Street Fighter EX3

"Good update for the PS2."

INTRO: Having played the EX1 and owning EX2 for the PS1, EX3 makes it way to the PS2. Question is does it live up to its predecessors? Read on.

GRAPHICS 8/10: First thing you will notice is the fact that its a sort of a 2D/3D fighter, however the camera does move around in 3D fashion when you are starting a match and when you finish your opponent off.
As far as it goes the backgrounds are drawn nicely and are quite clear and the characters themselves look pretty meaty. The game is quite fluid and all in all looks pretty good, although not as good as some like Tekken or Virtua Fighter its adequate enough.

SOUND 7/10: As you may notice they have brought back the background music for each character from EX1 which is welcome because they were much better than the ones in EX2. Usual punch and kick sounds are present and sound fine. Some of the characters voicing's are a bit off like Guile's Sonic Boom. Why on earth he says Ree-Ka-Boo rather than Sonic Boom is beyond me!

GAMEPLAY 8/10: People that are familiar to Street Fighter will be at home in this game. Beginners can easily learn the moves. The attack system is the same as from EX2 except that the Excel Mode is gone, good riddance in my opinion and the fact that the Guard Breaker does not require one Bar to pull off, Hurrah! You have a Super Combo bar which powers up throughout the match (up to 3 levels). Once you have a Bar or two filled, you can unleash a Super Combo. 3 bars enables you to do a Meteor Combo which is more powerful than a Super Combo.
The game mode has changed from EX1+2. Now you can play as a Tag Team! That's right 2 on 2 matches. This creates a different edge to the Street Fighter series and of course its similar to Tekken Tag. You start out as a solo player and as you progress through you can have various fighters join you (up to 3) depending on who you defeat. What makes this different is the inclusion Critical parade where both you and your partner can unleash unlimited amount of Super Combos onto your opponent and also you can pull off a Meteor Tag Combo which allows you and your partner to pull off a devastating combo on your opponent, (2 on 1).
Of course there is no single player mode (1 on 1) which is disappointing. You do have the choice of fighting alone but the only problem is, you would still have to fight a handicap match (1 vs 2).
With the inclusion of the Character Edit Mode you have a customisable character called ACE. You do Missions to build up your EXP points and then buy Special moves for him to use! Once you have gotten him some good moves, you can play in Original Mode and also his moves Level up each time you play him and sometimes they change into stronger and better moves.

LONGEVITY 7/10: Anyone who has owned EX2 might find this game boring very quickly simply because the majority of the characters are from EX2. Really this nothing more than an update for the PS2. There are over 25 characters to choose from including secret ones which have to be unlocked so this keeps you coming back for more and not to mention the Character Edit Mode which adds depth to the game.
With the 2 player mode you can play Tag Team battles, 3 on 1 matches and if you hook up a multitap, you can have 3 mates round for 4 player action!

OVERALL 8/10: Being lucky in the fact that I own EX2 but never played it much helped because I do actually like EX3 a lot. If you have played EX2 to death then this update doesn't really offer that much in my opinion. I think new characters would have been welcomed or even some that made appearances in EX1 but not in EX2 like Akuma etc. However if your looking for a half decent fighting game and your a fan of the genre and you haven't played or should I say owned EX2 then you will like this game.
Piece of advice, try this game out before you buy and see if you like it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/26/02, Updated 07/26/02