Product Description
-------------------
One of the most popular series in video game history
enters the PlayStation2 platform with Street Fighter EX3.
Building on the EX branch of the series, this game has all of the
old fighters you love (and love to hate) as well as the same
controls. What's new is that these characters are now dynamic 3-D
models working through a system of tag-team bouts. Try taking on
three of these studied fighters at the same time. If you do well,
one of them will choose to be your tag-team partner. You'll be
able to switch between the two fighters at will or work them
together in lethal dual combos. Also new to the series is the
game's Hard Attack--an indefensible blow that reduces the
competition.
.com
----
Given its immense popularity, not to mention first-rate
pedigree, it's not surprising that Street Fighter EX3 is among
the first PlayStation2 titles. After the relative success of the
first game for the original PlayStation (PSX) and the disaster of
the second, it'll be interesting to see how long-term fans of the
series take to yet another 3-D brawler with the Street Fighter
moniker. Even with classic characters--like Sagat, Blanka, Ken,
and (of course) Ryu--back to duke it out, this might be one horse
that's been beaten to death.
In Street Fighter EX3, players will be able to take advantage of
a new system that allows character sw at any time
throughout the battle. Not only will you be able to swap at will,
but your dynamic duo also will have double-teaming tag combos to
enhance an nent's agony. This means that gamers will face
three other nents, and have four incredibly detailed fighters
battling it out on screen at any one time in the ultimate
handicap match. Take them out, and one might ask to join as your
sidekick. Form a stable of four, and all of you can take your
turn kicking Bison's tail, as well as that of any of the other
famous Street Fighter characters in the game.
The control is predictable, but that's what fans want... nay,
crave. Super combos, dizzies, and a number of other ste Street
Fighter combos are here and look incredible. Lighting effects are
much more mature: the animated sparks fly, and the pyrotechnics
flame up all over the place. Character models have come a long
way since the days of the first blocky Street Fighter EX game.
Although they still lack necks, these brawlers are seamless and
well defined. Their victorious poses rival any graphics that
previously have been seen on a console.
Not everything is peaches 'n' cream with EX3, however. The
endings of the EX series always have been a bit lacking: all you
get in EX3 is a frozen frame with text; then, while the credits
roll, a little consolation prize: over 10 enemies onscreen at
once, all wanting to put the boots to you. This isn't the "true"
ending we'd hoped for, but it's a nice gesture (and it shows off
the system's power).
Capcom is doing everything it can to make Street Fighter EX3 the
fighting game of choice for the PlayStation2; but, with Namco's
Tekken Tag Tournament set to hit the market at the same time,
it'll be a tough sell. Still, this is a Street Fighter game, and
that alone justifies at least a play. --Todd Mowatt
Pros:
* Switch characters at any time during fighting
* Seamless and well-defined character models Cons:
* Predictable controls
* Lackluster ending
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Review
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Capcom's Street Fighter EX series, developed by Arika,
takes the standard Street Fighter 2D gameplay and throws it into
a 3D world, adding a few new characters and moves along the way.
The original Street Fighter EX fared pretty poorly in arcades,
but after a few revisions it found a greater audience at home on
the PlayStation. Street Fighter EX2 added a few new moves and
characters, but it never really made much of a splash in Japan (a
US PlayStation release of EX2 is scheduled for next month).
Street Fighter EX3 takes the gameplay and additional moves of
EX2, adds a tag-team element similar to that of Tekken Tag
Tournament or Capcom's own Marvel vs. Capcom, and drops it onto
the PlayStation2 for a quick and dirty fighting game that seems a
little rushed but still manages to be a lot of fun.
The game's main mode is original mode, where you'll pick one
character and dive right into a short but sweet fighting quest.
Your first match is against three competitors - all at the same
time. After winning this, or any, match in this mode, you'll be
asked if you'd like to recruit one of your nents. You can
recruit up to three partners as you progress through the
six-match quest, which comprises tag battles, team battles, and a
two-on-one match. Completing the final battle nets you a screen
full of Japanese text and the ending credits. The ending credits
serve as a sort of bonus stage, where your main fighter is put on
the screen with six or seven generic fighters whom you can beat
with only one or two hits. The game gives you an infinite combo
meter and keeps track of how many of the generic bad guys you can
knock out before the credits end. The other fighting modes in the
game let you set up tag battles, dramatic battles, team battles,
and four-player matches at will.
The game's other real bonus is the character edit mode, which is
an extention of the expert mode that appeared in EX1 and EX2.
Instead of having a set number of missions to complete with each
character, EX3 gives you Ace, a generic-looking fighter who looks
a bit more like a fighter out of the Rival Schools universe than
a Street Fighter. When you first start playing, Ace has no
special moves whatsoever - he is a completely blank slate. As you
complete the expert mode-like tasks (block all attacks, perform a
three-hit combo, execute a combo that does over 90 points of
damage, and the like), you earn experience points. You use these
points to buy Ace's special moves and super combos, which you'll
need to complete tasks later in the edit mode. Once you've beefed
up Ace, he'll be able to hold his own in the game's other modes.
While the character graphics used in EX3 look pretty amazing
when standing still, there are just too many problems with other
aspects of the visual presentation to warrant giving the game a
higher graphics score. For starters, certain portions of the game
are plagued by slowdown. Get more than two characters on the
screen at once and execute a special move with any sort of neat
visual effects, and the game starts to get choppy. Add a fourth
character to the display, and the game slows down even more. The
ending-credit sequence is horribly plagued by slowdown, also.
Another little problem is that the animation is the same as it
was in EX2. Granted, you can't exactly add lots of frames to all
the special moves and keep the game's timing as faithful to the
Street Fighter series as EX3 is, but now that the 3D Street
Fighters don't look all blocky and pixilated, the jerky animation
really stands out. Also worth mentioning is the appearance of
B.A. Baracus himself. Yes, what appears to be Mr. T's picture
adorns the walls of one of the arenas. It's a strange yet
heartwarming tribute to such a master thespian.
The audio portion of EX3 is packed with great effects, such as
deep, bassy whooshing noises that accompany super-combo fireballs
and the like. All of the hits and misses sound terrific, and the
character voices are nice and crystal clear. The music, however,
doesn't always fit the action. Also, in an annoying demonstration
of audio streaming, the music changes tunes on the fly when other
characters get tagged in, so you never listen to one song for
long - one track fades into another as soon as the action on the
screen dictates a change.
Street Fighter EX3 is the game that EX2 should have, and
probably would have, been, had this kind of hardware power been
available sooner. The tag-team fighting adds a nice new element
that the previous game totally lacked. EX3 may feel a bit rushed
in some spots, but overall it's a fun and great-looking fighting
game that won't disappoint longtime EX fans.--Jeff
Gerstmann--Copyright © 2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without
express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot
Review
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