Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

"Capcom strikes back!"

Being a strong follower of Capcom and the Street Fighter series in particular, I was eagerly waiting for this game to come out. Of course, I had tried it before in the arcades, but my first experience with the SF3 series resulted in the emergence of mixed feelings: confused by the changes in the fighting engine and the new characters, I was still glad to finally see new elements brought to the legendary series. After playing it a bit more, wondering what the hell was wrong with me, the game quickly grew on me, and my only problem with it was my inability to totally master the arcade version of the game (yeah, I'm cheap...). When the DC port was eventually announced, I simply couldn't wait: it's safe to say that I wasn't disappointed... and that this game restored my faith in modern fighting games.

Visuals 9

When I first saw this game, I was extremely impressed. To be honest, I hadn't seen such a good-looking 2D title in a while. Everything looks perfect: the characters all look great and the amount of details is simply insane. The animation is arguably the best on a 2D fighting game ever (with Garou:MOTW perhaps): it seems as if the characters were taken straight from an anime!
The stages all look great, but I have to say that I was disappointed by the fact that certain characters now share stages: Second Impact was better in this area. Plus, most of the backgrounds in that game had more animation. One could also say that Second Impact had better animation and crisper graphics, which is quite the truth. Yes indeed, it seems Third Strike looks a bit worse than its predecessor, however the rest of the game more than makes up for this mistake. The artworks look really good and the overall presentation of the game is particularly nice: this game has a complete feel to it and is obviously one of the best looking games on DC.

Gameplay 9

2D fighting games and especially Capcom games have been known for having balanced gameplay, and this game is no exception to the rule. But if you haven't played any of the SF3 games, it may take a while before you can truly understand the game... The most important new feature is the parry system: tap forward to parry an attack, which gives you an edge over your opponent. Mastering this system is the key to winning.
The new cast of characters is controversial, to say the least: there are only 4 returning character from the SF2 series (Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Chun-Li), whereas the rest of the cast is new. There are certainly enough characters to keep you entertained, and most of them have very different styles. Even Sean, who looks like your usual shoto at first sight, plays in fact very differently. The new characters are original and varied: Chun-Li is back, looking better than ever with her sexy behind, Remy is a French goth who plays a lot like Guile, while Q, Makoto and Twelve are very original characters. Some of the characters (e.g. Q, Necro, Twelve and Oro) have been rejected by some fans, which is totally understandable: they don't look like the original Street Fighters at all, and some of them would actually not be out of place in a Darkstalker game: Q looks like the Inspector Gadget, Necro is a freak who can use electricity and Twelve is the result of an experiment gone wrong. Yet, they're still likeable characters and effective fighters: I don't think you can blame Capcom for trying.
You can still choose your Super Art between 3, and there are still throws and overheads... The gameplay hasn't evolved much since Second Impact, the only noticeable difference is that a few moves have been added and combos have been tweaked. Ibuki and Akuma have been toned down, too. The EX moves are also worth mentioning: these are powered-up special moves à la Darkstalkers but they use up a bit of your super bar. The game features two bonus games: the original car destroy game (yes!) and a parry game in which Sean throws basketballs at you.
The gameplay is infinitely deep and you will probably be playing this game for months if you like fighters. I have to mention a flaw of the engine though: on higher levels of competitions (think tournaments) the fights have a tendency to become dull and uninteresting since the parry system favors defensive players and throws. I personally love this aspect of the game, but it might be one of the reasons why it is not very popular in the US. Let's face it, this doesn't looks as appealing as MvC2 for the casual gamer. But the emphasis on technical gameplay should make it last longer than most other fighting games. It feels very old-school and the gameplay is perfect: patient players will be rewarded.

Story 6

Most fighting games fans don't seem to care much about the reasons why their favorite characters fight. 'If you want a good story, go read a book !', they say. Some SNK fans, on the contrary, consider story as an important part of the game: I am one of them. Pointless fighting seems as stupid to me in a videogame as in real life. The story in Third Strike is nice, but feels incomplete. Capcom has never been a great storyteller, but there is a noticeable effort in this game. All the characters have different reasons to fight Gill, the last boss. Gill is a so-called god (quite similar to Orochi) who wants to control the earth and wants to see everyone bow before him. The thing is, how can you fight against a god?

Some characters have interesting stories (Chun-Li is looking for a little girl missing, Makoto wants to renew the honor of her family's dojo, Remy is looking for his father...) but some others have very lame stories, to say the least. The artworks in the endings look pretty good though, and I suggest finishing the game with all the characters to have a better understanding of the story.

Audio 8

This is one of the most surprising aspect of the game: Capcom decided to make a hip-hop/techno soundtrack for this game, and it sounds VERY different from the other games. The intro has a real group rapping, and some of the Dreamcast exclusive remixes are interesting (e.g. Dudley's BGM). The vocals are good as usual, and there are lots of them. Alex now sounds like the New Yorker he is, and you can clearly hear Q's breath and Hugo's 'Ein Zwei Drei!' when he performs a Gigas Breaker. This is probably Capcom's best soundtrack since the original SF2.

Replayability 8

While the game doesn't have as many options as Alpha 3 for instance, its gameplay alone should be enough to keep you busy. Of course, as in every fighting game you'll soon need a friend to share the game with, but the Arcade more is an enjoyable experience. You can choose your opponent between two at every fight (which is useful for those who fear Hugo and Akuma), and the Computer gives you a grade after each fight.
The grading system is quite fair and helps you to judge your progression. The training mode is one of the best I have ever seen: you can even record combos with the second character and try to parry them later. This option helps a lot when trying to master the parry system. There's some stuff to unlock in the game: not only you can play as Gill, the ultimate cheapo, but you can also unlock the System Direction and Extra Option menus. They basically allow you to totally customize the fighting engine (you can even use all three super arts!). If you are patient enough, there's no doubt that you will keep coming back for more.

Buy or rent?

As a big fan of this game, I would naturally advise you to get this game as soon as possible. But keep in mind that this game is for fighting games fans only. Some people don't like it because it doesn't exactly feel like the original Street Fighter 2, or because they disagree the new characters. Keep in mind that this is a new game and that you might not like it. For the people who have never played a SF3 game before, I suggest renting or at least trying it before you buy. For the people who already have Second Impact and like it, I think this game is worth getting as well. It's different enough from its predecessor to make you happy. With the announced ''death of the DC'', this is one of the games to get, if only to see how great 2D gaming can sometimes get.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/31/01, Updated 02/02/03