
So, as part of my real job, I was lucky enough to get invited over to Capcom HQ in London to play some Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5. What a hardship eh?
So last Friday, I got the 7.30 train to London Kings Cross. I like the train, as long as you can get a seat.. Perfect time to read Watchmen, listen to my Walkman and drink coffee - which is preceisely what I did.
Rolled up to Capcom in Hammersmith at lunchtime, and was promptly taken to a downstairs room, where the sight of not one but two gorgeous Taito Viewlix cabinets greeted me. Few seconds later, Street Fighter IV was up and running, and I was all set!
Played the arcade machines for a good few hours, and despite having already been lucky enough to play it in Tokyo in September last year, I still found myself totally sucked in. It's just that damn good. The flow, the character, the feel, it's just classic Street Fighter.
The new characters aren't bad either, with Abel and Crimson Viper offering some different styles for the SF series. El Fuerte looks like he'll have the ability to really frustrate and confuse people in VS matches, but he could take a serious bit of practice before you'll get the hang of him - lots of running around and linked leaps and throws. VERY different from the other characters in the game.
Afterwards I got to to try my hand on the Xbox 360 port of the game, and I;'m pleased to report it's pretty much arcade perfect. Additional modes are present, as well as a heap of extra characters including Sakura, Dan, Cammy, etc, but you have to unlock these in the game itself before you can use them.
It's already my game of the year. And yeah, it WAS one of my games of last year, but that was the arcade, and this year is the console version. It deserves multiple awards, plaudits and as much love as I can give it.
Resident Evil 5 I'd already played a chunk of thanks to the Japanese demo on 360, but it was still nice to see the opening section and see how the action begins to unfold. I WON'T spoil it for my non-readers, but I think it's safe to say if you're a fan of RE4, then 5 is going to blow you away!
I didn't go away empty handed either - nabbed myself a nice little Street Fighter IV promo box with a Chun Li figure, move cards for the characters and a Street Fighter IV USB memory stick! Score!