Street fighting man

by ERIK LEIJON

I must preface this week’s review with an embarrassing confession: I am wretchedly awful at Street Fighter IV. I like to think of myself as a connoisseur of the pugilistic gaming arts, especially those of the ’90s 2D variety, so my in-no-exaggertion horridness at SF4 has left me both perplexed and saddened.

I was as pumped about a new Street Fighter as anyone, especially one that brought back the game’s most iconic characters (after the vastly different and underrated SF3), except somewhere in between mastering Soulcalibur’s guard impact and screaming in frustration at yet another cheap Tekken boss, I lost my mojo. It’s not for lack of effort or desire, but the more hours I devote to Super Street Fighter IV (PS3, X360/Capcom), an improved version of last year’s Street Fighter IV, the more outraged I become at my inability to recapture my past glory. If I were ever to meet one of these anonymous online tacticians routinely beating me silly in network battle at a real arcade, it’s doubtful I’d fare much better.

Luckily I’m fairly convinced my own deficiencies have more to do with my inflexible playing style, since the game itself is a wonderfully comprehensive Street Fighter package. Even those who feel sated with last year’s SF4 should pick up this definitive update—it includes 10 new characters, new backgrounds, new combos and the return of the car smashing and barrel busting bonus levels. The 10 new fighters include Alpha 3 and SF3 Third Strike grads, alongside beloved vets T. Hawk and Dee Jay. There are two brand new brawlers, the greased-up Hellboy-red wrestler Hakan and generic pint-sized femme fatale Juri.

Now that two of my all-time favourite characters, Alpha’s muy thai master Adon and SF3’s mustachioed boxer Dudley, have returned to the fold, one would think becoming proficient in SF4’s focus attack counter-based system would be made easier. Sadly, my previously effective style of stealing a few quick hits then keeping my distance simply doesn’t work here. By holding the two medium attack buttons, your character goes into focus attack mode, which when released at the right time will counter your opponents’ strike and leave them temporarily stunned. Because the focus attack can only guard against one hit, online players have all mastered their annoying multi-hit combos, chaining them together with the more powerful super combos and leaving me eating dirt.

It’s bad enough to play without an arcade stick (essential for both 360 and PS3 players), and I’ve never been one for combo memorization or overly complex pre-game battle plans. As a read-and-react player who likes to move around a lot, I feel like the only way I’m going to be able to rack up any battle points online is to pick one character and master a few pre-set attack patterns. For now though, I might just stick to fighting the game’s AI, so as to prevent further shame.

Recapturing the spark

Precious few of you were likely clamouring for a Sparkster reboot, but regardless there’s a new one anyway, called Rocket Knight (Steam, XBLA, PSN/Konami, Climax). All the way back in 1993, Rocket Knight Adventures was a side-scrolling platform game for the Sega Genesis, in which a furry creature clad in shiny blue armour fought an army of technologically savvy animals with a rocket pack strapped to his back.

Rocket Knight plays just like its predecessors, as the rocket pack plays a big part in separating Sparkster from the other furry gaming mascots of the ’90s. The game remains in 2D, although the graphics are completely modern. It’s an old fashioned, bouncing off the walls type of side-scroller, and mid-range as far as reboots go.