Street Fighter EX3

"Some innovation and a few killer characters breathes life into the cashcow...but for how long?"

Street Fighter is the epitome of cashcow ideas that have come a long way and kept the fan base that keeps a fighting game series alive. Stepping away from the traditional two dimension, and also stepping away from the rather common anime style animation that has made Street Fighter these days, EX 3 offers up a Tekken style visual, as well as the VS series tag in option and still retains the original Street Fighter idea! You'll take one of 16 selectable characters through several different types of battles in an attempt to not only unlock other playable characters, but earn medals in different Street Fighting aspects such as chaining fighting moves together and extensively damaging combinations. You'll find that the different mode options allow for a total of four people to play either against each other, or against the computer if you have the multi-tap to use! With the amount of player options, the familiar setup and controls that have kept Street Fighter together, and a ton of characters that range from the super silly to the ultra deadly, Street Fighter EX 3 is just another brick in the Capcom wall.

-Game Play 7/10-

It's your standard Street Fighter, but you can include up to three other people in a variety of battles that include two on two, one on three or two on one. Through several different types of battles, you'll learn to use your character teams effectively, and even unlock special team combinations that are only allow with certain character combinations! Other modes include the Arena Mode, in which you'll be able to set your battles according to the style you like to play in, with matches set up between you and three other friends, or you and the computer teaming up to go against another computer controlled character or team. It sounds rather confusing, but the game play elements are all there that will keep a veteran Street Fighter fan glued to their seat!

In the Original mode, depending on what difficulty you select, you'll have to perform a certain requirement in order to gain a medal that will ultimately unlock other characters or other game play features depending on your success rate. With the Character Edit Mode, you can take a character called Ace through several different missions that is more or less a Training Mode of sorts to teach you the different styles and options of fighting that Street Fighter has to offer! Through these missions, you'll gain experience points that will allow you to buy new special attacks and moves, and you'll find that your skills will be put to the test in later levels of this Edit mode, to where you'll have to have precise button combinations in order to get through to the next mission!

-Control 7/10-

It's your standard Street Fighter setup that has been found in quite a few of the recent Alpha games. You'll be better off to probably pick up an Arcade Stick to really get the effect and the right control setup to include the tag in option as well as the throwing when is done a complete different way! Where it becomes difficult, is during the tag in and out in which some cases dictate that you have to continue a combination when your partner is tagging in. Either way, you can change the control setup to accompany your own fighting skill and style, and anyone can find a control scheme to agree on.

-Visuals 8/10-

Street Fighter in three dimension is something strange to look at and rather disorientating at first! With a Tekken style visual, you'll find that Street Fighter looks a little out of place, but the results are a free flowing camera, a seemingly endless boundary line, and special moves which seem almost realistic. The visuals also take on a certain life like perspective with certain special moves, as the lighting reflects off of your opponent as well as your fighter, giving yet another example of realism! However, you'll find your bearings a little off kilter when tagging in and out, and some of the special moves make the camera move in a direction that doesn't benefit you.

-Audio 7/10-

The music is rather beautiful in some stages, but the down fall to this is that the music is also set so low in the background, that you'll be straining your ears to hear it! You'll find that the announcer voice still has the chirping quality that can make a fighting game player cringe, and even the sound effects are somewhat muted and rather off set to the rest of the game! Voice overs in the game really aren't that bad, and they do highlight the matches to a degree, but again, the amount of times that you'll hear them will probably cause headaches!

-Overall 7/10-

EX 3 isn't a bad game, and Street Fighter fans will probably find a ton of options that are completely new to them. Other fighting gamers will find that the controls are dead on, and the visuals are sweet, but the actual game play is nothing that hasn't been played before and probably won't be too long before it's been played again. If you're a fan of the Street Fighter series, and you're looking to continue your cashcow experience to the fullest, then pick this title up, but if you're a fighting game fan who is looking for more depth than just the original basics, take a look elsewhere!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/08/01, Updated 10/08/01