Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

THE BAD:
Err... learning to parry effectively rather than fluking it and getting used to the new characters.

SUMMARY:
Ok, so I wasn't a hardcore 2D fighter fan until I came to Neoseeker, and even then, I have not had the money to have played anywhere near enough SNK fighters than I wanted to. SFII was becoming boring (other than the Alpha series) and I needed something new. When I heard about SFIII, I saw some footage and laughed, as it looked to play exactly the same as SFII to me. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Yeah, its still got dragon punches and hurricane kicks, but the game has more features to learn, and it is these features that have made SFIII more strategic to play.

For example, hitting > (if you're facing right) if it is a high attack, or hitting \/ if it a low attack as your opponents attack is just about to hit you allows you to parry the move. You may be asking what is so special about parrying a move... well it pretty much makes your opponent whiff his/her attack. As they have to go through the recovery animation, your free to attack them senseless. Great fun. Most may recognise this fighting system as being "P-Groove" in Capcom vs SNK 2.

Some of the new characters (new as in since SFII, not since Double Impact) are a nice blend of classic SFII characters, though others are more or less carbon copies of them. Take Remy for example. While he may look and fight differently to Guile, he still has priority with most of his standard moves, he has a far reach with his kicks and he throws booms and does flashes. Think of it as a good thing though.

One thing you'll notice is how awesome the game looks. While the sprites may not be to the standard of the sprites featured in Guilty Gear X, they still look wonderful, and it is refreshing to see the classic shotokan fighters in a new light.

The music is awesome too. The game does not feature one track per stage, but rather one track which has been remixed for the second round on the same level, and remixed yet again for the third round of the same level. While some question the point in this, playing the game and experiencing the subtle way the music makes you feel more tense is awesome. Most of the tracks are dancy/techno/drum and bass.

To wrap it up, if you're a comfortable SFII fighter, you'll feel right at home with SFIII: 3S. Enough has changed to make this a deserving sequel that lives up to its predecessor.

If you have a Dreamcast and are a fan of 2D fighters, go out and buy this game. If you own this game, go post in the 3S forum.