The Street Fighter saga is easily one of the longest running video game franchises to date and with good reason. The strategies and techniques needed to play is something that anyone can pick up on and as each incarnation of the series has appeared, they get exponentially better with each release. The latest release in the series is a remake of Street Fight Alpha 3 from the Dreamcast released back in 2000, which can now be slipped into your pocket and played anywhere on your PSP. Containing all the same butt kicking features as its large screen counter part, the PSP version comes along squeezing even more features into its small size with 4 new characters and a gazillion game play modes. Now whenever you have the hankering to take down Bison or that squirrelly Sakura, you can do it anywhere you are.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max sports some very impressive graphics, surpassing its big brother in every aspect. Character and fighting animations are smooth and fluid, as well are the flashy special effects when super combos and special moves are pulled off. No missing frames and no slow downs during play keeps the action speedy and smooth. The backgrounds to each battle scenario are layered and are equally well animated and additionally make the game all that more gorgeous. If you have ever played a game of Street Fighter in your life, then you will know what you are in for. The same kicks, punches and throws are present as well as the later features such as super combos and alpha counter hits. Along with guard crush, that stops those sissies from blocking every single attack and defensive falls that guard your grill when you get knocked down, tactics in battle are more of a thought process rather than just charging and attacking.
Aside from the familiar gameplay that fans know and love, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max boasts some pretty motivating and abundant features. There is no shortage of variety among players as there are 38 characters accessible from the get go, ranging from the old favorites as Ryu and Ken up to the more recent additions like wrestler Mika and Shadowloo agent Juli as well as 4 new characters for the PSP version. There are also 12 different types of game modes that can played, each with their own twist on the action. They range from the traditional Arcade Mode, World Tour, Survival Mode, Dramatic, Reverse Dramatic and even Final Battle where you can immediately face off against Bison without having to fight all through the 10 opponents to get to him. Each mode has its differences such as Dramatic, where you and a CPU controlled player team up on enemies, where as Reversal Dramatic is the exact opposite, giving you a run for your money.
World Tour mode allows you to build up your characters abilities and each stage features an ISM Plus skill that can be found such as resisting dizziness and so forth. Each of the stages in World Tour is different so it’s not the same battle style over and over. Sometimes the time is limited and sometimes your life is. Other times, there are a number of enemies to face and sometimes only super combos will affect the opponents’ health. Along with the plethora of single player modes, there are also a few multiplayer modes available over the PSP’s Ad-Hoc mode. There are four modes available in multiplayer which allows you and a friend to go head to head or tag team and gang up on enemies. Either way, the lobby interface allows for easy set up and entrance to battles and doesn’t require a degree in astrophysics to get going like some games do.
Being that it is the PSP you are playing on and games in the past have had issues with control on the platform, the constant action of Street Fighter would make it seem like a likely candidate to have the same issues. You can either choose to use the D-pad or the analog stick to move about but both have their equal control concerns. With the D-pad, it is a lot harder to pull off special moves that require diagonal movements, where with the analog stick, it seemed jumping forward and backwards gave the most troubles, but special moves were easier to release.
Another issue with the controls is that after playing a good number of rounds, your hands will get a little cramped up. Whether or not everyone will experience this, it happened to me each and every time I picked up the game and played for over 20 minutes. As for the rest of the controls, the 4 face buttons and the two shoulder buttons can be mapped out to any layout you want, including throws, combos and special moves. It is a little cheap being able to pull off Shoruyens one after another just by pressing one button, but the feature is there if you need to use it.
For those of you that are looking for a fighter game on the go, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is the definite direction to head towards. With the vast choice of characters to choose from and the huge number of gameplay modes, it is easily the best fighter for the PSP. The combination of graphics and gameplay along with the Street Fighter legend behind it makes this game a winner for fans of the series and fans of the fighting genre as a whole. GameShark gives Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max a "B+"
