Is this one crossover too far?
Both the Street Fighter and Tekken franchises have flourished in past generations and while Street Fighter went on to be successful this generation with SF IV, Tekken went a bit downhill with Tekken 6. I was a bit concerned when I heard about the crossover of the two fighting giants, but could I be wrong?
Well, the story goes along the lines of Pandora’s Box landing in Antarctica and the fighters of both series’ trying to get to it by fighting each other on the journey. The art style of the new Street Fighter games does very well here in bringing the story, however shallow to life. The fighting style combines the 2D levels of Street Fighter while adding in massive combos and team switches like Tekken Tag Tournament.
If you’ve played past Tekken games, you’ll be a little annoyed that you can’t fight in 3D but it’s a design choice that ends up benefiting both franchises, it’s the best of both worlds in the end and while the modes are slim in choices besides arcade, multiplayer and missions, they each have hundreds of hours worth of replayability. While I can’t claim to be a great fighter in the arena of combat games like these, I can still kick arse from time to time.
The controls are simplified for newcomers and veterans alike, although the new Gem system does give an unfair advantage to players with Pre-order and DLC bonuses, essentially the gems give you boosts to your damage, speed and so on, so be prepared to have a bigger fight on your hands when it comes to playing online. Luckily, lag is minimal and online play is still as fun as it has been in past games, providing the host doesn’t leave the game before it’s over.
In terms of visuals, Street Fighter X Tekken looks very much like Street Fighter IV, but even though that game came out a while back, it still holds up in this generation very well, it doesn’t look dated in the slightest and the art style really suits the Tekken fighters for those who worried. The music is a mixture of Techno for Tekken fans, but the sound effects seem to have a bit of lag during online play, sometimes you won’t even hear the noises for landing critical blows against your rival, I hope it gets fixed at some point.
The Verdict
Street Fighter X Tekken is actually a decent combination of two fighting games, bringing the cream of the crop from both to make one addictive and competitive fighter, while it doesn’t add much new to the table, it’s still worth picking up even if you are suffering from fighting fatigue…
