When I first heard of Capcom bringing one of the oldest game franchise, Street Fighter, back into life by introducing Street Fighter 4, I could not stop worrying about them trashing the whole series. It's not that I think Capcom lost their touches. I still think they're more than capable of making great fighting games. What worried me was that they decided to bring the game from 2D space to 3D space.
I'm not sure if you've ever seen 3D games created by Capcom before, but they... weren't all that good. Well, they had some notable successes, but that 3D Street Fighter game, which I don't even care to remember the title? That was just sad. Graphic was simple, chunky, and downright ugly, animation was stiff and slow, all the special moves and effects didn't cut it.
That's the kind of feeling I had when started watching the above movie, but at the moment they showed the play video, all worries vaporized. The graphic was very stylized; it kinda deviates from normal Japanese trend--Thank God!! And animation was fast, yet fluent, and powerful. It looks tight and solid all around. Fighting moves, while not as realistic as Namco's famous fighting games, look so appropriate for that game. It's both cartoony, stylized, and, probably more importantly, believable.
Now I realize how I was dwelling in the past. I still remember reading "Great 2D trumps poor 3D" way back in the past. Maybe if I haven't played that game, I wouldn't have worried about the new SF4 game.
Long live fighting games!!
