Let's get something out of the way right off: We actually bought Commando 3: Wolf of the Battlefield to play it. The fact that the purchase also got us into the beta for the "HD remix" of Super Street Fighter II Turbo? Icing on the retro-remake cake.
We downloaded the SSFIITHDR beta just as soon as it went live yesterday and ... promptly had our 360s freeze up on us when we tried to set up a basic match. Not exactly a great first impression. But, it is a beta, after all. And certainly not the sort of marketing-driven "betas" we've become used to. This one is the real deal, bugs and all. But it's also a lot of fun once you get past them. (We have some tips on that, as well as our full thoughts on the beta, after the break.)
We downloaded the SSFIITHDR beta just as soon as it went live yesterday and ... promptly had our 360s freeze up on us when we tried to set up a basic match. Not exactly a great first impression. But, it is a beta, after all. And certainly not the sort of marketing-driven "betas" we've become used to. This one is the real deal, bugs and all. But it's also a lot of fun once you get past them. (We have some tips on that, as well as our full thoughts on the beta, after the break.)
Playing using the 360 controller wasn't going to happen. (Well, it did – the D-Pad just didn't cut it.) Nope, it was HORI arcade stick time. After remapping the controls, it was time to remix some other players' virtual faces.
Unfortunately, basic one-on-one "versus" matches, ranked or unranked, just don't work. Stay away from 'em. The options are there, but trying to either join or host (or sometimes even search) for a match of this type hard locks the 360. So, there's one bug we're sure Capcom has received, oh, a bazillion reports on.
Fortunately, the tournament mode (mostly) works, so that's where we've been spending our time. (And you should, too, unless you find resetting your 360 enjoyable.) The one thing we'd like to see fixed here is the fact that you can't watch other players' matches while you wait to compete in your next round. You can only see their life bars gradually deplete. Not exactly edge-of-your-seat spectating material.
Anyway, the fighting. The game's lead designer at Backbone Entertainment, Dave Sirlin, has talked about the importance of keeping the SSFIIT feel intact while remixing the graphics and sound. So far, our hats are off to him. The timing, combos, even the hit boxes ... everything feels spot-on. The beta defaults to 4:3 mode for authenticity; we switched to widescreen and found that there was a small adjustment period given the "zoomed in" view with larger characters and more scrolling.
It was a little jarring at first to see the characters themselves. Don't get us wrong; they look great, as do the backgrounds and effects. It's just that they're so sharp and nicely detailed that you'd expect them to be smoothly animated. That's not the case, though. To keep the game's timing intact, the number of animation frames has to be the same as in the original. So, no SFIII-style flowing karate ghis for Ken and Ryu (who we'll be extra good at controlling when the full game releases, since they're the only two characters in the beta).
We're hopeful the beta will serve its purpose: ironing out the network code's bugs. In the matches we could get into, everything was totally lag-free. It's just getting into a match that's an issue. That aside, it already plays leaps and bounds better than the embarrassing XBLA release of SFII: Hyper Fighting, all while looking smoking hot.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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But Bionic Commando: Rearmed is still on my Get List.
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slang man
...uh, no. There was nothing "embarassing" about it other than the online play being laggy here and there. And it least it doesn't freeze your system while trying to get an online game going.
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That, and they're tracing in high res over pixel art that doesn't look good to begin with. Compare SFII to SFIII (two games which run at the exact same resolution - yes, they do) and you can see why SFIII looks miles better than SFII HD Remix despite the latter being in HD, proving once again how little screen resolution actually matters.
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I'll repeat myself: resolution means absolutely zip when your animation is crappy. And NO games (besides other capcom fighters) even come close to SF3 in that regard (ESPECIALLY this HD trace over of an ancient game), hence SF3 looks better. Sharper edges do not a prettier game make. The end.
The only thing that looks like it might rival SF3 anytime soon may be the new KOF. Which I'm greatly looking forward to.
I'll repeat myself: resolution means absolutely zip when your animation is crappy. And NO games (besides other capcom fighters) even come close to SF3 in that regard (ESPECIALLY this HD trace over of an ancient game), hence SF3 looks better. Sharper edges do not a prettier game make. The end.
The only thing that looks like it might rival SF3 anytime soon may be the new KOF. Which I'm greatly looking forward to.
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Sirlin vs. cigarbob
Tons of fighters look better than 3s. That game was made in 1999. If you guys are all so concerned about animation just play GG, Arcana, the new KoF -- it's not like 3s was the end-all of animation.
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The only things that come close are some of Capcom's own fighters from around that era. People have forgotten how to do real awesome animation and instead focus on high res and all sorts of silly particle effects that have NO place in a 2D fighter.
All in all, it's buggy like the beta it is, but it's still fun and can't wait until the full version is released.
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The criticisms are still valid.
--Here's a tip: Kens Medium SRK can juggle with another Medium SRK. On top of that, you may just get a dizzy off of it, so that's pretty much your life bar. The solution to this is not to jump in on Ken randomly. It's been said that this has been removed from the final build, which is good, but look out for it because it seems like everyone knows how to use and abuse it in the current beta.
--Ryu's fake fireball can cancel into a medium to a super, which is fun and effective.
--If you join games with ping of +100, just leave and try again. That will eliminate popping and teleporting in the beta version. Some people just don't connect well with others and it seems random.
--If you are having issues with freezing, try sticking to tournament mode - it's the mode with the least reported issues of crashing.
Please remember to send feedback! People on the Capcom forums are VERY receptive to fan reactions and sentiments. If you like this game, but something is driving you batty about it, speak up! chances are, it'll be fixed
I was so pissed that the beta was so bugged, but the more I play the game, the happier I am with all the little nuances. Since finding out that the beta was for networking related bugs, I'm a little less pissed about the mildly wonky gameplay. Actually, it's growing on me a lot. I don't even think the graphics are all that hot, but the gameplay is awesome when it works, and I can't wait for the final build of the game. I want to say thanks to Joystiq for posting this up and showing some love for the fighting game scene, as I know to most gamers these days are having a hard time finding interest.
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Serious, wanna be cool, put a pink hat and go outside in the streets screaming "i'm freaking cool, and my brain is borked"
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