getting recognized for my Twitter (that'd be DarthHomer), taking part in much live stuff at the various Monash Computer Games Boot Camp's across the year, learning how to create a livestream (and by extension, a live show), and taking part in the 200th episode of the show. Makes the bad stuff associated with it seem like nothing in the long run.

Only real disappointment in this regard was the stopping of the audio podcast. Sure, there are respectable and understandable reasons, but it sucks that something that I've put a tonne of time in has suddenly stopped. And sure, the livestream is awesome and all, but the personal investment is too great to me to not let it pass by easily.

I guess 2010 wasn't that bad of a year after all. Well, the second half was anyway - I can't recall much of the first half. Bring on 2011, I say.

Project CRPG #1 - An Introduction, of sorts...

I have a terrible habit of buying a tonne of games that I never get around to beating. Mostly because of lost interest, but there are cases where I've been pissed off with a game, is virtually unbeatable (for whatever reason) and plenty more reasons I can't quite think of at the moment. Point is, I have a problem. For the most part, I've been doing my best to curb that habit this year - most of the games I've attained I've given a fair go and attempted to beat - with more success than actual failure. But rarely do I go back and attempt to finish a game in anticipation for a soon to be released sequel.

Yeah, this requires a bit of backstory.

For the longest time, I've been wanting to finish the original Dragon Age - even with the announcement (and subsequent release) of the Awakenings expansion and the sequel, it was always something that I had meant to do, but was swamped with other things that I had wanted to play. The same goes with the Witcher - a game that I had really dug, but lost interest in.

And almost with the same time frame, I heard Dragon Age being discussed from the perspective of someone who hadn't played the game before on local podcast "GameTaco", and the subsequent announcement of the Witcher 2 release date triggered something within me. The desire to go back into those worlds and see the ends of their stories.

It was perfect timing too - there weren't very many more console games that I had wanted to play through (except through mostly older stuff like the Sly Trilogy or Prince of Persia Trilogy), and I'd all but lost interest in Fallout: New Vegas (which was taking up all my PC time).

I also guess the other trigger was the story incentive. Both Dragon Age II and Witcher 2 take advantage of cleared saves to tell new events in the story, and I didn't want to go into either sequel completely fresh - I wanted my world and my story to continue. That, and Bioware had done a pretty great job of it in Mass Effect 2.

So the goal was set - I've got until March 2010 to finish the original Dragon Age, and May 2010 to finish off the Witcher. No matter what, I'm going to finish both games, because I know I can. Sure, it'll mean juggling my game review commitments, jobs and other fun stuff, but hey, why not? Plus, I want to write about these things for as long as I can keep it interesting (or find something interesting to talk about.

Thus begins "Project Beat CRPGS Before Sequels Come Out", or "Project CRPG", for short. The name comes from Donald, a co-worker on Level 3, whom had a personal project called "Project RPG", in which he attempted to beat as many RPGs this year as he could. At best, he got quite far into Final Fantasy XIII, which is more than what I can say about myself!

Either way, welcome to a wonderful journey. First stop, revisiting Dragon Age: Origins...

Review: DJ Hero 2 (PS3/360/Wii)

DJ Hero was one of the most ambitious titles of last year, and really didn’t get all the recognition that it really deserved. Admittedly, it was a bit of a bold gamble (especially going as crazy as pricing a special edition at $300 AUD, shortly reduced to $100), but for those who took the risk, it paid off with one of the freshest and most exhilarating rhythm games seen in some time. Regardless, a sequel was expected, and DJ Hero 2 doesn’t fail to impress – providing one of the best rhythm game experiences of 2010.

For the most part, DJ Hero 2 is a refinement of last years game – it improves on just about every aspect of the gameplay, without adding too much new. For starters – freestyling now plays a bigger role in the game. Previously, the only real element of personalization that you had in a mix were via sample zones – which were tied to generic sets you needed to unlock (which everyone just used the Public Enemy samples, regardless). Not only now are the samples tied to the different songs in a mix, but there are zones now where you can freely swap between the two songs in a mix, as well as zones where you can freely scratch. And you’re now scored for all this – adding in not only a deeper layer of personalization to a mix, but also giving you an incentive to experiment to try make a mix sound fantastic.

Replacing last years rather haphazard single player mode is Empire Mode. There’s supposed to be a story about how you’re travelling around the world, building up your brand, but it’s something that only appears in the loading screens upon starting the domination of a club. Effectively, Empire Mode is more or less a much more organized career mode than last years – the flow of each club starts off with you playing as one of the many guest DJ’s (such as the RZA, Deadmau5, David Guetta etc.) in a megamix (three/four mixes combined together), a few setlists, a battle against a rival DJ, a battle against a guest DJ, and an unlockable bonus mix to play. It’s not revolutionary, but it does what it’s expected of.

However, the most significant addition to the game is a bigger emphasis on multiplayer – which was an element that was underrepresented in a big way in the original game. In one of the best moves developer Freestyle Games could’ve made, DJ Hero 2’s multiplayer component is heavily inspired from sister studio Neversoft’s underrated Guitar Hero 5. The Party Play modes (the drop in/drop out co-op) are present, as well as a host of different competitive multiplayer modes – the most prominent of these is a checkpoint battle, wherein you battle to see who can do the well across a mix. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had much of the chance to check any of these modes out – lacking an additional DJ Hero turntable to do so.

In addition, one of the weakest elements of last years game – the DJ vs Guitar mixes, have been completely nixed, replaced by a singing mechanic. Unlike with the DJ/Guitar work, you can play co-operatively on a larger portion of the mixes – which immediately is a plus. That being said though, the mechanic is something that provides an interesting experience. Unlike other games with a singing mechanic, DJ Hero 2 requires you to know how to sing two songs at the one time, as well as making you forget how you’re supposed to sing the songs, thanks to the mixes changing up the order in how lyrics progress. It functions well enough, but it certainly won’t be a replacement for other games.

Visually, DJ Hero 2 is underwhelming. Not that it looks bad – but it lacks the distinctive style and look of the first game that defined what DJ Hero was about. Ditching it for a more realistic look doesn’t quite work here. The environments do look great, as do all the animation work. The models for the guest DJ’s range from good (The RZA, Deadmau5) to kinda off (Tiesto, David Guetta). Otherwise, looks fine.

It’s a completely different story for the sound. As mentioned above, the guitar based stuff has been completely nixed, and there’s practically no repetition in terms of the mixes (so no more of that godawful Billy Squier song that was mixed with at least 5 or 6 songs). As such – there’s much more of a focus to the soundtrack on music that can be mixed together well, providing one of the best soundtracks of 2010. In particular – some of the house/electronica mixes towards the end of the setlist are quite fantastic, such as New Orders “Blue Monday” vs Calvin Harris’s “I’m Not Alone”, or even Janet Jackson’s “Nasty” vs Justice’s “D.A.N.C.E”. With that being said, there are quite a few dud mixes – it becomes apparent that no matter how much you scratch, mix or fade between; you’re never going to make Soulja Boy, Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ John and Chamillionare sound good.

As far as sequels go – DJ Hero 2 trumps the original. While it doesn't add anything particularly revolutionary or game changing, it's a fantastic refinement on one of the better games of last year. It's worth it alone for the fantastic soundtrack. Just as long as you ignore the singing portions of the game, you're going to have a hell of a time.

The Bomb Just Went Off

I'm not a particularly huge fan of Giant Bomb. Sure, I do enjoy their video content and their podcast, the Giant Bombcast, is very entertaining- but that's just about it. Their opinions rub me the wrong way, their fanbase is far too obnoxious and praising...but I do quite like the other Whiskey Media sites. What's this got to do with anything, you may enquire?

Whiskey Media is starting up a subscription program across all its sites - with two models. For $4.95 US, you get a monthly subscription, access to HD Video Content, an exclusive HTML 5 mobile site and access to a live show on Fridays and premium profile content. For $50 US a year, you get all the above, plus no ads, $10 in savings (their words) and a custom T-shirt.

I'm not going to get into why Whiskey Media should be charging for this - there have been plenty of examples of websites charging for "premium" content and have had plenty for the people who don't want to pay and still have a great experience (IGN, for example). However though, this does affect one of the core WM elements that is honestly quite disturbing.

On the Giant Bomb side (via NeoGAF), their Bombcast will actually affected adversely. If you're a paying member of WM, you get access to the full Bombcast (usually which lasts around two hours). If you're not a paying subscriber, then what'll happen is that you'll get the first half of the episode, and then a week later, get the second half for free. 

Put simply, that is a fucking horrible business decision.

Let's consider this from a number of angles. With gaming podcasts, timing is everything. News is very easily datable. There's always something new to cover and you can't really fall behind. By splitting the show in two and giving a week delay for the people who don't want to pay, they miss out on timely content. Admittedly, there are reports that they'll try limit the time-sensitive material, but at the same time, that'll still affect the podcast.

But what really gets to me is the sense that the only way to get a full show is to be a paying member. This isn't one of those sense of entitlement types of deals here - but a matter of telling their audience (which although I don't have numbers, is surely bloody high) that the ONLY way to enjoy a full show is to pay for it.

There are plenty of podcasts out there that ask for donations. Not aggressively, but at least have the option that if you like the show, you can give as much as you want - I've never come across a single podcast that's ever asked that if you want a complete show, you need to be a subscriber. Sure, there are things like the Ricky Gervais podcasts, but he barely does them, and the less said about him the better.

As well as that, paying doesn't exactly give you that much of a bonus if you just want to listen to the Bombcast. For everything else, you at least get higher quality video or no ads, which is something. Here, it's not like you get a super special high quality audio file or even bonus outtakes. 

Though at least there's something good to come out of this. Whiskey Media's offering (via Twitter) to make the Bombcast free to everyone, should they get 5,000 paid members by September 10th, 10am PST. We'll know soon enough if it works.

Otherwise, it's a fucking terrible decision, and I hope to hell they recant on this. 

Level 3 - Episode 185

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Level 3 is back on the blocky with a new episode, Donald Reviews Silent Hill: Shattered memories, Jason gets in to some Deathspank and reviews it! Timmay finishes the reviews with Singularity. Hosted by Jason and Kirsty.

Level 3 - Episode 184

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The definition of normal is a strange thing when it comes to Level 3, but here we are back with a traditional episode, Jamies reviews the latest Prince of Persia, Brad reviews Lost Planet 2 and Jason reviews Crackdown 2. Hosted by Jason, Mick and Brad.

Level 3 - Episode 183

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This is the second of two episodes filmed live from the Monash Uni Computer Games Boot Camp, As we bring you a very special edition of Level 3 called Top Game a flattering parody of Top Gear. In this comical extravaganza Jason , Jamie and Kirsty get into a battle over which current generation console is the best.

Level 3 - Episode 182

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This is the first of two special eps put together from live footage of our coverage of the Monash Uni Computer Games Boot Camp, this is an episode of interviews with some of the various speakers that attended the event. Hosted by Jason and Kirsty.

Level 3 - Episode 181

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Another fist full of Game Previews this week with a dash of Weird and Retro as we set up for boot camp. Be sure to check out our website from time to time as we will be live streaming from the Monash Games boot camp all week.

Level 3 - Episode 179

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Jason keeps his Thumbs out for Mick in this ice cold episode of Level 3, Reviews this week are Jason - Earthworm Jim HD, Jamie - UFC and Jason - Split/Second

Level 3 - Episode 180

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Did you miss the E3 conference? well guess what so did we? But what we do have is a world cup full of trailers from E3 with a bit of net new in between just to mix it up a bit. Some of the bigger trailers include GT5 , NFS: Hot Pursuit, Fall Out 3 New Vegas and Crackdown 2 just to name a few. Hosted by Mick, Aleks, Jason, Mark and Kane on the baseball horn? Also see our competition page for VIP access to our Monash Uni boot camp night on the 3rd of July.

Quite Possibly the Stupidest Announcement at E3 2010

So E3 2010 is going on at the moment in the US, and it's an been quite an interesting show. As most people would suspect, a lot of the show has been focused around Motion Control and 3D Gaming - both of which have lead to some of the best and worst moments of the show all round. Yet funnily enough, those weren't the worst announcements to come out of the show.

Lately, Konami have been really weird - announcing just the most random licenses to pick up and make games out of. This is the same company who tried to make a game based on the 2003 events in Fallujiah, and successfully made a game based around Saw, and are currently in the process of making not only a sequel to that, but also a Lucha Libre wrestling game (that's actually looking pretty cool to be honest). Yet that's pretty tame compared to the news that the latest announcement of a Glee themed Karaoke Revolution title.

Yes, Konami will be releasing a Glee themed Karaoke Revolution title.

I don't know where to begin with this.

I mean, I can understand the reasoning (THE SHOW IS SHIT HOT, AND IT MAKES MONEY) behind making the game and licensing the show, but it's the core concept that just baffles me. If you're not at all familiar with either - here's a quick summary. Karaoke Revolution is, surprisingly, a Karaoke title where you sing a whole bunch of cover versions of iconic songs. Glee is a sugary sweet TV show where actors sing a whole bunch of cover versions of iconic songs.

So...effectively, I'm singing covers of a cover.

Umm...what?

This is also the same year that saw Ubisoft present a Laser Tag game where the game is just a way of keeping stats, a game that is played by measuring your breathing via a not-Vitality Sensor and a Driver reboot that sees the main character of Tanner controlling other characters and shifting between them like a ghost, due to him being in a coma.

Good god, I just won't understand people. Still, least it makes sense for Karaoke Revolution to go for cover versions of songs, but this kind? Yeah....no.

Level 3 - Episode 178

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Did anyone say air date change? We sure didn't :/ But alas it's here and Level 3 is back to is nominal time slot on Thursday' s 10:30pm on Melbourne's C31. This week Jason review's Alpha Protocol, Jamie Reviews Picross 3D, Jason reviews a swag of iPhone Games and Apps and finally Jason reviews Blur.

Level 3 - Episode 177

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In the fully digital episode of Level 3 Jaime Reviews 3D Dot Game, Timmay reviews Dawn Of War 2 expansion Chaos Rising , Kane and Aleks Review the good ol` Turbo Grafx and finally Jason reviews Matt Hazard on XBLA

Level 3 - Episode 176

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The Level 3 cRew has ridden in to town and the show is loaded and firing off with Jason's marathon review of Red Dead Redemption, Aleks and Mark discuss the RDR Community playdate (Big thanks to everyone who participated), Jason does a quick review of Afterburner Climax from XBLA, and finally Mick kicks Kane home with FIFA World Cup 2010.

Happy 30th Birthday Pac-Man!

The late 70's to early 80's was arguable one of, if not the, most iconic periods in arcade gaming, especially if you were in the Japanese development scene - wherein some of the most iconic games ever created were, well, created in this period. We're talking games that are still as iconic today as they were then, such as Taito's Space Invaders, Nintendo's Donkey Kong and celebrating its 30th birthday today, Namco's Puck-Man, or as it's better known, Pac-Man.

You may think that Namco would have something special planned for it right? Y'know, since it's practically synomous with the company and they adore putting out Pac-Man anything, since it's still bloody popular. Nope. Nothing. Not even a port to yet another platform - because it's one of the few games that's available on just about anything...

Instead, a couple of Google engineers decided to do something even more awesome - create a port that'll run in the Google logo on the main Google page. Pretty bloody awesome, especially when you realize that you can actually play with two players, the second controlling Ms. Pac-Man. Good going Google, taking advantage of a massive missed opportunity that Namco could've totally taken advantage of. You've got less than 48hrs to play it before it's taken down, but still, it's rad.

So...yeah. Don't know what else I can say. Because let's face it - it's FREAKING PAC-MAN. It's one of those games that everyone knows about, anyone can play, and it's still completely awesome. I really don't know what else I can say about it that hasn't already been covered to death. If you just stick with the main stuff, and avoid most of the spin-offs, you'll be groovy.

Though if I were to recommend one Pac title for this special occasion, get the Xbox Live title Pac-Man Championship Edition, which is a fantastic remake of the original game. The iPhone version also works, but it's best played with a controller. Should you not have access at all to play the game, Ms. Pac-Man or even the original Pac-Man is also pretty awesome.

Happy 30th Birthday Pac-Man!

Level 3 - Episode 175

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Another Big Episode here and what not, with Jamie Reviewing Skate 3, Jason reviews Super Street FIghter 4, Aleks and Kane Weird and Retrofy the SEGA Game Gear and Finally Donald Reviews the Massive Title Alan Wake. Hosted by Jason and Mick . Why are you watching this you should be playing Red Dead Redemption tonight the 21st of May with us at 8pm AEST on the XBL community playdate.

Level 3 - Episode 174

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Donald is back with a dual review of two indie games vvvvvv and AAAAaaaaAaAAAaaaaaAAAaaaA! <- Yes they are the names of the games, We show a developers doco on Lost Planet 2, Jamie reviews Fruit Ninja on the iPhone and finally Jason Extra Life Reviews Bully. Hosted By Jason, Megs and Aleks. Don't forget our XBL community playdate on the 21st of May for the massive release of Red Dead Redemption

Super Street Fighter IV (PS3/360)

A mate of mine once told me that no Street Fighter game is perfect the first time around, and that the re-releases were a good thing, because it helped develop the series into some of the best fighting games ever made. And he’d be right – it took Capcom five re-releases to get the quintessential Street Fighter II in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and only two for the still mind blowing Street Fighter III – 3^rd Strike. The difference with those games compared to Street Fighter IV? The advent (or misuse) of Downloadable Content, wherein you don’t need a new disc to sell to get the latest version. But god bless Capcom for trying, because just over a year from the original console SFIV release, we have the latest version – Super Street Fighter IV, and it’s as good as you’d expect.

In terms of new stuff, there’s quite a significant chunk of new content here. Let’s begin with the 10 new characters, whose addition bumps up the total playable characters in the game to 35, only the second highest count of characters in a Street Fighter game; Street Fighter Alpha 3 takes the cake, with a total 38 playable characters in its most recent version. The eight returning characters all bring a welcome breath of fresh air to the game, and actually fit in rather well with the Street Fighter IV aesthetics and gameplay styles.

In particular, the Street Fighter III additions (Ibuki, Makoto and Dudley) are the most welcome here, and fit in fantastically – and are really quite fun to play as. Though it is rather curious as to why the remaining (and least popular) of the Super Street Fighter II ‘New Challengers’ T.Hawk and Dee-Jay were added. It’s not because they’re not interesting characters to play as, but out of all the characters you could possibly pick from…T.Hawk and Dee-Jay? Really?

In any case though, the two completely new characters – Juri and Hakan, bring a lot of great charm and interesting gameplay styles to the game. In particular, Hakan is very to play as. His Turkish Oil Wrestling skills make for a weird and flat out awesome show, and bring a bit more of an interesting wrestling approach to players than something standard like Zangief. While Juri isn’t as unique to play as, she’s a great character in her own right, and quite fun to mess around with. As a character, her ‘evil and loving it’ shtick is really quite welcoming and refreshing to see.

New character Juri is a blast to play. 

The other big focus to Super Street Fighter IV is in its online mode. Previously – there were only two options for online players, to play a ranked battle or to not play a ranked battle. Here, the non-ranked battle option has been removed, and has been replaced with two new options – Endless Battle and Team Battle. Endless Battle is effectively a ‘quarter-match’ mode, wherein winners of matches stay on, and take on all comers in an effort to stay on as long as possible. Once that player loses, they move to the back of the line as new challengers take on the new winner.

As for Team Battle, it’s really quite self-explanatory. Players form teams of up to four a side and battle it out. In both this and Endless Battle mode, you’ll get to watch the other players fight it out, so it allows you to get a chance to see how other people play their characters and give you time to develop effective strategies to defeat them. A newly added Replay mode also allows you to watch and upload replays to help further determine strategies. All of the additions are great, and really do add a lot to building up SFIV as this online gaming juggernaut, stopping short of creating a form of social network within the game that could make for some very interesting stuff. Couple that with a soon to be released Tournament Mode, it’s great to see Capcom really taking the online modes seriously.

The other changes/additions aren’t as significant, but are still pretty rad. All 35 characters now have two ultra-moves instead of one (with the exception of Gen who has four!); there are new prologues and epilogues for each character in arcade mode (yet are all uniformly terrible); the car destruction and barrel busting mini-games from Street Fighter II have returned and are kinda fun to check out; and as to be expected – there’s a whole bunch of rebalancing, removing the game of its quite infamous “Ken Fighter IV” stigma.

Play through this as Cody or Guy. I assure you, the result is worth it. 

It’s actually quite hard to find any actual negative or weak elements in the game, since everything here is still fantastic or has been improved substantially; the only complaints are more nit-picky than anything else. For instance, one can look at some of the feature set of the upcoming home release of Blazblue: Continuum Shift, and see some of the great things that Arc System Works have added that would’ve been perfect here in Super Street Fighter IV; such as a tutorial mode that teaches players game concepts as well as moves, a proper storyline that’s actually half decent and not completely throwaway, and an Fight Request- esque feature (i.e. the functionality wherein you can be challenged at any point by an online player in SFIV Arcade mode) that works in all game modes. While SSFIV is still a great game, one has a feeling that there’s still more that Capcom could have added, and pray won’t be adding in a new iteration of the fighter.

Visually, it’s practically the same as vanilla Street Fighter IV. This isn’t a bad thing, because the game still looks stunning, even two years on from its original release. All the new backgrounds and character animations look fantastic and gel well within the existing backgrounds and character animations.

Cody’s ready to beat the crap out of someone.

The same goes with the aural element. Well…almost. All of the new music in the game has a much more techno/trance feel to it, and while there are some great tracks (all of the remixed tunes and some of the new music is fantastic), the rest of isn’t as great. It has a very weird 90’s style thing going to it, which doesn’t really suit the game. All the new voice acting is quite decent, though if you have an aversion to English voices where you have the option to swap, the ability to swap voice tracks individually for each character returns, and it’s just as awesome as it was in vanilla SF4.

As to be expected, Super Street Fighter IV is another solid revision of what was one of the best fighting games to date. It’s still quite accessible & familiar, and has that little smidgen of depth that all great fighters have. All the new additions and rebalancing is very welcome and appreciated, though one most wonder whether or not Capcom could have gone a little deeper and added some more defining feature sets. Be that as it may, Super Street Fighter is very heartily recommended.