Nintendo 3DS launch games
We rate the first batch
Review
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
A faithful port of the Xbox 360/PS3 original, SSF IV is the most comprehensive 3DS launch title. It's also one of the best looking.
All the console features are retained, from Arcade and Challenge Mode to Internet Match and the fully-customisable Training Mode. And the full roster of 35 fighters squeezes into the handheld unscathed.
The 3D effects impresses in both the traditional side-on view and the new over-the-shoulder Dynamic View, although framerates drop slightly with 3D turned up to the max. As mentioned in Reg Hardware's 3DS hardware review, SSF IV's backgrounds are disappointingly static, raising early questions over the 3DS' processing power. Despite this, the depth effect of crisply-animated fighters overlaid upon four or five distinct parallaxing layers is breathtaking.
Online multiplayer is surprisingly impressive, with almost instantaneous connection and pairing, and zero lag. Even with the 3DS available only in Japan, I always found a match. It was during several bouts online, however, that the 3DS' design flaws were most apparent. Dragon punches and fireballs roll of the analogue Circle Pad with ease, but the + pad remains better suited for general movement in the 2D plane. Unfortunately, its low placement coupled with the proximity of the face buttons with the right-shoulder bumper locked my thumbs into stressful positions, and I was unable to play comfortably for more than ten minutes at a time.
The fatigue wasn't restricted to my thumbs alone. Despite the wealth of content, the novelty of 3D and the excellent online performance, SS FIV is recommended only to new entrants to the series. After longing for the definitive portable version, just a few hours playing SSF IV on the compact 3DS made me yearn for the luxuries of an arcade stick and an HDTV.
Reg Rating 75%
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COMMENTS
Realism
Forget the 3d...have they got the *ahem*..."bounce" correct in Street Fighter?
@ Simon King
I don't know if the thumbs is for my post, or the 3DS, or the iOS version with no buttons... Perhaps you're a fanboi who can't see fault with iOS devices and think that any version on an iPhone is better than any version created ever cos it's magical and revolutionary
But actually, in part, yes - do additional buttons, real or not, provide something better than the iOS version delivers?
Does the new stick thing or D-pad on the 3DS work better than the iPhone screen? They'd provide more feedback because you would know it was being pushed and the character would be doing something, rather than mashing at the screen with sausage thumbs like I do and get annoyed when Ryu's not chucking out a fireball across my iPhone screen cos my thumb's momentarily in the wrong place.
Perhaps the graphics are better, but I doubt it looking at the 3DS screen shots.
There's loads of extra characters in the 3DS version, so does that add to replayability over the iOS version?
Loads of different fighting backgrounds. How is the bottom screen used? What different, and I assume more, game modes are there... Bear in mind that the comparison is between a version of a game designed to be played on a gaming system, not a version of a game to be played on a phone that also plays games.
All of these things add up to value-for-money. All these things considered, is it 10 times better than the iOS version? If it isn't 10 times better then parents like me should perhaps think of getting an iPod for a Christmas present for our fledglings instead of the latest mobile gaming hardware
really...
just not interested in overpriced games that look like something from the arc now.
if i want an experience where i lose myself i fire up killzone 3 and the move/sharpshooter. pity my tv isnt 3d. i bet that game would be even better in 3d. oh well, nothing a few magic cigarettes cant make me feel anyway :)
Lighting effects
The Lego Starwars game makes extensive use of lighing effects and this makes for a really engadging graphics style - As the little (and they are little), light sabres fly around, the glow they impart is dynamically rendered on all objects in the scene - particulary impressive when the guy with four arms is around!
