Street Fighter Alpha 2It may not be anything new, but who cares? |
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It seems like every year Capcom releases a new and improved version of Street
Fighter. Fortunately, each upgrade does manage to sport enough new characters and
enhancements to please the majority of fighting fans.
With Street Fighter Alpha
2, the tradition continues and we now see three new characters, Gen, Rolento, and
Sakura, and the return of two classics, Dahlsim and Zangief. Capcom has always
been pretty good with their character designs, and this game is no different. Gen
is the old, wise kung-fu master, Rolento, a Vietnam commando, comes originally
from the Final Fight series, and Sakura is a cute schoolgirl with attacks
resembling her hero, Ryu.
Gameplay is standard fare with six attack buttons; three dedicated to punches of
various strengths and the others for kicking attacks. The combo system is pretty
much the same as the first Alpha game, but with one major exception: Capcom has
decided to remove the cheesy chain-combos and replace it with an even cheesier
custom system. When your Super Combo Gauge reaches at least level one, you can
execute a custom combo, combining any punches, kicks, or special moves that you
want to, into a mega energy draining attack.
As far as arcade conversions go, this is near perfect. The backgrounds and character
animations are only missing a few frames and the classic arcade soundtrack is
fully intact. Strangely enough, the main fault in the game doesn't fall on the
actual game, but on the PlayStation controller, which makes executing special
moves very difficult. I would suggest picking up one of the available joysticks,
which will have you throwing fireballs with the best of them.
Aside from that one small point, Street Fighter Alpha 2 will surely please fans of
the genre and will keep them busy until Capcom releases the long overdue Street
Fighter 3.
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