The embargo on information from Capcom's Captivate event has finally been lifted, and that means there is a whole lot of info coming down the pipe. First up is Street Fighter X Tekken, which had a fully playable demo version available at the event, marking the first time anyone was privy to the system the game will run on.
The game is 2D and will run off a six button system of three punches and three kicks, much like Street Fighter titles of the past. However, this is not Street Fighter IV with Tekken characters. The game is more fast-paced and combos are longer. We aren't talking Marvel VS Capcom 3's level of 100-hit craziness, but certainly somewhere around Tekken's level of extended comboability.
Many classic Tekken combos are ported perfectly to the new game, but since Tekken is only a four button game, these combos only really use light and medium punches and kicks. Heavy punches and kicks for Tekken characters are either mapped to totally new moves, moves that were previously special moves, or moves that were only accessed mid combo.
Both sides of the roster have been balanced heavily in relation to each other. Most Tekken characters don't have projectiles, so instead they have a variety of side steps and dodges that allow them to get around the Street Fighter characters' projectiles in ways other than jumping. The Street Fighter characters, on the other hand, now have extended target combos in order to allow them to fight on the same combo level as the Tekken cast.
Street Fighter X Tekken is a tag team game, but tag team more in the style of Tekken Tag Tournament rather than the classic Capcom VS series. Pressing the middle punch and kick buttons at the same time allows you to switch characters, but the switch is very fast allowing you to continue an ongoing combo after a tag. The game ends when either fighter reaches 0 health. It doesn't matter if your other fighter is totally healthy at the time, you'll still lose. This is a massive departure from Capcom's VS formula, which allows healthy characters to tag in if another character falls.
Pressing light punch and kick together causes you to attempt a throw. Throws are very cinematic in the game, much like they are in Tekken, and this time they come in three different varieties. You can either perform a simple standing throw that doesn't move your opponent very much, or a directional throw to the left or right that sets your opponent up for follow-up combos.
Pressing heavy punch and kick together performs a launcher that sets the opponent up for Tekken-like juggles. For the Tekken cast, this is old hat, but for the Street Fighter cast, the floaty juggle physics set up for some really interesting combos, such as bouncing the opponent in the air with Ryu's fireballs, or re-jumping during an air combo with Chun-Li.
Each player has a three level super bar that is spent to either use EX versions of their special moves, or to use a super combo. Super combos in this game are more cinematic, and are actually more like ultra-combos from Street Fighter IV. There is no revenge gauge in this game, so ultra-combos in the traditional sense don't actually exist.
Focus attacks have also been taken out of the game in lieu of a new "charge move" system. Every character now has a move they can charge in order to make it more powerful. Like the focus attack system, charging a move has three levels. A quick charge simply executes the move, while a half charge produces a pseudo EX version of the move, and a full charge produces a pseudo super combo. Charge moves don't use meter, but have effects similar to meter using moves. The only resource you have to spend is the time you are vulnerable while charging them. Unfortunately, the lack of focus attacks means no focus attack dash canceling. Instead, some of the more common FADC combos Street Fighter characters had seem to have been converted to basic target combos instead. You can "tag cancel" in the middle of one of your attacks, which costs one level of meter.
The roster, so far, is pretty impressive. The Street Fighter side showcased Ryu, Ken, Guile, Abel, and Chun-Li, while the Tekken side had Kazuya, Nina, King, Marduk, and Bob. Personally, I hope we can see Bob VS Rufus sometime in the future. Character tweaks were many and varied but none seemed to drastically change the way the characters normally play. Ken's Tatsumaki Senpu Kyaku seemed to have more range, and Marduk moved a bit faster than we remembered him. The only exception to this rule is Chun-Li whose lightning legs are now a half-circle motion for some reason. Frankly, it just feels wrong.
Opposite ends of the 2D playing field have Tekken-like walls, which can be used to extend your combos, and within the first few minutes, Kazuya players were pummeling Ryu into the dust using them. Of course then Ryu comes back with a wake-up Shoryuken, and we all are reminded why we love both games.
Finally, we have the graphics, which are halfway between Tekken and Street Fighter. It uses Street Fighter's half-anime/half-realistic style, but it includes filters that make the characters look a bit more photorealistic, as they do in the Tekken series. It looks pretty clean, but at the same time a lot of the characters look, I don't know, wet? Maybe that's what they were going for considering there was so much water in the recent reveal trailer.
The stage graphics are also cool, and seem to revolve around some sort of post-apocalyptic event that happened to both worlds. One stage is a broken-down street where thugs climb on top of broken mechs and hide in giant serve-bot heads. Another is a huge dinosaur zoo, which has the nice touch of having Tekken's Alex cheering you on in the background. In between rounds fighters change locales to give you a better view of the rest of the stage. It's a nice cosmetic touch.
Street Fighter X Tekken is far more than just a crossover. Frankly, it's a game that's more fun than both Street Fighter and Tekken combined. If the demo is any indication of the final product's quality, this may be the go to fighter in the near future. It's the best of both worlds, as Miley Cyrus would say, right before we shove a fireball in her stupid face.
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