Review:
Street
Fighter EX was co-produced by Capcom and Arika (who still owns the
rights to some of the characters), and was the first title in the series to
feature 3D graphics. An upgraded version was released about 4 months after the
original arcade version entitled Street Fighter EX Plus which
auto-unlocked the time release characters and also made Garuda & M. Bison
playable, and later came a PlayStation exclusive home version known as Street
Fighter EX Plus Alpha which added Evil
Ryu, an alternate version of Hokuto known as "Bloody
Hokuto," and two cyborgs: Cycloid β and Cycloid γ.
Even though EX features 3D graphics, the gameplay remains on a 2D plane
like all of the prequels. Special and super moves are also done in the same
fashion, using a three-tiered Super Gauge. EX did offer some unique
gameplay elements like Super Cancels (for longer and more devastating combos)
and Guard Breaks which makes the receiving character dizzy for a brief moment,
leaving them susceptible to a super move or combo.
SF:EX undoubtedly
had awesome artwork.
Street Fighter EX of course brought Capcom's trademark 2D fighting
game franchise into 3D for the first time ever. While it was interesting to see some of the classic
characters finally in " 3D form," the overall gameplay didn't
live up to it's 2D counterpart, and neither did the graphics...
The blocky
character models and grainy textures really didn't do the Street Fighter
characters the justice they deserve, and for some Street Fighter
fans; it was a rather depressing sight to see some of our favorite fighting
game characters turned into "block monsters"... .
Now that that's out of the way, I can talk about the positive aspects of
the game. For starters, the animation in the game wasn't bad for the time and the artwork
(done by one of my favorite artists, Edayan) is definitely top stuff!
SF:EX did bring some interesting new faces to the series, each showing off some
uniquely entertaining special and super moves, but unfortunately many of the basic
priority attacks are shared among ALL characters; bringing the diversity down
quite a lot.
All of the super moves in EX were character exclusive though, and also show off
some excellent "ouch factor" which was probably the best visual aspect
of the game.
The words "precious
heart" look out of place under Akuma. lol.
There are some decent combo possibilities, but
a few of
which are frustratingly hard to pull off on a regular basis. The home
version included a fun command training mode where you can perform all of the
staple combos, and requires you to perform every combo to clear it
(which is a fun playthrough).
Also worth noting... the sound effects were solid and most of the music
in the game is rather catchy.
The
Japanese versions of the game contains text-only epilogues which are displayed
on-screen after the player defeats Bison in the single-player mode. The
PlayStation version features new epilogues (different from the ones featured in
the arcade versions) in addition to some pretty cool FMV endings. It was a solid
console fighting game for the time, but again didn't live up to what many fans
expected out of the Street Fighter series.
Why are you guys fighting
in a sewer? That's pretty gross.
Last Updated:
8/11/2010
Developer(s):
Arika
Publisher(s):
Arika/Capcom
Platform(s):
Arcade,
Playstation
Release Date(s):
November 1996 (Arcade), March 1997 (EX plus A), July 1997
(PS1)
- Review is for
Playstation version of Street Fighter EX -
Gameplay
Engine
7 / 10
Story
/ Theme
6.5 / 10
Overall
Graphics
5 / 10
Animation
7.5 / 10
Music
/ Sound Effects
9 / 10
Innovation
6 / 10
Customization
6 / 10
Options / Extras
6.5 / 10
Intro / Presentation
6.5 / 10
Replayability / Fun
6.5 / 10
"Ouch" Factor
7.5 / 10
Characters
7.5 / 10
BOTTOM LINE
6.5 /
10
Final
Words:
EX was a respectable attempt from Capcom
and Arika, but the graphical limitations at the time really downgraded the
experience...
Maybe Street Fighter should never be in 3D?
Well, Capcom didn't think so, and soon released SFEX2
and SFEX3. And over a decade later, Capcom finally
proved they could do Street Fighter justice in 3D and released the much
more successful and respected Street Fighter IV. ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG
.
Now that that's out of the way, I can talk about the positive aspects of
the game. For starters, the animation in the game wasn't bad for the time and the artwork
(done by one of my favorite artists, Edayan) is definitely top stuff!
All of the super moves in EX were character exclusive though, and also show off
some excellent "ouch factor" which was probably the best visual aspect
of the game.
