Metascore

Universal acclaim - based on 61 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 214 Ratings

  • Summary: Street Fighter IV features a mix of returning favourites such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Guile along with new characters created exclusively for this game such as Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus. Characters and environments are rendered in high definition 3D, while the game is played in the classic Street Fighter 2D perspective with additional 3D camera flourishes. Six-button controls for the game return, with a host of new special moves and features integrated into the input system. Street Fighter IV also incorporates state of the art online match making and worldwide online gameplay. Mixing classic genre-defining game mechanics the franchise is known and loved for with all-new, never-before-seen gameplay systems, Street Fighter IV brings a brand new fighting game to fans the world over. With the inclusion of Capcom's latest advancements in new generation technology, Street Fighter IV promises to deliver an extraordinary experience that will re-introduce the world to the time-honoured art of virtual martial arts. New special moves that go beyond any Street Fighter fan's wildest imagination, including Focus attacks, Super Combos, and the revenged-fueled Ultra Combo system. Classic Street Fighter characters recreated for a new generation of gamers, including the original cast of Street Fighter II. New brawlers: female super-spy Crimson Viper, lucha libre wrestler El Fuerte, mixed martial artist Abel and more. New gameplay elements provide new challenges for both newcomers and the most seasoned Street Fighter pro. Online gameplay features, including instantaneous online challenges, versus mode, tournament mode, and world wide online gameplay. [Capcom] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 61 out of 61
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 61
  3. Negative: 0 out of 61
  1. 100
    Capcom has no trouble in fulfilling the expectation that was hovering over the new installment of the Street Fighter franchise. It's going to be a tough job for the developer to improve this superb version of Street Fighter. The only thing that we can do now is to make a deep bow for Capcom and Street Fighter IV. Currently the best fighting game there is.
  2. It will be like playing SFII for the first time all over again, only with the years of love and experience you've since gained already built in. To long-term Street Fighter fans, everything old is new again. To the new players, we simply say welcome to the party. You're going to have a hell of a good time.
  3. 100
    Street Fighter IV is the greatest fighting game ever created. Only Capcom can do this kind of thing with this much flair; it's a game that will definitely create a massive online community and, unless there's some kind of apocalypse, it'll thrive for a very long time indeed.

See all 61 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 47
  2. Negative: 10 out of 47
  1. SquidJ.
    10
    Move over third strike...Sf4 is the true sequel and the best SF period.
  2. LamarN.
    6
    Please explain how this game is balanced? All I need to say is this. Sagat, Akuma, Balrog, Zangief, Gouken, Ryu, and Ken. Sagat is ALWAYS overpowered, so there's no explanation needed for that, but you would think that by NOW Capcom would find a way to make him SOMEWHAT balanced. Akuma may have low health, but that doesn't matter when you can hardly touch the bastard. He also can do combos that take half your health and stun you, do you know what that means? It takes 2 combos to kill you. If you get STUNNED after the first one, that's like saying "You're pretty much dead after 1 combo." His ultra and super take way more health than necessary as well. Balrog (Or Mike Byson/Mighty Mother Fucker) is a pure example of what an overpowered hold character would be. His PRIORITY is really high, the damage he deals is pretty deadly, his SPEED is fast, he has frames that let you COMBO after his friggen hold moves giving you NO chance to punish him AFTER he does them (I've tried), he can ZOOM past projectiles (His headbutt goes through projectiles too, but that's not overpowered :B ), so what's NOT overpowered about this guy? He has great reach, strength, power, priority, antiprojectile moves, antiair moves, I mean he's a hold character, but 2 seconds doesn't seem too damn long when he can stay back as long as he likes. Zangief does too much damage with his overpowered Ultra that basically kills you, the range of his grabs are further than before, he has high priority moves, and who the Hell cares if his speed is low when he has the glowing hand of screen hop? He just zooms to you with that hand as if walking was a thing of a past, plus that damn thing does alot of damage, and it's hard to dodge his EX running grab because you'd have to jump over him or something to get past it, you can't just hit him because he'll GRAB you if you get close and attempt it, it won't knock him out of it and he won't lose his health anyhow, plus he's fucking huge so how can you expect to jump over that so easily? Gouken... This is a mix between a combo and shoto character in a way... He has a Fei Long move that's much more powerful, has much more range, is a bit less punishable, and you can't get out of it because you're hit into the friggen air and the other 2 hits hurt you while you're coming down... It's a strong ass juggling combo... His back grab MAY seem useless, but any grab that literally sets you up for a heavy damage ultra doesn't seem so useless after. He can Hadouken wherever he pleases as well. Just have to spam it right. Gouken is a mess for obvious reasons. Whatever the tier list says can kiss my ass because there's a HUGE flaw with it. These guys may be experts of Fighting games, but that doesn't mean they're good with every friggen character on the damned list, that's probably why they suck with Dan so badly, because they don't know how to use him and never even gave him a chance I bet, so if they think Dan sucks, they can suck on my balls and find a REAL Dan player instead of thinking "Hey, I'm an expert, I'm good with just every character automatically." Ryu and Ken: Have you noticed something? Why isn't Shoryuken an anti air move anymore? Anyhow, Ryu is just flatout good with everything. Ken is only good with shoryukens. Ryu has easy fast movements that can combo well, while Ken has some slightly heavier movements that don't combo as well. Anyhow, Ken's shoryuken pisses me off because it takes 1/4th of your God damned health, not to mention his Ultra... There's giving a chance to win and there's giving someone a fucking WIN BUTTON, what are they doing for KEN I wonder, I mean does he even NEED it? Ryu and Ken are both great characters already, but no, they have to give them more than they deserve. Also, Ryu's Super and Ultra are so easy to merge compared to everyone else's that it's not even funny. Let's move on to the SUCKY characters. Fei Long (I LOVE Fei Long, but he sucks compared to other characters) is a character I love and a little hard to figure out... kinda.. Anyhow, his 3 hit combo is very punishable, it does so little damage, you have to TIME the hits right to go past a projectile when BALROG can just go like "Hey, a projectile?" and the projectile hits him going like "Tink" as if it didn't hit him, they nerfed his Chicken Wing that had no range but did around as much damage as Ken's Shoryuken, he has almost no antiprojectile properties, you have to get close to your enemies to use him, I think one of the few things I can say that's good about him is his speed. His speed is great, even the speed of his antiair is great to some extent (Could be a little faster), and then there's that leg grab thing... That thing SHOULD give you a free hit, but it doesn't, I've tested that thing and moves can be blocked, so what if it throws off your opponent? Once they realize it's use, they know you can just block and punish. His friggen jump kick thing is gay too because it can't hop over projectiles and it looks like it should hit overhead, but it doesn't, so it's almost useless except for the fact that it's more unpredictable than some of the other things he has. Gen is a great character... If you take 90 hours on him or something. I mean, he looks like an awesome character, but God damn it do they make it hard to play with him and in the end, is it really even worth all that effort and time? Once people figure out how he works, he'd just become much easier to deal with, I mean, right now Gen's advantage is this, nobody plays him so nobody knows shit about what to do against him. There are people who do play him, however, once people find out that roll's priority is nothing, they'll go like, "Oh, let me just *Kicks Gen*" and Gekiro's timing is sooo anoyying, it has almost no range as an antiair and the timing is horrible when trying to pull it off completely. Capcom must have been like "Hey, let's annoy people more by making Gekiro's timing really really gay." El Fuerte as well is a decent character, but not even that good. You have to time crap so well and once people figure out how he works, just like Gen, he'll fall down to the ground. He's just a character that is a bit unpredictable, but very much punishable. He's complex to use and you have to time crap so well that it's almost not even worth the time and effort, I could have been doing something with that tame wasted on trying to figure someone like out, like being overpowered with Akuma. Some characters are kind of fine, like Guile, Cammy, Abel, Rufus, they seem like characters that are good in the point of being balanced and fair without having something that can win the match without requiring skill. Dan doesn't seem as bad as those losers who don't know how to play him, make him out to be. I have MORE complaints about this game as well. The graphics suck my balls in 9 different dimensions and from the point of view that can look at 3D design and tell if effort was really put into it and not from some noob who goes like "OH! 3D graphics are always better even though I don't know crap and that it takes alot more effort to make 2D graphics, but I'm too ignorant to realize that using a program like 3D studio max is easier than drawing something on paper and making sure that everything is proportioned to the character's size and image. Not to mention the backrounds kinda suck and aren't even that memorable The music is really... What IS that? Is that even FIGHTING music? The badass music in Street Fighter 2 was one of the reasons SF2 was so amazing! I played on Guile's stage and everything just comes out at you while that badass music just keeps on playing and you're feeling the spirit of a fighter or some shit. But THIS is a disgrace to what WAS Street Fighter. I could have made better music with just my bass guitar alone! The storyline is horrible, the voice acting is TERRIBLE and what makes it more flat out obvious is El Fuerte's. I mean, come on, you give the guy a gay introduction, a gay look, a gay voice, a kinda gay fighting style, now a gay storyline? Hasn't he suffered enough? They put too much crap into the Focus Attack though, it's sooo annoying trying to pull off combos based on focus attack dash cancel combos in order to create something worth some form of effort. Was Capcom thinking one day "Hm... Say! Let's take Street Fighter 4 and make it into the most mainstream fighting game ever!" and someone else was probably like "What about the gamers who have stuck with us through and through and actually care about the quality of gaming?" I guess that guy was probably fired... Anyhow, I have played many fighting games and really, I'm so disappointed with Street Fighter 4... You'd think with all the lack of everything else, the gameplay would have made up for it by a LOT. Not to be a "fanboy" or some bull, but King of Fighters 11 had WAY more characters than Street Fighter 4 and it could STILL remain more or just as balanced as SF4. Some newbies that made a game called Akatsuki Blitzkampf that has around 12 characters that is more balanced than SF4. Now, I know 12 characters isn't that much, however, this was their FIRST GAME. Capcom has made ALOT of Fighting games and they still can't keep it that balanced... Anyhow, I really think this game was just made to make money from any person who would play it and don't care about what gamers want as long as money gets into their wallet and everybody's favorite characters are overpowered. The only few upsides of this game is that if you play a character that doesn't suck, the game doesn't seem so unbalanced and even though the game does suck, it's fun. Expand
  3. Incredibly unbalanced mess of a game with characters so similar to each other, that there is no point in playing more than one. I regret buying it, since there are much better fighting games out there (Tekken and Mortal Kombat to name a few) Expand

See all 47 User Reviews

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