new kicks from the classics

Street Fighter X Tekken brings two faves into the next realm

In Street Fighter X Tekken, the joystick’s motions must be precise, and button-presses flawlessly timed.

The combos, cool and glitzy as they may be, must be executed at the most careful moments.

And you must always — always — be ready with your countermoves.

From Street Fighter to mortal Kombat to Tekken to Virtua Fighter, the arcade fighting video game has never been easy, a cold, hard fact of the genre.

But Capcom’s latest effort, Street Fighter X Tekken, changes that. The most ambitious arcade fighter in years wants to be a game that even your grandmother could love while still appealing to the hardcore fighting game fan.

The price of entry is steep; Capcom locks much of the game as downloadable content for later, meaning serious gamers will eventually wind up shelling out far more than the $59.99 price tag to enjoy all its content. But the core product is a solid effort; Street Fighter X Tekken marries the greatest 2-D fighter series in gaming history (Street Fighter) to a storied 3-D series (Tekken) in an effort that just about anyone can play.

“We considered this brand a new fighting game that was neither completely Street Fighter nor Tekken,” says Capcom producer yoshinori Ono. “I believe we were able to find a balance between a deep game that experienced players can enjoy, and an accessible game that new players can pick up without many barriers to entry.”

It’s a different kind of fighting game in a genre that’s long been about the same old thing. Fighting games hold mass appeal because they’re simple one-on-one affairs, great for playing with a few friends. But the button mashing tactics of relaxed college days rarely work against savvier players, and the rise of online battling has exposed that.

Ono admits that fighters have grown “more complex over time.” But, Street Fighter has consistently thrived since it hit arcades in 1987, spawning two movies and an anime TV series. And Capcom hopes to grab even more fans with this game.

“We definitely wanted to get more casual users to come and enjoy the game,” Ono says. Mission accomplished. Twenty-five years after that first game, Street Fighter X Tekken retains all the classic difficulty of its predecessors. You’ll need those careful joystick rotations to pull off Ryu’s trademark fireballs and to manage m. Bison’s trickier specials.

But this game still manages to be pick-up-and-play simple. Instead of leaving each fighter an individual set of moves, Capcom includes a handful of universal maneuvers that are simple to pull off. Simultaneously pressing a pair of buttons can execute these simple power moves, making the game so easy that your kid sister could hold her own.

The new specials are satisfying to pull off, too, which keeps newbies and vets alike interested. The Cross Rush move is especially appealing; both the fighters on your two-person team attack your opponent side by side, resulting in a furious combo when used correctly. Additionally, a systemof power-up “gems” allows you to simplify tougher moves, another mechanic designed with new fans in mind.

None of this can be abused. Ono says Capcom intends them to be only an entry point, drawing people into Street Fighter X Tekken with glitz. But eventually, the simple tactics give way to greater strategy; you’ll need to learn the counters and develop deeper strategies to survive, especially in online play.

Thankfully, Capcom does everything in its power to ensure that those deeper, more involved strategies are easy to pick up with an in-depth Training mode that’s better than anything we’ve ever seen in an arcade fighter. The Training mode walks you through everything from simple punching and kicking to throws to when and how to use the Hadouken, and while it’s a bit text-heavy for our tastes, it transforms you into a wellversed battler.

Add in the beautiful 2-D visuals and a large and varied cast of fighters that includes everyone from Street Fighter faves such as chun-li and guile to Tekken legends heihachi and Jack, and you have the most complete and accessible fighting game available.

It’s an arcade battler that every fighting game fan should own. And even if you’re not an arcade aficionado, it’s worth a try.

Reviewed on Xbox 360