Wipe the tears of nostalgia, the Street Fighter king is back, now on PC.

In 1991, the arcades were still steeped in atmosphere and dark rooms feature reminiscent, to those who would come, that there would have been possible to escape from reality for a few minutes, immersed in a world of colorful and awkwardly animated sprites. That year, however, few could imagine that Capcom was going to write a chapter in the history of video games. Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior swooped into the body of some coin-op as a bolt from the blue and rubbed immediately of the title that still holds firmly, that of the most famous fighting game ever. Wipe the tears of nostalgia, the king is back, now also on PC.

Old favorites, new samples

All fans of videogames will know very well what kind of game is Street Fighter. Considering the desert of securities generally present on PC, refresh ideas: the title is a Capcom fighting game to meet old school, where two wrestlers fighting in a two-dimensional environment with the goal of lowering the bar as quickly as possible d ' energy opponent. While this kind console has continued to live through prominent members such as Tekken and Dead or Alive that have evolved in three dimensions, the panorama pc for some reason has never been so rich. Street Fighter IV, then, comes at last to fill a void that seemed insurmountable for many old fans and was released for this platform is even more important than the console.

As announced by Capcom being developed and established in the first coin-op for sale in Japan and then on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the fourth installment in the series has attempted a difficult road, but won his bet: to revive the feats of magic episode 1991 and restructured to make it current even eighteen years later. A work by artisans purposes, as true historians of gaming that we say, has succeeded perfectly.

Do not be fooled by the pictures, Street Fighter IV, although these three-dimensional models of quality, maintains a core two-dimensional. This means that the wrestlers move only on the vertical and horizontal, without the ability to go deep, reinventing the same gameplay that made the series great.

To establish the success of the Return of the King, however, had to be dusted off even the historical characters that all have learned to love and hate. An element not just, as the charisma of these true icons, whose importance was taken immediately by Capcom. Here then return directly from SF2, in better shape than ever, Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, Guile, Zangief, Honda, Blanka, Dalshim, Balrog, Sagat, Vega, Bison, while the later Akuma, Gouken, Gen, Sakura, Rose, Fei Long, Dan and Cammy. Four new entries are: Abel, a mysterious French boy who lost his memory, Crimson Viper, a fascinating detective, El Fuerte, a cook with an agility out of the ordinary, and then Rufus, a fat American lover of kung -Fu.

The cast, in short, should satisfy all tastes, from those nostalgic for those looking for a new fighter when empathy.

It seems obvious to say it, but it is important to stress that each character has barely changed his fighting style, so you can find all the special moves with which battered the coin-op many years ago. The movements required for execution are always the same: half-moons, backward-forward, punching or kicking down repeating combinations are now in the collective imagination of gaming revenue and that, incredibly, are beautifully present even after so long.

You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance

Street Fighter IV, like its predecessors, is a video game extremely malleable, which proves both immediate as deep and complex, if it is studied in depth. As per tradition, the player can count on six shots "base": weak punch, medium punch, punch, and the three high fees for kicks. Learn how to choose the power of the punch or kick depending on the game situation is not very difficult and with a minimum of practice the results are more than adequate. To be truly competitive, especially in fighting online is crucial to understand how to dominate the new special techniques studied by Capcom.

We start introducing original and probably most importantly, the "Focus Attack." Executable by simultaneously pressing medium punch and kick, this attack to be effective must be loaded a couple of seconds, during which all the blows of our opponent will be absorbed. This means that while we will not stop the animation hit the Focus, but our energy bar will decrease temporarily, then regenerate when the technique was going to sign. This move is extremely important because it allows first to launch a counterattack in any situation and can momentarily stun the enemy, making them vulnerable to other shocks or devastating combos.

At the bottom of the screen are two indicators, one horizontal for the "Super" and "EX" and a move for the "Ultra". Both bars are filled during a second round of shots taken or received, except that one of the "Ultra" is canceled and the other between rounds.

The bar of the "Super" is divided into four parts: If fully loaded can run a scaled-down version of the "Ultra Combo" that we shall see, while it is sufficient if it is filled at least one portion for shooting an "EX" or a more powerful variant of the typical special moves such as the Shoryuken.
The "Ultra" combos are the most powerful, effective and spectacular you can count on. Run will not be easy, but it will be even less guess the exact moment to harvest them. There are some characters, like Akuma, who own Ultra can literally halve the energy bar of the enemy, ideally changing the fortunes of the match. Master this shot requires great skill and cunning, but the enormous satisfaction in seeing them go so close to the mark and maybe a fight is one of the qualities that make great little Street Fighter IV a great game.

The possibilities offered by the tactical gameplay are endless. You will be players that you do the fighter, not the character itself. Know by heart rather than any peculiarity of Ryu Abel takes time, dedication and practice but the only way to capture the true essence of the series, here revived so superfine. The game is also why a title from the extraordinary longevity. In addition to the proposed conditions, ranging from classic arcade to meetings at until survival tests, interest in the game is guaranteed by the usual characterization, which makes every encounter a new meeting to be addressed always in a different way.

All well and good so far, but this whole spectacle would be useless without an adequate monitoring system. So what's the most suitable device to master gameplay so special? Here the matter is simple: Given that using the keyboard is a bit 'like playing a football title with your mouse, you get decent results already with a good joypad, such as the Xbox 360 so to speak. For those who want to bring out the most out Capcom's masterpiece, however, it is compulsory to purchase an arcade stick. In the market there are different types (also compatible Xbox 360 - Pc) at varying prices. For the review has been used a mid-range stick (cost around € 60) which proved to be a good compromise and has provided a response to input more immediate and convincing. It's up to you to consider the possible purchase of course also to the potential interest based on the game long term.

A new challenger has entered the ring!

Remember when one of your friends entered the 500-lire coin in the same box on which he was playing and get this message? Well, you'll be happy to know that it was reintroduced today to introduce an online battle. During the arcade mode, in fact, you can decide whether to be interrupted at any time for a quick match. Within seconds we will be transported to the waiting room and the battle starts.

The online mode will soon become, needless to say, the focus of the game against human opponents faced, both in friendly matches scheduled, is the true essence of Street Fighter IV, as was the coin-op shoulder to shoulder. Fortunately the quality of the net-code is guaranteed by a frame rate, choose the correct configuration for our car, do not ever fall below 60fps.
Minimum requirements in terms of hardware should be taken with the tongs, because we need to have a recent enough to enjoy the game as it should, but there are several possibilities for customization. Working on resolution, level of detail in backgrounds and personalities, antialiasing and other technical trappings you get the right (and indispensable) smoothly even on very far from the recommended configurations.

Certainly the best way to enjoy the show and see all cleaning of the models and members of Ryu, the style with which they are brushed and the extraordinary animations: Technically, in fact, Capcom is working fine and if pushed to even higher resolutions than this we've seen on Xbox 360 and PS3, quite a good result in this direction.

Also on the front of the sound traditions were respected. Some brand new theme is there, but an attentive ear from time to time will recognize the melodies of Street figther 2 to accompany some stage.

To sum this is an excellent product from all points of view must for all fans of the series and fighting in general, extraordinary for anyone looking for a good game, fun and rewarding than ever. Round One ... Fight!

Summary

The release of a new episode of Street Fighter on the PC is already in itself an exceptional event, those who bring happiness to the nostalgic and the fans of the genre that for years have been a dry mouth, envious of the owners of the console. But everyone should rush to buy Street Fighter IV, because it is a masterpiece, a game fun and rewarding, an ancient-styled fighting a modern and current, using a number of choices of design wins. The king is back, even on PC, not leave it away for no reason.