Video Game Review

The video game I am going to review is Super Street Fighter IV (SSFIV) the second instalment of the Street Fighter IV series. It is a fighting game created in 2010 by Capcom. It was solely made to be an updated version of Street Fighter IV but was seemed too large to be made as an “expansion pack” therefore created as a standalone title. It was released in April 2010 for the PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360 and has sold 1.9 million units worldwide, becoming most popular out of all the Street Fighter IV series.

Gameplay: In Super Street Fighter IV you can select a number of characters to play as your avatar or “fighter”. The characters in the game are rendered as 3D models and use,Though Street Fighter IV is still a 2D fighting game, in this edition it is produced using 3D graphics technology so that the visual effects are very magnificent. The movements of martial arts, especially the combos are perfectly shown through animation. It makes the fighting more pleasant and smooth.

The core gameplay revolves around 1 on 1 action, where the player tries best his opponent by utilising punches, kicks, combos and special moves as well as more powerful EX moves, Super Combos and Ultra Combos. The gameplay does not just revolve around knowing the characters it also focuses on building up the super meter, reading your opponents movements the space on which you can apply a move.

For each fight it contains a vitality gauge (health bar), super combo gauge and revenge gauge. The vitality gauge is for recording the health of the characters, the other gauges is for building up momentum for the characters to perform a special move (Super and Ultra Combo), the remainder of the gauge can be used in the next round of the fight whereas the revenge gauge is cleared.

The Narrative of the game and characters is nothing major in terms of storytelling as fighting games usually focus on the visual and gameplay aspects of the game, however games such as Mortal Kombat, Injustice and Tekken has showed that fighting games are able to develop good storytelling with bit of depth.

The game is unclear on what time period it is set but chronologically meant to be set between Street Fighter 2 and Street Fighter 3. The fight is usually set in various stages which are sometimes random or picked by the player. It varies in location such as in an airfield in Cameroon to a jungle in Brazil to a temple in Thailand and many more. The architecture in the game is not in-depth due to the main focus of the game is the gameplay.

The goal of the game is to defeat your opponent either being the CPU or another player or going through the arcade (story mode) defeat every opponent until the final boss.
The game rewards you in a variety of ways, for instance you get different colour costumes for the fighters the more you use the characters, get titles and emblems for hitting certain objectives such as “Perform 50 super combos”.

There are quite a few rules of this game is that the first fighter to defeat their opponent in two rounds is declared the victor. The rounds set can be changed according to the player but the rounds are default at 3. In a single round you are set a time 99 seconds by default on the time counter. Reduce your opponent’s vitality gauge to 0 before the time expires to score KO victory. If time runs out the player with the most vitality remaining is declared the winner.
A draw may occur when either fighter’s health reduce to 0 simultaneously or their remaining vitality is the same as the opponent when the time expires. 

SSFIV have 8 different difficulty levels from (Easiest to Hardest) when fighting against the CPU as opponents. Depending on the players skill level in this game, the easiest difficulty can be a walk in the park with having no damage against them whereas the hardest difficulty can be near enough impossible for most players.

The game has no inventory to store apart from costumes which is naturally occurring when playing more games with that character, otherwise no inventory needed as all the moves and abilities needed are already embedded in the game.

The game is very balanced as each character have their strengths and weaknesses, and can win and be defeated by an opponent who may have a skill level that are equal or better to yours.
SSFIV is comparable to most fighting games in this genre, the most likely comparison is Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The similarities is that they both use the same fighting aesthetics and mechanics in the game. They are also popular 2D fighting games with the same layout and score system.

The game is a 2D fighter with 3D characters and backgrounds, whilst the camera can move in 3D if activating a specific move in fights for effect. It uses a unique art style that looks like a hand drawn look with visual effects of paint strokes, ink smudges and ink sprays during fights. The architecture within the game is very limited as you can only see the background in a 2D view, which are seen as cartoony although it does suit the games theme which is very non-photorealistic rendering (hand drawn effect).

There are 36 characters to choose from in this game. One fighter that is commonly found throughout all the street fighter games, named Ryu who is seen as the protagonist within the game and most popular. He can perform various moves that are similar to other characters within the game but may perform differently for instance, Ryu’s move “Shoryuken” has a different visual graphic in comparison to Ken’s “Shoryuken”, one is blue flames whilst the other is red flame, respectively.

The terrain within this video game varies from each stage you select to fight in for example, if you’re fighting in Amazon rainforest the terrain in that game is going to be damp, whereas rail yard stage in Siberia will be snowy and slippery for the fighters. The objects in the game are used as background more than physical objects that the character can use or interact with in the game.

Overall the game is very good in terms of being a competitive fighting game with all the mechanics and aesthetics in order. However the game can become very repetitive and addictive, as players may put in hours of training to become the best player in street fighter or good enough to defeat the hardest difficulty. 

Game Structure

When Designing the rules and the mechanics of gameplay everything needs to be considered and information needs to be passed on to programmers on how different parts interact and how the overall flow of the game happens. 
A flowchart is used to clearly structure the design of the game and show how it works.

Players Actions

There are two different types of player actions done in video games. First of all, there are the action that the player can do when controlling a character/object within the game, the movements are usually more advanced than just walking left and right, there are jumping, crouching, sprinting, punching, and kicking and so on. The other type, is how the character(s) are controlled via a game controller. For instance, if you analyse two different games such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Super Mario, you will clearly notice the difference in movements and how you will apply certain actions. In Super Mario, the actions used are very basic, where the most advanced action is sprinting where two buttons have to be pressed down simultaneously. Whereas, in GTA you can fly, drive, swim, shoot and more within the game. This shows a development in Video Game character actions.

There are numerous ways in which the gamer can control the characters in the game. A few examples are; a gamepad, a joystick, a steering wheel and motion sensors. The gamepad can be connected to the video game console wired or wireless, it enables gamers to have easy control over the video game as multiple buttons can be pressed to perform different actions and movements. Motion Sensor in video games is a new take on how a video game can be controlled as they can control or perform actions with the use of their body movements, a device such as the “Kinect” used with the XBOX 360 and ONE consoles, has a inbuilt camera in the Kinect device which detect the players physical movements and translate them to inputs in the game.

Interaction Models

Interaction model is the way that the player is controlled and represented within a game and how the player interacts with the world in the game. There are two different types of interaction models. These include Avatar Interaction and Omnipresence Interaction.

Avatar interaction model are used in video games when the player’s only interaction in the game is through an avatar within the game, which is normally through the character or characters in the video game. First Person and Third Person video games usually use this model as a base to create their game.The Uncharted series is a prime example of using the avatar interaction model as you are usually playing as the protagonist (Nathan Drake) and you are controlling his actions such jumping, running etc., also navigating the game world through the protagonist and engaging in the obstacles that you may be facing during the game. Developers use this model specifically to make players more attached to the characters and become more involved and immersed in the game.

Omnipresence interaction model is usually associated of having control over the character(s) inside the video game and certain game world features such buildings etc. Game genres which use this kind of gameplay are that of Strategy and Simulation games. A good example that use this interaction model is the Sims series. They allow players to have full control of each character and what activity they might be doing whilst making building and architecture such as rollercoasters and theme parks to improve the city in the game. People like this type of game as is it let them be creative and unique, also create their own little world.

Goals, Challenges and Rewards

Goals within a game is usually the objective that the player have to complete in order progress along the game. There can be multiple goals that the player has to achieve to go on to next level, which are usually associated as mini objectives that the player to do such as collect x amount of items. Optional objectives are similar to side missions, where it’s not necessary to complete in order to complete the overall game but it’s beneficial as they allow the player to gain access to more items, shortcuts, currency etc. Games that usually have this type of objectives are adventure games. Uncharted is a prime example of different types of objectives to complete as you may be asked to find a specific artefact to get a reward.

Challenges are similar to mini objectives as they are a pathway to lead to a Main objective. The length of challenge may vary within games, for instance a short term challenge can be a “kill X”, where x can be an enemy, a medium challenge may be, is “collect X amount of items”, where it may take a few minutes to collect the items that might be scattered around the game world, and a long challenge could be get 100% on all challenges. A game that includes all different types of challenges is Assassins Creed, as they feature a kill mission, collect a certain amount of “packages” and 100% on all Sync(s).

Rewards are usually collected after a certain of challenge or mission has been completed successfully. The reward can vary from currency to increasing a certain attribute. This is common within games as it helps the player improve and carry on further in the game. It also gives the player an incentive for them to play more and complete the game. Game developers have realised that not having this feature will make the game boring and repetitive as players may think that all they are doing is just doing missions without any purpose.

Mechanics

There are 3 main types of mechanics which are; Inventory, Scoring and Winning Condition.

Inventory in video games usually players to store and carry items freely along with them throughout the journey of the game. A number of games have different capacities on how much they can store items, for instance in Call of Duty, you are limited to carry two different weapons and grenades. The items you pick up or buy in the game is usually stored in some kind of “bag”, where it can be stored and scrolled through for later use.

Scoring is usually a point system within the game to see how much you have gained throughout the game and/or level. There are different types of scoring system such as Exp. points, Killstreak, Goals/Points (Sports) etc. This is usually a record of how well you are doing in that specific game and how much you need to go on to the next level, for instance to level up in Battlefield you have to get X amount Experience points to go on to the next level which usually gained by playing different types of games modes.

Win Condition within games is usually calculated by the amount of points or health the each battling team have, it can also be determined by how far you have progressed within the game for example when you complete a story mode in Mortal Kombat after you defeat the Final Boss, it will end with a short cut scene finishing with a screen stating “You Win”. However within that final battle you have another win condition where it will say “Finish Him!” or “Excellent”, ”Perfect” if playing Street Fighter, stating that you have won.

Rules and Addiction

Rules are placed within video games for the player to understand on what and what not to in the game for the character to progress within the game without getting killed for instance. It also set boundaries in the game so that the player can’t cheat in a game or alter the game on how it’s played so they gain an advantage over someone who is playing the game within the rules of the game. Games such as Call of Duty is often hacked by people who want to gain a significant advantage in the game by coming invincible or having unlimited ammunition which is not allowed and usually monitored and banned by the games administrator. Game developers put in these certain rules and regulation in the game so the game is balanced and fun to play in single player and multiplayer.

When players become hooked to the game they become Addicted, as it is very unhealthy can have a negative impact on the mind and body of the gamer. Gamers are usually become addicted due to being too immersed in the game as its realism make the gamer feel that their in the game world, also the fact that the game have unreal features that the gamer may not be able to do in real life such as flying, shoot guns, deal drugs etc. Competition within video games can also make the player attached to the game as they believe that playing more will make them better and beat everyone they face. Video Game developer may purposely make the game addictive as they want their game to be the most played video and more popular in comparison to the competition.