Super Street Fighter IV Review PS3

Ah Street Fighter, the franchise that just never dies and continues to milk us to dry. Super Street Fighter IV comes approximately a year after Street Fighter IV reinvigorated an almost dead series that has had many failures in the past. Super Street Fighter IV adds more characters, a few new playing modes, and polished gameplay, but feels more like something that could have been packaged in a DLC for $19.99, rather than a $59.99 retail disc.

Super Street Fighter IV adds ten new characters to the already robust character list, bringing the total to thirty-five playable characters. The new characters are: T.Hawk, Deejay, Adon, Cody, Guy, Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto, Juri, and Hakan. Most characters like T.Hawk and Deejay are from other games in the series, while other characters such as Dudley are brand new.

In terms of gameplay, Super Street Fighter IV adds new gameplay elements, while leaving others the same. The last boss for Super Street Fighter IV is still Seth and Akuma. The game can be installed on the hard drive, which frees up a few seconds from loading the blu-ray disc. Game modes include the traditional Arcade, Sotry, and Training modes, while adding a few additional modes to online multiplayer. Online multiplayer consists of traditional ranked 1 on 1, Endless Battle, and Team Battle. Endless Battle is a continuous 1 on 1 battle rotating 8 players, while Team Battle is 8 players divided into 2 teams.

Super Street Fighter IV also adds a  Challenge mode, where players can play classic mini games such as the Car Crusher and Barrel Buster from the old 16bit era Street Fighter games. A replay theater has been added, where players can record and view replays of their own online battles or of other players.

Overall, Super Street Fighter IV is a solid improvement over its predecessor, but could have been added as DLC rather than a full retail disc. As a result, many players are disenfranchised since they purchased Street Fighter IV only to have it become obsolete within a little over a year. On the PS3, the player lobby for online matches is like a ghost town and will probably remain so until the price for the game drops down to a reasonable limit ($19.99). Super Street Fighter IV is definitely not worth a purchase for those that own Street Fighter IV, but might be worth a rental. For those that have never played Street Fighter IV, just pick up Street Fighter IV instead as the player lobbies are active still.