Monday 20 February 2012

Street Fighter x Tekken: An Unlikely Love Affair

Why this crossover of two fighting game titans proves to be a match made in Heaven.

Australia, February 19, 2012



Okay. I'll admit it. While I was excited about the prospect of a crossover between two of the most beloved fighting game franchises in the genre's history, I started to think about it a bit more logically after that initial excitement wore off. How could this possibly work? Tekken characters are supposed to fight in three dimensions! They also have dozens of moves and don't use projectile attacks. Surely this is going to feel a bit lopsided and weird, right? Thankfully, it turns out my initial postulations were dead wrong, as Street Fighter X Tekken is not only awesome, but it's also the biggest and most refreshing change up that either series has had in years.

As a self-confessed fanboy of the Street Fighter series, I can admit to a growing lack of interest in each new version of Street Fighter IV that has come out since the original version re-ignited the world's love for fighting games. Only offering a handful of new characters and a few balance changes, the newly-refined games were definitely something worth playing, but not something worth getting really excited for. This is set to change with Street Fighter X Tekken, as we've been playing it a lot over the last couple of weeks and we just can't get enough of it. Here are some of the reasons we love it so much.

Tekken Characters are Integrated Perfectly

It's true – Namco's characters have been integrated into Street Fighter's style of gameplay fantastically. Series favourites like Marshall Law, Nina Williams and Yoshimitsu are so well implemented, that it feels like they were always meant to be Street Fighter characters.

Fei Long who?

Okay, okay. Cool your jets, Tekken fans – I'm not trying to say that this is preferred way of playing with Tekken characters, but the way in which they have been carried them over from a completely different style of fighting game, with signature Tekken moves intact, and translated into two dimensions in a way that matches the feel and pace of a Street Fighter game, is a miracle.

The transition could have been disastrous, but instead these characters have been paid such high attention that they never feel like they've been shoe-horned into the Street Fighter play-style. They don't just feel like Street Fighter characters – they feel like some of the best characters the series has seen in years. After this game, I don't how I'll live without Capcom's version of Marshall Law as a standard Street Fighter character.

Gems Are Like Perks for Fighting Games

The new Gem System, which allows for players to choose a load-out of special attributes before a match, has been met with a fair bit of hostility among competitive fighting game purists. Believing that this new system will give certain players advantages in fights, fans were not happy at all.

Keep away from my jewellery collection!

While these Gems give your characters chosen special attributes, such as an auto-block function or an auto-throw escape ability that can be triggered under specific conditions in the middle of a fight, the idea that they create an unfair advantage couldn't be further from the truth. Every Street Fighter X Tekken player will have the opportunity to select a load-out that suits their style of play. Want your character to get a speed boost? Pick a few green Gems. Want more power in your attacks? Pick some red Gems. You can even mix and match colours if you want to cover all of your bases. Picking the right load-out for you is just like selecting the right perks in Call of Duty, or as Street Fighter series producer Yoshinori Ono recently put it a last year's New York Comic-Con, it's like "Street Fighter meets Magic the Gathering." We think adding a bit more strategy to the game will definitely pay off in the long run.

Endless Ultra Moves

In Street Fighter X Tekken, your ability to perform Ultra Combos is no longer completely dependent on having a fully-charged gauge. Players can now perform an Ultra Combo at any time by holding down the attack button and charging up a move. This might seem incredibly easy, but there is a risk/reward factor to performing your Ultra Combos this way. It takes a lot longer to pull a move off like this, which leaves you vulnerable for attack. You can still perform Ultra Combos the normal way, but it's just cool to know that you can always perform a devastating attack if you're out of other options. You'll just need to make sure your timing is spot-on.

Scramble Mode is Frantic Fun

Street Fighter X Tekken allows for four players to brawl simultaneously in what has to be the craziest form of battle the Street Fighter series has seen yet. Having four characters beating the tar out of each other can get very hectic, but not to the point of frustration. To us, Scramble Mode is as close to a Street Fighter game adopting a Smash Bros. style of gameplay as we're likely to ever see.

Kickin' ass in Scrambletown.

Poison is Incredibly Awesome

Ahh Poison, I don't care what anyone says about you. Whether you're supposed to be a girl or boy, it really doesn't matter. I'm old enough to understand that you are simply an illustration, and not a real person, so I have no problem in declaring you the most attractive female-formed character to ever appear in a Street Fighter game. Sorry Chunners.

We heart you, Poison.

Oh, and it also helps that Poison plays excellently. You will all find out soon enough when the game launches this March. Are you as excited about this game as we are? Let us know in the comments section!

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