Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

"Street Fighter on steroids"

Before I get into the review, I feel there is something that has to be said. I've read a lot of reviews of Capcom fighters, and usually there's at least on person complaining about how the game is ''the same old thing'' or there needs to be dramatic, sweeping changes in the gameplay. Well first of all it is a Street Fighter game, so of course the gameplay is going to be pretty much the same. Do you really want to see Ryu performing 10 hit combos a la Tekken, reversals from Dead or Alive instead of the classic Hadoken and Dragon Punch? If you're tired of Street Fighter gameplay, then don't play it, plain and simple. Secondly, people complain about the same old characters, and once again it is a Street Fighter game. Would it really be Street Fighter without Ryu and Ken or Chun-Li? Basically what I'm saying is this, remember that since this game and others are part of the Street Fighter series, there aren't going to be any of the dramatic changes people are hoping for. If you don't like that, go play something else.

PLOT: 3/10 (don't worry, Street Fighter games don't have a plot, do you really need an excuse to beat the crap out of people?). As usual, the plot of the game is pretty much non-existent. There's some super-powerful guy who wants to challenge the best fighters in the world for some reason, and you gotta go kick his ass. I'll get to the boss later, but let me say right now that he is arguably the worst boss ever.

GRAPHICS: 9/10. These are the best graphics I have ever seen in a Street Fighter game. Forget MvC 2, Street Figher Alpha 3, and anything else. The characters are the biggest yet, with tons of animation (hence the synopsis of this review), the characters for once seem like they're wearing real clothes instead of something painted on. The backgrounds, while not the 3D goodness seen in MvC 2, are quite detailed, though they lack interactive elements, such as the bicycle riders in Chun-Li's stage in SF II. Speaking of Chun-Li, she's back and she's looking nice, redrawn in the SF III style replete with tons of animation.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10. Its the same Street Figher style that's been incorporated in pretty much every 2D (and some 3D) fighters since SF II. The moves are pretty much the same, lots of quarter circles on the joystick, and so on. The controls are excellent on the DC Pad (I haven't played on an arcade stick and I don't really intend to, but I imagine it works just as well). There is a new parrying system, which, when timed right, will throw down the opponents attack and allow you to rush in. It seems simple enough, simply press forward or down depending on where the attack will land, but timing is the key, as timing it incorrectly will cause you to simply move into the attack. Instead of selecting different ''isms'' as in Alpha 3 or having super moves which rely on the level of your meter, you now select your super move before the match. The super ''arts'' as they're called, will require 1, 2, or 3 levels of your meter depending on which art you select. The super meter as a total of 9 levels and charges relatively quickly, so performing super arts doesn't require a lot of waiting. The boss' super moves however, are some of the cheapest seen yet. Either of his moves can hit for a 10+ combo, and even blocking them will still deal damage, and they are pretty much un-parryable (you can parry the first few hits, but not the entire combo). The A.I. is challenging, and in some cases downright cheap (Ryu: Hadoken, block, block, Dragun punch, Hurricane kick, block, block, Hadoken, repeat) and the boss is the cheapest of all, he has a super which he automatically does in which he ressurects after you kill him, where did that come from? The one complaint I have, and this holds for all 2D fighters on the DC, is that the D-Pad seems a little overly sensitive, i.e., pressing forward or backward will sometimes cause you to jump in that direction instead of walking, which often means that instead of a special move, you jump. The game has only 1 extra character, the boss (if you use him in Versus, no one will like you because of his damn Resurrection move). Instead of new characters, you now can unlock pages in the System Direction mode. Basically a new option mode, this allows you to turn on, off, or adjust certain gameplay elements. Don't like waiting for the super meter? Have it maxed out at the start. Don't like super arts? Turn them off. You can also adjust the core gameplay, turning on or off blocking, guard damage, throws, air blocking, parrying, stuns, and so on. You can pretty much adapt the game to your style. My main complaint is the bosses overt cheapness, but since he's so cheap killing him leaves you nicely satisfied. Another gripe is so many new characters, which aren't really new, just old ones in new clothes (Dudley=Balrog, Necro and Twelve=Dahlsim, Remy=Guile, and so on). It's nice to see some new and some cases genuinely original characters, but I would have liked some more classic characters instead of Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Akuma.

REPLAY: 7/10. You have the standard Arcade, Versus, and Training modes, but where's the Team Battle mode from SF Alpha 3, or even a survival mode? There's only 1 secret character, which bumps the roster up to a minute (by comparison to most Capcom fighters) 20. The only real incentive to play the game again is to unlock all of the 10 System Direction pages, and maybe see all the characters endings, but after that the only real reason for having the game is for 2 player battles. But it's a hell of a fun game, so it's not that big of a deal.

FINAL ROUND: The bottom line is, if you like Street Fighter, you'll like this game. If you like fighting games in general, you'll like this game. If you already own 2nd Impact though, theres really no point in shelling out $40 for a few new characters and slightly updated graphics. But if you played Alpha 3 and felt (as I did) that its PS game on the DC, then this is the game you want. Finally, a Street Fighter game that showcases the DC's power, and is a lot of fun in the process.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/22/01, Updated 05/22/01