Capcom Fighting Evolution

THE BAD:
-No online play
-graphically outdated
-balancing issues
-poor lineup of characters (they're all about the same, but there are alot!)

SUMMARY:
Mixing an odd assortment of characters that will prove both familiar and unfamiliar, Capcom Fighting Evolution is a veritable buffet of old-school fighting mayhem. Taking characters from Street Fighter II, III, Alpha, along with Darkstalkers and the obscure late '90s fighter, Red Earth, the game has 20 different fighters. It’s an interesting throwback to simpler times in the gaming industry -- in both positive and negative ways.

You choose two characters from any of the games as a sort of tag team, but the game’s team up action is far more primitive than Capcom’s over-the-top champs like Marvel vs. Capcom. You can select a character to use for the next match, but you can’t call in your buddy for help or switch during a match, making the team action seem somewhat pointless.

Even odder is the sheer difference in the look of the characters. Red Earth and SF III were Capcom’s much belated attempts at high-resolution characters, and it’s strange to see the mix of older characters, exactly as they were in their original game, fighting the more recent, graphically advanced fighters. The end result is that newer characters look much more detailed, and all the characters seem strangely pasted onto the backgrounds. All of this ends up giving the game an incredibly dated look and feel.

For diehard fans, this flaw could actually be seen as a nostalgic kick, but for anyone else, in the face of games like the Guilty Gear series, the Street Fighter series is woefully out of date from a technological perspective. Thankfully, the gameplay has always been solid. Street Fighter II set the pace for all fighters to come, and while the series hasn’t changed much fundamentally over the last 15 years, it has continued to evolve enough to make it worthy of playing to this day.


Capcom Fighting Evolution has generally solid gameplay going for it. If you still like 2D fighters and want something new, CFE’s variety of characters and smooth gameplay are commendable. In fact, fans who remember the old games will find the gameplay exactly as they remember. However, since the characters act exactly as they did in their original game, balance issues abound. Alpha characters have alpha counters and Street Fighter III warriors have multiple super moves, and the Red Earth characters are completely outrageous. One of the most notable characters is Red Earth’s giant dinosaur, which is a hulking fighter who seems distinctly out of place next to Ryu, Guile, Zangief, Chun Li, and M. Bison; Alpha’s Guy, Sakura, and Rose; and Darkstalker’s Demitri, Felicia, and Anakaris.

Even stranger is the snail-like fighter, Hydron, although Red Earth’s other included characters are more traditional. Kenji is a standard ninja-type guy, and Leo looks like the Thundercat that time forgot. It’s an eclectic bunch to say the least, but with four characters taken from each game, CFE has a questionable line-up that fans will likely find plenty of fault with.

Whether or not Capcom Fighting Evolution is a worthy purchase is based entirely on your affinity for Capcom’s line of 2D fighters. One inarguable omission in the PS2 version, however, is the lack of online playability. Though it seems likely the Xbox version will sport Xbox Live playability, PS2 owners are left squarely in the dust.

Capcom Fighting Evolution does exactly what it advertises. It brings together a variety of different fighters; each with slightly different fighting and gameplay styles to essentially create a sampler for the company’s many takes on the genre. This isn’t a bad game, but just the same, the audience is certain to be limited to gamers who are still fans of the Capcom legacy. Anyone else will likely be left wondering why the company hasn’t simply moved on to either create something entirely new, or merely up the technology ante on the Street Fighter series and create a truly worthy new beginning for the franchise