Niall O’Colmain reviews Capcom’s latest crossover fighting game…
Niall O’Colmain
Staff Writer
The storyline in Street Fighter X Tekken is appropriately ludicrous, as should be expected from the meeting of two games where one allows for a tiny Asian school girl and a giant Russian wrestler to duel with spinning fists and fireballs, and the other boasts a block of wood getting into a boxing match with a kangaroo. The race for the magical macguffin, a meteorite known as “Pandora’s Box”, is very loosely tied into the tag team brawl of SFxT, with the names of M Bison’s and Heihachi Mishima’s corporations dropped as the sole explanation for the unlikely crossover – this, as one might imagine, leaves the single player campaigns somewhat lacking.
But the story doesn’t matter one wit, since all that one could want from this crossover is present – fan-favorite characters, over-the-top super moves, and satisfying, fast-paced combat. The opportunity to have a bear and Russian wrestler working together (along with the answers to the arguments of youth of who would win in a fight between the main character from my game against the main character from yours) certainly put this game in a good spot to begin with. Combine this with the fighting style allowed by the game, which in itself is a combination of the execution-heavy and precise Street Fighter franchise along with the frantic pacing and ease-of-use of the Marvel vs Capcom series, allowing users to choose how to play and fight to their own stylish tune, and you have an amazing game at its core. Want to do tons of damage? Sinking time into the harder combos certainly pays off. Want to only play once in a while, but still be able to see decent rewards? The game doesn’t shy away from letting a few well-placed blows in the right place lead to a victory.
One would worry that the six-button layout of the Street Fighter series would cause issue to the Tekken characters’ four-button style, but the game is smoothly put together, and, after a brief while of sitting down with the game, players of either game should feel fairly at home with their own franchise’s staple characters. As a final cherry on top, the game features a “Scramble Mode”: two teams of two people fighting each other at the same time, leading to some of the best frantic fun since Super Smash Brothers: Brawl.
There is a cloud to this silver lining, however. The game boasts a “gem” system to augment characters on reaching certain in match, and while these bonuses are certainly interesting for customising and adjusting your favorites to suit your play style, the problem lies with the fact that there are DLC gems which may be acquired for a fee, most, if not all, of which render the normal gems totally obsolete. For example, there exists a damage boost gem which grants 30% bonus damage at the cost of going into something known as “Pandora Mode”. “Pandora Mode” is a special circumstantial mode which can only be triggered by sacrificing a team mate whose health is at 25% or lower. In return you gain a boost in health and infinite super meter (called “Cross Gauge” in SFxT). The drawback of this mode is you only have 10 seconds to win, or you lose by time out. In the DLC pack, there is a 30% damage boost gem, which is active for ten seconds, activated by hitting two “launcher” moves. Giving up a character hardly seems fair by comparison, as it requires you to put yourself in a very dangerous situation. This is on top of the version differences (the PS3 version has multiple bonus characters that the Xbox counterpart will not receive) and the DLC characters that are coming later this year.
For some, having a further 60 quid of announced DLC be present before the game dropped might be enough to turn them away. For others, the game itself being as fun as it is might be enough for them to simply choose to ignore the DLC and enjoy themselves with their friends. The game itself is another strong contribution from Capcom’s skilled team of fighting game creators, and anyone with a passing interest should see if they can get a little time in with the game. If you’re not absolutely enthralled by the premise though, it may not be for you.
