It's amazing what the PSP's bright, colorful screen can do to make an
old game look fresh again. Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is more or less a
perfect translation of what's presumably the last game in Capcom's
Street Fighter II spin-off series. It's a tried-and-true 2D fighting
game, featuring a ton of different modes and a ton of different
playable characters, and this particular version adds a few extra
fighters and options not found in previous versions. Pulling off
certain special moves and combos using the PSP's controls can be
difficult, but that's really the only reason you couldn't
wholeheartedly recommend this game to PSP-carrying Street Fighter fans.
There's a good chance you've already played Street Fighter Alpha 3
before if you're interested in this version. Regardless, it's worth
going over some of the gameplay differences that distinguish this
installment from other Street Fighter games and other fighting games in
general. For starters, this is the biggest selection of characters the
series has ever seen, clocking in at around 40 different faces. You've
got every last fighter from the Street Fighter II era on the lineup, as
well as most of the cast of the original Street Fighter game, not to
mention a whole mess of other characters. It's a diverse and likable
cast, especially since each fighter has his or her own story, profile,
and unique lines of dialogue. Alpha 3 Max even goes as far as to throw
several extra fighters into the mix, including stick-fighter Eagle and
kung fu expert Yun, though these characters hail from other Capcom
fighting games. On top of that, you've got three different play styles
to choose from for each fighter, oddly referred to as "isms." X-ism is
a simple but powerful style reminiscent of Street Fighter II. A-ism is
derived from the earlier Alpha games, letting you use multiple levels
of super moves when you've got enough energy. And V-ism lets you dish
out powerful custom combos by stringing together all the moves and
special moves in your repertoire. Some moves and tactics are only
possible when using one form or another, and though the style you
choose doesn't completely change the way your fighter plays, the
options still add variety.
As for the action once you're in the thick of a fight, it's
mostly the traditional one-on-one fighting game battle you'd expect,
but with a few twists. You've got three types of punches and kicks,
plus throws and a handful of special moves and super moves to use
against your opponent. However, Alpha 3 introduces some new tweaks to
the combat that make it feel quite different from other Street Fighter
games. You've got recovery moves for use when on the receiving end of
an opponent's attacks, which let you escape additional damage. There's
also a guard meter that prevents overly defensive players from doing
nothing but block while pecking away at their opponents with light
attacks. Defend too much and your guard will be shattered, leaving you
completely vulnerable for a dangerous instant. This is a welcome
addition, but on the flip side, Alpha 3 makes throws unnecessarily
awkward to use by forcing you to press two buttons to perform them.
In fact, a bunch of different types of moves are now performed by
pressing multiple buttons simultaneously, but these can be a little
frustrating to pull off on the PSP. You'd think it would be easy just
pressing two or three buttons at once, but it's oddly tougher than it
sounds. You have the option to map a single button on the PSP to
multiple punches and kicks. However, since there are six main buttons
on the PSP and six different types of normal attacks in this game, you
don't really have room. Also, neither the PSP's D pad nor analog stick
offers quite the level of precision you'd ideally want for such a game.
As if in recognition of this, Capcom created limited supplies of an
adhesive D pad attachment, which gives your thumb more leverage and
simply makes special moves easier to pull off. Diehard fans of this
game and Capcom's first PSP fighter, Darkstalkers Chronicle, should
seek this new D pad attachment out. For most everyone else, it's really
not that bad tolerating the PSP controls with this game. But since it's
such an exact translation of the original, you can't help but wish for
perfectly precise controls to go with it. Thankfully, you can fiddle
with the speed and timing of the action in order to best suit your
preferences. You've also got a gang of different modes to mess around
with.
The main menu is practically bursting at the seams with ways to play
the game, though some of the options are a little thin. If anything,
the gameplay of Alpha 3 Max is surprisingly unstructured, between all
the different modes, options, and characters. Of course you've got the
standard stuff like an arcade mode, a versus mode, and a practice mode.
But there are also some cool two-on-one variants such as dramatic
battle, which lets you and a computer-controlled partner beat up on a
single foe, and reverse dramatic battle, which lets you take on two
opponents at once. Variable battle is new to Alpha 3 Max, but its
promise of tag-team matches goes somewhat unfulfilled, since you're
still stuck fighting two against one like in dramatic battle. There's
also a team battle mode, a survival mode, a final battle mode in which
you cut straight to the last fight so you can quickly see all the
character endings, and more.
Then there's the world tour mode, which puts you through a series of
successively tougher mission-style matches, where you'll often face
opponents with specific strengths or weaknesses. This is an interesting
mode, since you gain experience and level up as you win matches, and
you can eventually build up a ridiculously overpowered custom fighter.
Since world tour mode keeps you guessing and offers a sense of
progression as you win battles, you might well find yourself spending a
lot of time with it.
Sure enough, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max also supports ad hoc
multiplayer, so you and a friend can play the versus mode, variable
mode, team battle, and dramatic battle (would true online multiplayer
have been too much to ask for?). In theory, you can even get a bunch of
PSP owners together and have yourself a tournament. The wireless
multiplayer works great--the action is just as fast and responsive as
if you were playing solo against the computer. Speaking of which, the
computer puts up a good, solid fight. It gets tougher and tougher as
you fight further into most of the modes, and various difficulty
options are available for customizing the challenge.
The game is loaded with beautifully drawn background scenery that's
rich with little details and cameo appearances by other Capcom
characters, and the crisp look of the PSP screen helps bring the
visuals to life. This original artwork does a lot to make up for the
fact that most of the character graphics, excluding the new fighters,
are recycled from older games in the series. The main cast of fighters
still looks good on the whole, though there isn't really a cohesive art
style across all of them, and some of the animation is a bit choppy.
Even so, there's a lot of personality on display in the 2D artwork, and
it makes you wonder why there aren't more 2D games on the PSP, if even
older ones can look this good. Also, for what it's worth, since Alpha 3
wasn't originally designed for a widescreen aspect ratio like the PSP's
screen, you can optionally set the graphics to display in letterbox for
the intended look. Also, the audio is just as intact as the graphics.
There are plenty of solid sound effects and lots of speech in Alpha 3
Max, and all the voice work stands out in particular...except for the
bonehead announcer, who sounds like a gameshow host rather than an
emcee of a martial arts tournament. A peppy soundtrack blares away as
you fight. It fits, but isn't memorable. Also, loading times throughout
the game are slight, but just long enough to be noticeable.
A few years ago, the thought of having a perfect translation of
Street Fighter Alpha 3 on a portable game system, complete with
wireless multiplayer, would have been practically unthinkable, like
some kind of fighting-game promised land. But here it is in all its
glory, and the only reason it isn't even more impressive is that the
underlying game itself is pretty well worn. Nevertheless, if you want a
rock-solid fighting game for your PSP, look no farther.
By
Greg Kasavin
Source: GameSpot