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The Lowdown
Pros: Eclectic blend of characters with many different fighting styles
Cons: A sub par port of an otherwise dated, but good fighting game
 Purchase
at Play-Asia
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Even though Capcom has a lion's share of franchises, the Street Fighter
franchise is still one of it's biggest. Street Fighter 2 was a smash hit
and people patiently waited through five different versions for Street
Fighter 3. Yet, they still didn't get SF3, instead Capcom released the
prequel Street Fighter Alpha. Fans once again waited and waited and
finally the third Street Fighter was created. Console gamers that have a
Dreamcast had the luxury of receiving a quick port of the series.
Although, many followers of the series didn't have a Dreamcast.
Patiently, they waited for a home version of Street Fighter 3 on a
system with a wider audience like the Playstation. Finally, four years
after the Dreamcast release and five years after the game's arcade
release 2D fighting fans are getting their wish.Street Fighter 3:
Third Impact Fight for the Future is actually the third and arguably the
best version of Street Fighter 3. The character roster is higher and
there are a couple of extra moves added in compared to the other
versions of SF3. The diverse character roster is one of the defining
elements that makes Street Fighter 3 a great fighting game. Familiar
favorites like Ryu, Ken, Gouki (Akuma) and Chun Li are all in the game.
Then there are the new characters such as the gentleman boxer Dudley,
the female ninja Ibuki, the alien creature Twelve and the two dragons
Yang and Yun. The new characters defiantly make Street Fighter 3: Third
Strike a fighter where every can find their own character. Traditional
Street Fighter fanatics will like the classic characters and the
newcomers Alex and Sean. Twelve's style of fighting is somewhat like a
cross between Shuma-Gorath from Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Dhalsim. Twelve
can throw his limbs out for distance attacks. Remy, another newcomer,
has a lot of similarities to the classic fighter Guile. He can throw
projectiles by using the charge back then press forward and a punch
button move. He also has a kick that is the looks a lot like the flash
kick. All in all the 19 character roster manages to balance many
different fighting styles and many different styles of play.
Unlike previous Capcom titles (Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK 2)
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike plays much slower than these games. There
are no character switches, air combos or partner attacks. It goes for
the more traditional one on one approach, that Street Fighter 2 made so
popular. Each character only has a couple of special moves and their
basic attacks to worry about. One new feature in the SF series is
allowing players to press one, two or three buttons to boost a special
move's damage for the cost of some of their super meter. Imagine the
possibilities, you can shoot a slow fireball (light punch) then follow up
with a three kick hurricane kick to do some serious damage. This system
encourages players to perfect and master a few moves rather than memorize
a large set of moves players rarely use. Street Fighter 3 also lets
players select which super move they want to use before the match
begins. This allows players to have another small element of
customization.
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike has all of the balances and a few
gameplay tweaks after three versions of SF3. Some of the new additions
include a leaping attack that you can do by pressing medium punch and
medium kick. This lets players do a short leap, which will dodge most
low attacks and counter with a punch. SF3: Third Strike also adds in
what Capcom claims is the most accurate 2D collision system to date.
Does the collision system work well? Yep, I managed to hit Elena with
Yun's spinning hat taunt, where the hat barely grazed her face. The
other main addition is the letter grade system to score you in how well
you fared in a fight. The system calculates the score based on how well
you blocked, combo length and how many super moves you've pulled off.
The Street Fighter series is born on Capcom's simple control mantra,
which the PS2 controller doesn't handle that well. Six button fighters
just don't work as well on the standard PS2 controller as they do an
arcade stick. Using the shoulder buttons effectively, is one of the
biggest learning curves in the game. Doing a three button attack would
be hard to execute if Capcom didn't add in extra buttons that press
three punches or three kicks.
The presentation of Street Fighter 3 is the other lacking element.
Yes, the game is almost five years old so you can't really expect it to
have the polish of a brand spanking new Playstation 2 title. Instead you
can just hope for an "arcade perfect" port of the game. Street Fighter
3: Third Strike didn't exactly come out arcade perfect. You have blocky
sprites, color washed out backgrounds and 16 bit "glowing" effects. The
game could have used some more graphical polish instead of just reusing
the Dreamcast port. The music in SF3 is the same level of quality. It's
a blend of lounge hip hop and jazz, which is unique for a fighting game.
Presentation problems aside Street Fighter 3: Third Strike has enough
characters to master and enough two player versus fun to keep you busy
for awhile.
Most of the game's menus are in English, including the game mode and
character select. The special move menu is in Japanese, though. All of
the comments and character endings are in Japanese.
US Bound?
Gamers in North America are lucky because they are getting a package
containing Street Fighter 3: Third Strike with Hyper Street Fighter 2
called Street Fighter Anniversary Edition.
Overall
Even though it may be dated Street Fighter 3: Third Strike is a solid addition
to a gamer's collection. It represents one of the better 2D fighters to
around.
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