I’m not sure I understand the title Capcom Fighting Evolution. This thing doesn’t look like it has seen any “evolution” since the mid-‘90s. Add to that gameplay only a hardcore old-school 2D fighting fan could love and some almost downright ugly graphics and you have a bit of a mess that is going to turn off the average game player of today.

Capcom Fighting Evolution brings together five of Capcom’s fighting games in one gaming package: Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III, Street Fighter Alpha, Darkstalkers and Red Earth. Of these the Street Fighter series is probably most familiar to gamers while Darkstalkers was a more limited USA release, and I believe Red Earth never made it to these shores at all. From the five games Capcom has created a roster of better than 20 fighting characters to choose from. All retain their signature moves, so if you have a favorite from previously playing one of these games, it should be easy to step in and start kicking butt immediately.

How well these five games have been fused to make a coherent whole is a matter for debate. One old-school, 2D fighting fan I know swears Capcom has done well balancing the diverse games’ elements as far as characters and fighting styles go and none has an unfair advantage. This generally seems to be true, with some characters excelling in offense while others are superior on the defensive but none absolutely dominating.

The game is played as a two-character tag-team match, but fighter substitutions can only be made between rounds. This means there is no way to substitute a character stronger in defense to counter one that has a bit of an edge on offense in mid-match. Since the fighters are chosen before the match and neither player knows the identity of who he’ll be fighting, a bit of luck comes into play here. Strange for what is generally considered very much a skill-based genre.

Play modes include the standard Arcade mode that pits players against computer-controlled opponents, VS mode that allows two players to duke it out mano a mano, and a training mode that allows players to practice their special moves and combos.

Capcom Fighting Evolution is an interesting title. How many times have fighting fans wondered what it would be like to fight their favorite characters against characters from another series? Plenty, I’m betting. The problem is Capcom did it in a rather anemic manner. There are just not that many characters to choose from. While many hardcore fighting fans are going to love the premise, they are going to be pissed if they find their cult-favorite character missing from the play roster. The characters that are here play almost identical to their root game counterparts, so there is not that much new to discover and learn about their fighting styles.

You’d think that Capcom could also have expended some development time to give everything a general facelift in the graphics department. The mish-mosh of sprite styles is going to turn off some players. The inferior backgrounds should account for a few more. And the poor audio is probably going to drive away the rest.

Honestly, I think you’d have to be a super fan of the 2D fighting games to really think this game was great. Let me qualify that to a super fan of 2D fighting games who also has a friend to play with who likes these old-school fighters just as much. Even they might be disappointed with the selection of characters. Gamers who have been playing Soul Caliber and Tekken will probably run away screaming. At least at the $29.99 retail price you won’t break the bank if you do decide to get it.



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