Target acquired...

Very belatedly, at least compared to the rest of the world, I just acquired some new titles.  Specifically, with the announcement of Ultra Street Fighter IV and its release on Steam, I realized that I 1) already have a Steam account, and 2) quite handily meet the system specs, now that I put my new graphics card in last year, and 3) could get King of Fighters XIII on Steam too.

So, with mere hours left until the pre-order expired (so I could get the extra 2014 Challengers costume pack--the rest of the DLC packs were already included) I got Ultra Street Fighter IV on Steam.  I got to play it for a few hours before promptly going out of town for nearly two weeks and just got back late last night.  So really... just today I've been playing it.  It cost $30.  I also, for $30 got King of Fighters XIII, although my first impression is that I can't figure out how to play any kind of decent Single character play, which is a major disappointment, since I pretty much always play all of the KOF games that way.  And I talked myself into buying the Summer Vacation complete costume pack for USF4, which will probably be the very last DLC that I'll be tempted to buy (unless they come up with one that actually adds characters to the game.)  By coincidence, while out of town, I got to also spend several hours playing Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 with my brother-in-law for a while too.  Given the short time that I've had to play all of these titles, I'm giving only very early first impressions at this point.

Given that the game has been out in various slightly less evolved forms for a few years now, these first impressions are probably way too late to be of any interest to anyone but me.  But hey, it's my blog, and I'll talk about old news if I want to.

My initial impressions of the KOF title, the one I've played the least, is that it looks and feels pretty darn smooth.  If I can find a single player mode, it'll almost certainly be my favorite in the franchise, but if I can't, I'm not sure.  I do also appreciate the "back to basics" approach that the game sports.  The franchise is sometimes notorious for going off the rails into odd, overly technical gameplay that isn't likely to appeal to more casual fans like me (casual in the sense that I'm not really a very good technical player, that is.)

UMvC3, of course, also doesn't offer a single player mode (one of the several reasons that I've only been casual about this franchise... even relative to others in the genre.)  That said, the number of characters has been pared down, and most of the really silly ones have been eliminated (a few exceptions remain.)  I find myself especially happy to play the Marvel characters, whereas in its predecessor, I played a fair mix of Marvel and Capcom characters.  I also find that that makes the game feel just a tad more serious, when you're much less likely to see an awful lot of a "fighting attorney" or weird Megaman characters.  Some of the new additions, such as Thor, Hawkeye and others are a delightful addition to the game, and most of the costume colors end up being interesting Easter eggs, for those interested in exploring them.  I largely found that I was good with many of the same characters I had been good at in MvC2, although it wasn't as simple as picking up right where I left off.

One odd note: Mike Haggar makes his triumphant return to a Capcom game (and his first that I know of in a fighting game) here as well.  Although he'd be a better fit for a Street Fighter title, and because the character models already obviously exist, I'm a little bit surprised and disappointed that he wasn't added to the Ultra expansion to SF4.  Maybe the developers thought he treaded too much on Zangief's toes?

I've spent most of my time, however, with Ultra Street Fighter IV, and probably will continue to do so.  This game almost certainly will have a place at the very top of my list of best games in the genre.  Not only does it look and sound absolutely great, but it's got great back to basics gameplay, great balance, smooth play, great character selection, and basically has everything I could ever possibly want in a SF game.  SFA3 was my favorite in the series previously to this, as it had the best gameplay and the best presentation and the best character selection, but there were a few things that CvS2 did better.  USF4 beats them both in all possible metrics.

One interesting side effect of the presentation is that, while the characters do have their classic themes remixed for a modern sounding soundtrack (as well as new themes for the new characters) you don't actually hear them very often.  The BGM that normally plays is the one associated with the stage that you're on instead, which means that you don't get to hear much of the classic SF2 sounds updated for the 2010s.

I'm trying to think if there's anyone missing from the roster that I think should be on it, and I'm coming up blank.  Other than Mike Hagger, which I already mentioned, but that's more of a theoretical desire--I don't actually like playing grapplers all that much anyway.  All of the SF2 roster is here.  Most of the SFA3 roster.  Frankly, most of the SF3: Third Strike roster makes the cut by the time we get to the Ultra update.  There's a handful of new characters that are unique to SF4.  Most of them aren't that wonderful, in my opinion.  Perhaps the most interesting are, sadly, yet again shotokan variants; Gouken: Ryu and Ken's old master (who's supposed to be dead, but clearly isn't after all) and Oni, which is a new variant on the Shin Akuma idea; a more pumped up version of Akuma with a more variant movelist.  Decapre is a Cammy variant (so therefore, I suppose, steps on the toes of the Juli and Juni space).  I haven't really experimented much with El Fuerte, Rufus, Abel, Crimson Viper, Hakan, Seth, Poison or Juri--the other characters who are unique to the SF4 franchise.  I suspect only a few of them will stand the test to find themselves even half a memorable as the basic 12 characters of the original SF2 game (8 playable and 4 bosses.)

Anyway, no doubt I'll be posting a bit more about these games (especially USF4) over the next several weeks.  Needless to say, my somewhat slumbering love of the genre has lurched back to life now that I've acquired some new toys to play with...