Capcom and Iron Galaxy Studios have brought the classic 2D fighter, Street Fighter III: Third Strike, to the Xbox 360. With a grand total of 20 playable characters, Street Fighter III: Third Strike is considered to be the deepest fighting game of all time by many hardcore fans. Never reaching the same popularity that Street Fighter II did with the mainstream crowds, Street Fighter III: Third Strike continues to make appearances in competitions around the world, such as Evo, due to its diverse gameplay. Let’s take a deeper look at what makes this game worth your time.
Gameplay
If you have followed my reviews before, you’ll notice that I have completely skipped the story line section for Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition. That’s because it is a fighting game in the truest sense of the word. Sure, there are individual story lines involved, which you will see as you finish the game with each character. But, the draw to Street Fighter III: Third Strike is its fighting mechanics, not its deep story line. So, I have skipped the story section so I can get right into the goodies, the gameplay.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike is easily the most technical and deepest version of the Street Fighter collection, and that includes the current Super Street Fighter IV. It took exact timing and practice to master the move list of Street Fighter III: Third Strike, especially the new parry system that was introduced to this version. The parry system was a high risk-high reward way to defend yourself and then set up a nasty combo to hit your opponent with. In order to parry, you had to tap forward or down depending on the direction of the enemy’s attack. Even super moves were capable of being parried, but your timing had to be perfect.
The roster consists of 20 playable characters from the beginning, but only Chun Li, Ryu and Ken are recognizable from Street Fighter II. We are introduced to future Street Fighter IV staples, Makoto, Ibuki and Dudley in this version, but the lack of recognizable characters at that time could have contributed to the lack of attention that was given to Street Fighter III: Third Strike in the arcades. With 20 characters, you have a vast array of different types of fighting styles to choose from, from the standard Ryu fighting set, to the bizarre fighting styles of Necro and Twelve.
This edition of Street Fighter III: Third Strike brings the gameplay of the original game right to the Xbox 360. With this dedication to bring you the original gameplay, comes with the balancing issue that the arcade edition had. Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition has it’s tiers of characters, and many of the top tier characters, such as Chun Li, are just extremely unbalanced and deadly in the right hands.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition has a lot of different additions to offer players. There is a very robust training option, including parry training, that will help get new players up to speed. There is also a combo trainer for each of the characters to try and learn some critical combos before playing other players. Unfortunately, learning these combos can be difficult due to the fact that the combo trainer does not show you the timing of each combo, nor is it easy to even see the button sequence necessary to pull of the combo. But really, this edition is all about the online play, which is flawless for the most part when you can find an opponent. I would wait in que for several minutes looking for a ranked match online. Once I finally found one, the match was smooth and fluid, without lag.
Aesthetics:
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition is a direct port of the original game that first saw action twelve years ago. The graphics for this edition were not redone in high definition at all. The characters are bright and larger then life and the backgrounds are well done, but it does show it’s age in comparison to other games such as Street Fighter IV and the new Mortal Kombat. Even though the graphics are twelve years old, the overall aesthetics of Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition looks great. But I have been a fan of the original, so I may be seeing this through rose tinted glasses. I understand the graphics aren’t up to date, but the aesthetics of the game are still pleasing to the eye.
The sounds of the game, again, are right from the original arcade version – even down to the music. I always had an issue with the rap song and the announcer that they had for Third Strike, mostly just because I found it annoying, but maybe I’m becoming more tolerable in my old age because I didn’t find it as annoying this time around. Still, the music does sound like the late 1990’s, so I guess it fits.
Overall:
Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition is a perfect port of the original arcade game directly to your Xbox 360. For anyone that is looking for the deepest fighting game ever made, this is it. With a system of super moves, parries, juggle combos, and ex-moves, Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition has all the right moves for any hardcore fighting game fanatic. The downside to this is that many casual fighting enthusiasts maybe scared off by the complexity of the controls and gameplay of Street Fighter III: Third Strike. The game is as good looking as it was in 1999, just don’t compare it to Super Street Fighter IV visually and you’ll be fine. Online matches, if you can find one, are very fluid and lag free for the most part. Just be patient in finding opponents at this time. This is a must purchase for any fan of the series of Street Fighter games – especially for gamers looking for a challenging game to master.
