Alright, this is the part of the review where I get to speak in my own voice. It feels restrained just writing straight reviews so sometimes I just have to get my own opinions out there, especially when I have as much to say about a game as I do this one.
For starters, this game has far exceeded my expectations of what it had to offer. There is so much you can do in this game and so many things to accomplish that it took me about 30 hours to even start playing online matches, which as of now are a bit glitchy but that’s to be expected the first week the game is out. Nonetheless, the fights are quicker than Street Fighter 4 and include Tekken characters that can’t rely on projectiles to create pressure which creates a game far less campy than what can be seen in many of the matches for SF4. It’s just a refreshing change of pace because it’s not quite the hyper fast, combo heavy rush that is Marvel vs. Capcom, but it’s also not the slower paced feel of SF4, it’s somewhere right in between which feels very natural for me.
The gems created some doubts in the fighting community as to balancing issues and while there’s no telling what the future holds in regards to the new gems that will be available to fighters, I am happy to report that none of the outcomes of matches I played online(about 25 in total) seemed to be dependent on the gems that people had equipped. Although there is definitely the potential for people to make extremely powerful combos of gems.
Another big question was “would the non-projectile Tekken characters be at a disadvantage?” the answer simply put is definitely not. In many cases Street Fighter characters are at risk using projectiles against Tekken fighters. For example, if Ryu throws a fireball, a keen Law player can punish it with a simple jump kick moves that he has. Also, having played Tekken 3 and 4 I can confirm that a lot of the trademark moves and combos the Tekken characters had in those games transferred to this game giving Tekken fighters another strength in the fact that they have some straight up button commands, a la Tekken, to use whereas the SF characters have next to none. This sort of balance is found in many of the match-ups between SF and Tekken characters and most of the damage done to people isn’t done with single attacks but rather combos that result from switching your partner in.
The switching mechanic, as stated above can be triggered either after a simple combo or manually with a two button set-up. This leads to many interesting ways to gain the upper hand on your opponent and deal some damage, but it also comes at a cost. If a player sees that you have low health and you switch out manually the animation for this gives your opponent just enough time to counter attack and deal you a considerable amount of damage in return and if one of the people in your team is KO'd you lose the round. So there is a considerable amount of risk and reward that fuels both teams to be on constant attack and defense even when they might be at lower health.
The trials are challenging as always and give the player a good feel for what characters they are interested in playing are capable of. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent on trials and learning how many of the fighters in the game are played. I don’t know how Capcom does it but every time I start a trial I think to myself “Oh, I’ll just stop when it gets too difficult” but somehow I persevere and fight until every trial for the character is complete because something about finishing those challenges is so rewarding I can’t even begin to describe the feeling.
This game is just plain solid on so many levels and as always Capcom has really set the bar for the amount of quality work they put into just one game. Forget all those other fighters, fists are flying at THIS location, so pick up your copy and bring your own style to the fight.
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