Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams

"Some will win..."

Once upon a time, Street Fighter II dominated the gaming world. If you had any semblance interest in the fighting genre during the last decade, this legendary brawler had the power to grab your attention, keep your eyes glued to the screen, and play an untold amount of hours against friends and computer-controlled enemies alike. There were tournaments to win, characters to master, strategies to develop, and plenty of other in-game aspects that made this fighter pure, sweet bliss. However, Street Fighter II couldn't hold onto its reign forever; gamers' expectations gradually increased, new ideas were implemented, and the 2D fighting game genre was slowly but surely being ushered out of existence. In the midst of all this uncertainty, the minds behind the game had a difficult problem to overcome: creating a new Street Fighter game that not only stood up to the demands and expectations of newer games, but still retaining all that was good and righteous about the first batch of games. Thus the Street Fighter Alpha series was unleashed upon the masses.

Let's pretend that the events of Street Fighter II hasn't happened yet. Ryu, a lone warrior and the protagonist of the Street Fighter series, has just won the World Tournament after narrowly defeating (and subsequently scarring) Sagat. As things begin cooling down after the tournament, all of the warriors continue to hone their skills against each other. Only a fraction of the characters from the previous games make an appearance; veterans of the Street Fighter II games will recognize Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, and Sagat. However, <Street Fighter Alpha is also stocked with other character cameos, including Guy and Sodom from Final Fight, along with Birdie and Adon from the original Street Fighter. But if you've gotten tired of messing around with the characters you know and love, the game sports three entirely new characters; a mystical psychic chick named Rose and a Guile-esque warrior named Charlie round out the game's varied character roster.

However, new characters can only do so much for a new game. In order to make the Street Fighter experience seem totally new and refreshing, several gameplay aspects of the previous games have been tweaked to create something unlike any of its predecessors. Aside from the usual punches and kicks, fighters are still able to perform a handful of special moves. Ryu can still fire off a Hadoken, Sagat can still do his devastating uppercut, and all of the characters have retained their usual movesets. However, all of these attacks have been modified, allowing you to chain together different moves to create a myriad of devastating combos and offensive strategies. With each punishing blow you land on your hapless foe, an energy gauge will begin filling up at the bottom of the screen. Once you've amassed enough energy, you can unleash a special attack more powerful than anything else your character could have mustered in the old Street Fighter games. Ryu's Hadoken transforms from a measly blue blip into a flashy fireball of destructive proportions, Ken's Shoryuken goes from a single uppercut to a triple, and even Chun Li's kicks can reach a whole new level of feminine brutality. Throw in an improved aerial guarding system and some fast-paced fighting, and you've got one mighty fine fighting game to play.

Unfortunately, it's far from perfect. Many of the special moves and combos can be difficult to execute, given the occasionally slippery controls. Aside from racking up tons of bonus points, there's little reason to bother with these flashy moves; you'll have a far easier time decimating your foes if you just mash random buttons and watch the punches and kicks chain together. The AI-driven opponents aren't exactly pushovers, but seasoned Street Fighter veterans should have no problem wiping out the competition by abusing the easily-executable combos. That's assuming, of course, that you don't mind dealing with the pathetically small selection of fighters featured in the game. Maybe I've been spoiled with the appearance of Cammy, Fei Long, and all the other add-on characters from the previous games, but the character roster seems unimpressive at best. But considering that this game was the first step in a new direction for the Street Fighter franchise, problems and limitations are unavoidable.

In a desperate attempt to distract gamers from its shortcomings, the game boasts quite a visuals and a few snippets of text-only dialogue. Though fans of Street Fighter II will recognize the handful of old fighters, they may be stunned at the new designs of their beloved characters. Chun Li's oriental skirt has been replaced with a blouse and athletic pants, adding just a bit more personality and flavor to the aged femme fatale. Ryu and Ken still boast their signature martial arts gi, but their movements and attack animations are much more fluid and lifelike than those found on their SNES predecessors. All of the characters are depicted with cel-shaded anime artwork, allowing gamers to see their fighters with an unprecedented amount of detail. The graphical quality doesn't end with the fighters, either; staying true to the name ‘Street Fighter', several of the levels in this game pit characters in the middle of busy thoroughfares, in front of cheering pedestrians, outside convenience stores, inside dark alleys and a handful of other realistic locales. If all else fails, the game's soundtrack includes a remixed version of the old Street Fighter II, a feature that will likely drown fans in a tidal wave of nostalgia.

It may not be perfect, but Street Fighter Alpha is a step in the right direction. It features a blend of new and old characters, drawing out new fans and giving established fans a few new fighters to master. It takes ideas from previous Street Fighter II titles and modifies them ever so slightly to create something that looks and feels new. The game suffers from an incredibly small character roster and some unrefined control issues, but those probably won't stop you from grabbing your friends and some controllers and duking it out for Street Fighter supremacy. Street Fighter Alpha does not quite measure up to the fighting games of yesteryear, but it serves as a promise for better things to come.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/06