Street Fighter IV to get free Championship Mode update

I got Street Fighter IV about 9 hours ago, and I've played it for 8 today. I've unlocked all of the characters bar Seth (who's a cheap bastard anyway), and have played over 50 online matches. Click here to read my epic SFIV acquisition story.

Anyway, what's the verdict? It's f*cking sensational; a must purchase for anyone even remotely interested in beat-em-ups. It's really nothing short of a revival of the 2D fighting genre. No, there's not really anything ground-breaking about it - there's not a whole lot new about the gameplay at all. But it's polished, improved and it's rock solid. It's a perfect blend of tried and tested mechanics and new-age technology. I honestly don't think I've been this ecstatic about a new console game purchase since I was a kid.

Praise aside, there is one single thing that really, really bugs me. And that's the lobby system. Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix brought a marvelous system into the picture, with 6 player round-robin lobbies where the winner plays on. It also enabled an online tournament system with a single-elimination structure for up to 8 people. Well, SFIV lacks any of that, and has reverted back to a clunky 2 player lobby system, distancing friends from each other and making it inconvenient to organise player matches with any longevity. Playing the same person for 50 rounds leads to frustration and boredom, and having to find a new player to invite every few matches leads to exactly the same thing.

Thankfully, it seems Capcom are somewhat on the ball here. We're still going to have to wait a few days for it, but a Championship Mode will be downloadable for free on your console's online marketplace enabling tournament-like play online...

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Street Fighter IV's Championship Mode Expansion Pack will include:
- Replay Mode - Record, upload, and download top matches to share with the Street Fighter IV community. Players can analyze top tiered fighters matches, leave voter feedback for others, and share their own triumphant victories.

- New Points System - Two new points systems to measure your skill (Championship and Tournament Points)

- Enhanced Tournament Matching System - Skill level matching system offers improved tournament match making for beginners and mid-level players. Competitors earn Grade Points (GP) to earn entry into more advanced tournaments.

Weekly updates entailing downloadable custume updates will also be taking place, Capcom tell us. All of this has been available to Japan since SFIV's release, but the word on the grape-vine is that this Friday it will hit Europe, and supposedly the rest of the world, too. Better late than never!

Kotaku has written up a good review on the game...

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When I interviewed Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono last year about the game, I was on the Street Fighter wagon. Fight club free for more years than I could remember.

Despite a heavy addiction to the game back in the Street Fighter II days, the growing complexity of the franchise, the increased focus on combos over tactics had lost me. And I wasn't the only one. Ono told me that this was a game meant to win me and people like me back.

Did it?

Loved
Controls: It only takes a moment with the game, a decent stick in hand, to know that this is a Street Fighter returned to its roots. A game more about tactics and timing than combos and flash. The finesse of Street Fighter is what drew me to the franchise and what has mostly certainly brought me back.

Art: The chunky, hand-drawn look of the characters gliding back and forth across a 3D background is initially stunning. Once you've grown use to this new look of the game you'll start to notice the little things, like the spray of ink during some special attacks and the full glory of Ultra Combos.

Old Characters: The cast of returning characters for this latest fighter is a nice mix of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha characters, perfect for the audience Capcom is trying to win back to the franchise.

New Characters: While most of Street Fighter IV's new characters are a bit too King of Fighters for my taste, they do offer up a nice selection of new moves and fighting styles to a game that for some leans too heavily on tradition.

Intriguing Story: Initially off-putting, the snippets of story for each character served up before and after you complete the game in arcade mode is a nice touch. Taken alone, they don't really make much sense, but as you beat the game with different characters, things start to come a bit more into focus

Difficulty Spread: Already a top notch fighter, it's good to see that Capcom hasn't forgotten about the entry level players, offering up seven difficulty setting for single player gaming

Online Multiplayer: So far my time spent with the game online has been glitch free. I've had no trouble finding people to play against and no lag in matches. The lack of lag is the key, of course, to making this a game worth buying, not just renting.

Hated
Before and After Cartoons: While I slowly grew to like the animated cut-scenes that kick-off and wrap-up the arcade mode for each character, the art style falls flat compared to the rest of the game.

Seth: The final boss for any game needs to deliver, not just in punishing attacks, but in design and style. Unfortunately, Seth is a wreck, a surprisingly generic character made up of cheap attacks and fatal flaws. Defeating him is often more about pinning him down with fast attacks or lobbing off lucky heavy strikes, than it is about tactics and timing.

Character Unlocking: It's bad enough that Street Fighter IV requires you to unlock more than a third of the playable characters, but to make you beat Seth each time to do it is a painful and frequent reminder of the game's poorly designed character.

Despite a reborn addiction to Street Fighter, my love of this new game isn't without some reservations. Seth, the sloppy cut-scenes and unlockable characters aside, I wish more was done to make this game, when played online, feel like an arcade experience. While the online play has so far been trouble free for me, it still feels very much like the isolated, lonely experience it is. We need rooms to watch bouts in and chat while we wait to play. Maybe a digital quarter to slap on a table for next game.

When played with a top fighting stick, Street Fighter IV is a game that delivers on all of it's promises. It returns the franchise to the days of glory, bringing with it's change in tactics an intense new look that highlights the best of the fighting franchises. Can you play it with a standard controller? Sure, it handles as well as any fighter does with a controller, but personally I can't play Street Fighter that way.

Street Fighter IV was developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released on February 17, for $60. Played arcade mode on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 to completion with seven characters, played multiple versus mode, and network battle sessions. Completed several challenges.

Game Reviews - Kotaku

Either of you know how to get voice working for the ps3 version in this game? Some say just have the mic turned on before you load it up, but my friend and I just cant manage to do it. Any ideas?