Street Fighter 4 review: NO STARS (bad fighting controls)

Hello,

Here is my review of Street Fighter 4.

Let's start by saying that I am not using the Windows Live crap.

Nor do I yet understand how to unlock the hidden characters ?!?

I have seen some of them in action in the benchmark option.

The menu's in this game are pretty much ****ed.

If you wanna exit the game fast or wanna abort a game... forget about that
you have to go through all the fricking menu's first.

The scenes/animations get annoying after a while when playing the game.

Fortunatelly those can be skipped through with escape otherwise I couldn't
bare it.

The main problem with this game for the PC is bad keyboard handling.

The complex move rarely succeed because of timing issue's.

Apperently the game uses some kind of millisecond timing which is almost
impossible for a human being with a 15 characters per second keyboard buffer
keyboard to pull off.

Maybe increasing the typing rate of the keyboard in the bios might improve
gameplay for this game but I doubt it.

The thing that sux most about this game is the "charge/wait" time. If there
is one thing I hate in life it's "waiting".

Why would my character have to wait to do a certain move ? Especially when
99.9% of the time it doesn't work.

That just sux.

I am not exactly sure what the problem is but it seems to be with the timing
and/or the keyboard buffer being full and/or the keyboard not responding
fast enough.

It almost seems designed on that on purpose but that would be a design
failure of the game...

I tried really hard to pull of some moves in the challenges section...

But even with all graphics on high to slow down the game I could not do some
complex moves...

This is a pretty clear indication that something is wrong with this game...
either that or they made it insanely hard.

It's a shame... since the rest of the game is quite good !

The graphics look good... the characters look pretty good... the sound is
pretty good.

Except the menu... and the keyboard handling... but maybe it's not even a
keyboard problem... maybe this game has a bad "fighting engine"

I have not given up hope on Street Fighter 4... I hope the developers will
fix these issue's and release a patch for it.

Or if it was by design I hope they add an option to turn this timing
bullshit off so I can concentrate more on my fighting strategy... then on
some quircky key combinations and timings.

I would have given this game a 4 out of 5 stars rating if it had good
fighting controls... but now it otherly lacks that...

I will probably continue playing this game some more... but maybe not
because what's the point with broken fighting controls ?

For a fighting game to have broken fighting controls deserves the ultimately
punishment and that's NO STARS.

So there ya go.

NO STARS for Street Fighter 4.

You can go ahead and call me a newb and keyboard-challenged... but I know a
broken a fighting-control when I see one.

I would prefer and recommend Mortal Kombat 1 which played just fine !

Also there is one more thing which puts this game (sf4) a bit too shame...
and that's the over the top special moves...

Especially with the fire and special effects thingies.... it's nice but
sometimes at the same time it gets in the way of the actually fighting...

So also here I would like to see an option in the game to turn off "magic
fighting moves"... or at least the over the top thingy...

Also the constant grabbing of me by the ai by some characters was kinda
****y but ok.

Recommendation for developers:

"Humans like to think ahead... and input controls ahead of the actual
action... stuff their commands in a queue list... and execute them if still
possible at the time of execution possibility".

^ Give it a try and see how it works out

(People thinking ahead to far get the risk of their actions being cancelled
by opponent who counters it )

Bye,
Skybuck.

That the fight controls are bad I am pretty sure that...

But besides from that I might be anti-pirate thingy... or maybe crack not
working well... but I doubt it.

It could also be a bug... or a keyboard impossibility:

I can't get this move to work in the challenges:

With chin-lu

http://www.capcom-unity.com/street_f...through_Thread

"
3: Focus Attack -> Crouching Heavy Punch -> Medium Spinning Bird Kick

Hold d+MP+MK at point-blank, but don't dash cancel this time. Continuing to
hold down, press HP as Dan's halfway to the ground and immediately cancel
with the u+MK to finish. This one's all timing.
"

Even after practicing it like 100 or 200 times or so...

There are also youtube video's showing other people have problems will all
these complex moves.

Rarely works the first time... usually multiple times needed... which makes
it ofcourse useless in the game itself because if it fails usually you ll be
vunerable for counter attack and then you ll get slaughtered by the opponent
ai !

Another thing that sux is not being able to safe progress without windows
live crap...

So if you don't have an internet connection then this game is not for you ?


Bye,
Skybuck.

Also,

I shutdown all other applications, and placed graphics on absolute low, and
1024x786... to see if that improved things...

But nope... controls pretty much keeping sucking...

Especially the bird move rarely works the first time I press the necessary
buttons because of timing issue's... (?!?)

(Waiting too long is not really an option because then you ll get
slaughtered... it should work as fast as possible really )

Even if I do wait the necessary two seconds then sometimes it still don't
work which makes it even more weird ?!

There is also no charge indicator...

If there was a charge indicator maybe it would be better.

But the fact that the charge indicator is missing could be a clue that this
game has bugs... and they the developers simply "discared" the charge
indicator to hide this fact from the player(s) ?!

Wow ^ Great conspiracy theory which just might be the thruth after all ?!

Even mugen has a charge indicator for the characters ?! (For example it
plays animations... or it plays a sound... also when leveling up... not that
I like that, charging up sux.).

Bye,
Skybuck.

Then there are also other annoying little things like:

1. Not being able to prevent being grabbed...

Even the ai itself has problems with being grabbed

Mortal Kombat had throws... but it wasn't easy to grab people as far as I
know...

2. Not being able to block while super move is on you...

It's an all or nothing situation...

Either you block before the super move begins... or you pretty much dead...

Again here is where Mortal Kombat is much better:

Example:

"While the enemy is pounding your face it's still possible to get a block in
eventually preventing further blood shed "

Not in street fighter 4 though... it feels more like watching an animation
play

3. Also like of interaction with moves:

If two moves of both players happen at the same time... then they rarely
cancel each other or interact with each other...

Mostly one will loose and the other will go straight through...

It's also impossible to kick or hit while being pounded on that's also kinda
weird and stupid.

I see no reason why two people could not grab on too each other and start
pounding at the same time lol.

4. Oh yeah now I remember what is also the problem with not being able to do
the combo's.

Doing combo's is great... there is nothing more beautifull then a long
fighting scene... but skillfully done though...

I find Street Fighter 4 lacking in this regard... I can't pound endlessly on
the enemies like in Mortal Kombat.

Example:

"Doing a couple of uppercuts on enemy and then some more headshots and kicks
feel rewarding in Mortal Kombat."

Not so in Street Fighter 4...

Most combo's like 3 or 4 hits... if you get lucky executing it properly...
and that's about it... you can be sure
the enemy will counter attack you after that...

5. What further sux in this game is the big damage that some moves do...
this means you will die pretty quickly... this is related to point 4.

If the game did less damage for every kick and hit... and wasn't so over the
top... then long action sequences wouldn't be a problem since you would
still have plenty of health afterwards.... just like in MK.

But now I street fighter... it's like bam bam and you dead... or enemy
dead... kinda sux.

I want to see a fighting game where I can hit the enemy like 100 ****ing
times non-stop thx to skillfull combinations of moves.
^ ok maybe a slight exagaration but you get the point

^ and then still being able to loose because opponent does same thing

Bye,
Skybuck.

Also final conclusion:

I never liked Street Fighter 2 that much because it was more or less the
same lame ****...

However Street Fighter 4 is a bit better than Street Fighter 2... when it
comes to the actual fighting... and ofcourse the graphics are waaaayyy
better... and the sound too...

So if you a fan of Street Fighter 2 then you definetly gonna like Street
Fighter 4

It has become a lot better... but it could have been so much more

Bye,
Skybuck =D

On Sun, 5 Jul 2009 15:35:12 +0200, "Skybuck Flying" <>
wrote:

>Also final conclusion:
>
>I never liked Street Fighter 2 that much because it was more or less the
>same lame ****...
>
>However Street Fighter 4 is a bit better than Street Fighter 2... when it
>comes to the actual fighting... and ofcourse the graphics are waaaayyy
>better... and the sound too...
>
>So if you a fan of Street Fighter 2 then you definetly gonna like Street
>Fighter 4
>
>It has become a lot better... but it could have been so much more

I was always a Tekken fan to be honest.

> Apperently the game uses some kind of millisecond timing which is almost
> impossible for a human being with a 15 characters per second keyboard buffer
> keyboard to pull off.
> Maybe increasing the typing rate of the keyboard in the bios might improve
> gameplay for this game but I doubt it.

You using cheap wireless keyboard? Get a wired one, a good one!

> Why would my character have to wait to do a certain move ? Especially when
> 99.9% of the time it doesn't work.
> That just sux.

It's called charging. It's the same in game center version of Street
Fighter EX 2(notably Guile)!

> But even with all graphics on high to slow down the game I could not do some
> complex moves...
> This is a pretty clear indication that something is wrong with this game...
> either that or they made it insanely hard.

Does the game have a manual listing all movies? Or are they the same
as game center version of Street Fighter 2 EX?

> You can go ahead and call me a newb and keyboard-challenged... but I know a
> broken a fighting-control when I see one.

I believe most real players use a console kind of joystick if not an
XBox360 controller.

--
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"Man-wai Chang to The Door (+MS=32B)" <> wrote in
message news:h2rv6s$mp4$...
>> Apperently the game uses some kind of millisecond timing which is almost
>> impossible for a human being with a 15 characters per second keyboard
>> buffer keyboard to pull off.
>> Maybe increasing the typing rate of the keyboard in the bios might
>> improve gameplay for this game but I doubt it.
>
> You using cheap wireless keyboard? Get a wired one, a good one!

Wireless keyboards are for newbs.

>> Why would my character have to wait to do a certain move ? Especially
>> when 99.9% of the time it doesn't work.
> > That just sux.
>
> It's called charging. It's the same in game center version of Street
> Fighter EX 2(notably Guile)!

Who gives a **** about that game.

>
>> But even with all graphics on high to slow down the game I could not do
>> some complex moves...
>> This is a pretty clear indication that something is wrong with this
>> game... either that or they made it insanely hard.
>
> Does the game have a manual listing all movies? Or are they the same
> as game center version of Street Fighter 2 EX?

I don't give a ****.

>
>> You can go ahead and call me a newb and keyboard-challenged... but I know
>> a broken a fighting-control when I see one.
>
> I believe most real players use a console kind of joystick if not an
> XBox360 controller.

Controllers are for newbs.

You obviously a newb ?

I tell you one more time what the problem is:

The problem is not with the keyboard.

I execute the necessary keys properly.

The character does react... but the timing is off and therefore it doesn't
do what it's supposed to do.

I gave two examples of this which I shall repeat here:

1. The bird move of chin-lu the china girl.

Instead of executing the bird move the character crouches and then jumps up
?!

2. The challenge with the black vapor trail, crouching, punching and doing
the bird move.

Granted keyboards can lock up a little bit...

But with keyboards I also have more fingers available to do more
things/moves.

I do not believe a controller will play any better than a keyboard.

Ultimately it doesn't matter because it seems this game has timing issue's
as I wrote before...

I also do not believe that buying a controller would solve this issue... I
really believe it's with the game/fighting engine itself.

And I hope it will be looked it... though I am already getting slightly
bored with this game because I mastered most moves of Chin-lu... or whatever
her name is... the only thing that could make me want to play a bit more is
getting the combo's working... and after that I will probably get bored with
it again.

The other characters don't interest me so much.... I like fighting with legs


But who knows... maybe I play some other characters in the future but don't
bet/count on it ?!

Bye,
Skybuck.

Ok somebody mentioned it's possible to save the progress...

It works like this:

1. Create new profile.

2. Create offline profile.

TATA !

Stupid microsoft ! :P* =D

Bye,
Skybuck.

I finally managed to pull off that difficult move.

Ii's like 1 millisecond accuracy or so which makes it pretty useless in a
real combat/fight situation ?!

Now I try to complete the trail so it's saved !

Bye,
Skybuck.