Written by: Bodhruj Jaman;
Date: Friday, May 30th, 2008;
Filed under: Reviews;
Tagged with: arcade, dragon ball z, fighting games, Playstation 3, PS3, soul calibur, street fighter, tekken, video games.
Comments:

This years PS3 releases look likely to be dominated by the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 , GTA IV and Resistance 2 . But, with the fast approaching burst of fighting games to be released pretty soon, maybe they will gather up more and more hype over time. that’s why I’m conducting an early Battle of the Beat-Em-Ups.

Yes, you guessed it. In this post I’m going to do a mini review on each game, maunly based on past released and also gossip and news of features to be included in the future releases.

Street Fighter IV

The Street Fighter Franchise has fought through the generations to become the most popular and prized games in every real gamers collection. Every game had that charm, defying to change it’s ways, change with the advances of graphics in their competitors (mainly Tekken).

But, this year, Capcom have made a huge comeback after years of only anniversary editions and re-releases. This time they’re back with souped up graphics, but they are also sticking to that pixelly fel that I have always loved. The game is set to include more than a few characters, and, although thetre isn’t so much hype around the title now, as we draw closer to the preorder stage (tommorow I think), we are sure to have a few rumours, sell-outs and other aspects associated with the pre-release period of a massive game. Street Fighter is very likely to dominate the battle, but lets just see how that goes.

Tekken 6

Tekken has always been my favourite fighting game. The raw combat and the terrible music always pulls me in (although I feel like giving up when I lose). It always brings out the best worst in those people who go a little bit too far if you catch my drift.

I think another reason why it may do very well is because it is more of a young game. Some may even argue that it is at the same level as Street Fighter in that it has had a huge impact in arcades all over the world (or what’s left of them). The first release was on the PlayStation 1 (my second/third console (can’t remember)), and I remember getting Tekken, Tomb Raider and Lemmings when I first got it.

PS1 was definitely (in my day) the dominant console, and Tekken was probably the dominant fighting game, as a lot of gamers back then didn’t realise what a gem Street Fighter was until it totally disappeared. Tekken began to take over the world of Fighting games, and that’s where the story began.

tekken has always boasted great graphics no matter what platform it is on, so will Capcom’s desire to ‘catch up’ be their very demise?

Soul Calibur IV

This game is sort of a branch off Tekken, and is a weapon based fighting game. I have onluy played it a couple of times, and thouroughly enjoyed it every time. The controls are remarkably simple and the gameplay is much like Tekken. Actually, it is just Tekken, with weapons. Again, this game ooooozes charm and luxury, as well as a lot of novelty. Soul Calibur IV is set to include Darth Vader as a character.

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit

I was not originally going to include this, but, in this post, I realised that DBZ is actually a real competitor in this fight. To check out my thoughts in more detail, check out my post Dragon Ball Z - a future Street Fighter/Tekken threat?.

Basically, I think that the byopunger generation of gamers are more attracted to DBZ than Tekken or SF like us oldies. I also think that if DBZ was released in the arcades, it would blow up.