Super Street Fighter IV (Sniper)
Genre: 2d Fighter
Developer: Capcom/DIMPS
Publisher: Capcom

Graphics
Street Fighter IV's art style was so revolutionary, 3d yet so incredibly rich and detailed, that everyone's wish was to see more and more characters adapted to this new look. Fortunately, Capcom and DIMPS have delivered, adding some fan favorites and brand new characters, while maintaining the standard of quality that the first game set. Even the stage art, a weakness from the first title, has been greatly improved, what with several very impressive new boards.

Sound
The deliberately outrageous English voice acting of the first game is complimented by outstanding selections for the new characters. The soundtrack of the first title was somewhat of a weakness given the excellence of the game in every other area, and while the song selections for the new stages are a slight improvement in quality and are generally good, they still fail to match the selections from earlier titles in the series.

Gameplay
Outside of the occasionally too-forgiving motion detection, the water-tight engine design and sublime balance of the first title is maintained, even with the addition of new characters and a second, selectable ultra combo for each character, including the carry-overs from Street Fighter IV. It was difficult to find fault with Street Fighter IV's gameplay engine, and nothing has changed with this iteration.

Overall
Many fighters that have approached or exceeded thirty playable characters, including previous titles in the series such as Street Fighter Alpha 3, felt watered down and like they were using the character quantity solely as a superficial marketing ploy. This is not the case with Super Street Fighter IV-- the new characters, stages, and bonus rounds make the game feel more complete and comprehensive.

Sniper's verdict: