Ultra Street Fighter IV Review

By Benjamin Kelly on 29/04/2024 21:51 UTC

2015 has been quite the year for beat-em-ups, it seems. We kick-started the year (pun wholeheartedly intended) with Dead or Alive 5 Last Round blasting onto next-gen, and just as pulses were beginning to settle (and blood returning to the rest of the body), along came Mortal Kombat X - which, despite some awful DLC decisions, turned out to be a solid, enjoyable, and well-balanced fighter. We've also had word that Guilty Gear Xrd is due to hit PlayStation 4 and XBox One within the next month or so, and it's looking likely that Tekken 7 will launch later this year, sliding in just before Street Fighter 5. That's quite the roster.

It was therefore clear that CAPCOM were not going to sit by idly. Except they actually have, leaving the port to Other Ocean Interactive, part of SCEA's Third Party Production Group.

Ultra Street Fighter IV was the 5th and final installment in the Street Fighter IV series, leading the way in for Street Fighter 5 in Spring 2016, and launched on PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 in early 2014. Containing a roster of 44 different playable characters, USF4 is by far the largest roster to date in any Street Fighter game, and possibly any fighter in general, and it added even more stages, costumes (all the DLC is included for free) and gameplay mechanics (such as Red Focus and the ability to have both Ultra Combos available simultaneously). Not sure what these all mean? Well, that kind of sums up most of what USF4 for PlayStation 4 is really about.

Unlike Street Fighter X Tekken, USF4 doesn't contain any form of tutorial, instead expecting the player to dive into a clunky digital manual and try and figure out how all the Revenge and Ultra gauges work, and that can be pretty damn confusing for anyone who's not used to Street Fighter games. USF4 is supposed to be the tournament standard version of the game, and the idea that it's "For the fighters" seems a pretty prevalent design strategy - everything is right there in a no-frills simple setup. Yes, there's no messing around with tutorials and fancy "Faction Wars" or thousands of extra pervy DLC costumes here, it's straight up fight VS the CPU, or fight VS other players (either locally or online). It's beat-em-up purity, pure and simple.

But how well have Other Ocean Interactive done in regards to reaching that Pro Tour Standard? At the time of writing, I can't really say much. Personally, I have had no issues with the game using the PlayStation 4 controller, or a Venom Arcade Stick other than some hefty input lag (the time difference between pressing a button and seeing the effect) - USF4 seems to clock in at around 8 frames of lag, whereas the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 versions were tighter at approximately 5 frames. This has never been a huge issue to me as it's just something I tend to adjust to personally, but for those looking to take the fight more seriously, it's a sizeable issue that whilst not breaking the game utterly, does need addressing. There are also plenty of videos and anecdotal stories of some graphical and gameplay bugs, but I've personally been unable to replicate any of these.

Regardless of any difficulties currently being experienced, it's hard to deny that USF4 looks pretty on the PlayStation 4. The unique art style looks stunning in full HD, and the animations are fluid and clear. It's vibrant, colourful and full of unique Street Fighter charm, with the PlayStation 4's processors doing a fantastic job of making every little detail (such as the stage backgrounds and combat effects) pop and sparkle; and underneath that sparkle is one of the tightest fighting games created by man - as you'd expect from the literal King of Fighters.

8.7

“The king of fighters returns, this time to next gen.”

It's a shame that the launch has been so spoiled by supposed bugs and input lag (embarassingly one of the main boasts of USF4 on PlayStation 4 was that it would clear up input lag issues), because Ultra Street Fighter IV is one of the brightest, most addictive of all fighting games, and for the currenltly very low price it's up for on the PlayStation Network Store, it's worth every penny, even with the aforementioned issues.
Story0%
Gameplay81.99999999999999%
Graphics94%