Platform: Xbox 360 (also on PS3)

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

# of Players: 1 – 4

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Official Site

Score: A-

Capcom’s Versus fighters have a definite appeal to gamers that crave taking their favorite characters from different media and pitting them against each other in some truly outrageous battles and in terms of reinventing that particular wheel, Street Fighter X Tekken may be their best game to date. Although the Xbox 360 version is sorely missing the offline tag-team mode found in the PS3 version, there’s absolutely no reason to miss out on this game if you’re a huge fan of either franchise. From the outstanding visuals and animation to the excellent tutorials that will get any new player into the game with ease, this one’s a no-brainer for fighting games fans. Sure, there are some quibbles with the total number of unlocked characters versus who’s available as paid DLC, but this is one of those games where if you’re hooked in, you probably won’t mind paying a bit extra for even more fun.

For some fighting game purists out there, it’s always been a “Beatles or Stones” thing when it came to 2D versus 3D fighters. Me, I remember being only a little bit into Street Fighter and other 2D fighters back in the day, but not being very skilled at them or patient enough to drop loads of quarters in the arcades learning which characters were the best. However, when games like Virtua Fighter and later Tekken hit, I was amazed by the more realistic character movements, cinematic angles and yes, all those polygons doing their thing. I ended up shifting my shaky allegiances to those games for years afterward, but still appreciated 2D fighters for their amazing hand-drawn art and incredible animation. Still, the idea of Capcom hopping in and breaking Tekken into a Street Fighter mold sounded weird and hard to believe at first. Thankfully, the dev team decided to mix things up quite a lot by stewing together a bunch of fun ideas that ended up working fantastically well.

While the game goes for more of a Street Fighter IV vibe in terms of visual power, Some elements from the Tekken/Tekken Tag Tornament are used to add a bit of familiarity to the battles while still shaking thing up. If you just jump in and expect the usual Capcom versus style action, you’ll be knocked out laded when you lose a round because one of your two fighters got K.O.’ed. This forces you, even if you’re a total beast with a favorite fighter, to tag out and let your partner in on the fun, especially against skilled live opponents or the AI on the harder settings. The game plays a lot differently than Marvel vs Capcom 3 or even Street Fighter IV, so you’d better be more than willing to flex your fingers and learn all it has to throw at you. It’s also cool that you need to figure out which teams get the slightly enhanced Story Mode scenarios by playing through the game multiple times, which is a good thing for those out there who don’t blow though a game once and hoof it back to the shop for a trade-in.

The new additions all add to the experience, but again, you need to shut up, sit down and experiment with them through the great tutorials and NOT drone on and on about the game not being EXACTLY like another Capcom fighter. There’s a Gem system that allows you to equip your fighters with different skill-boosting jewels, Pandora mode, which sacrifices a team member’s heath to give the other one limited, but extremely powerful moves for a short time, even crazier Ex-Cancel moves and more. As with any great fighting game, timing is key to victory, but here, Capcpm has designed the game so that the best players in other Versus games won’t necessarily be the best here – a great thing for those who want a fighting chance against online players and are willing to put in the work. If you shell out a few bucks more for the Special Edition, the main thing you’ll be getting are all the gems unlocked, which will give you an edge against both the CPU and live players once you get into tweaking out your chosen fighters with their beefed up moves.

In addition to the Tutorial and Story modes, there are various offline and online play modes all designed to make you a better player at the game. Yes, you’ll win matches even if you ignore all the Tutorials, Trials, Challenges and Missions, but not taking advantage of these will leave you out of the appreciation loop in terms of respecting the complete fighting system packed into the game. I’m harping on this point here because I’ve been hearing whining from folks who somehow don’t understand that the game is SUPPOSED to be different that the other versus fighters and don’t get that this is why it’s so fun to play. If you’re not enhancing the skills you thought you had, you’re never going to advance much, i say.

Of course, the visuals and overall presentation are mostly killer throughout, but there are some loading issues present if you decide not to install the game to your 360’s HDD. Character models are beautifully rendered and animated to perfection and it’s just fantastic how Capcom’s art team has managed to capture each Tekken character in a different style while still retaining (and even enhancing) their personalities. It would have been nice to see some more costumes here, but I can’t complain about the 38 characters the game has. Yes, the PS3 version gets five more exclusive fighters and the Vita version will ship with a dozen extra playable fighters right from the start, but if you ONLY own a 360, you’ll just have to suck it up and grab the upcoming DLC. And yes, that DLC happens to be on the disc, but those guys and gals aren’t unlocked just yet (more on that in a bit).

There is at least one online issue that will get some teeth grinding. Players dedicated to online modes first and foremost will sometimes notice the annoying sound effects drop-out deal that can hamper those with easily broken concentration (or anyone who wants a perfect online play experience). This sound issue doesn’t affect the game’s speed or single player modes in any way, mind you. From what I understand, it’s just how Capcom programmed it to deal with varying online connection speeds (which can be extremely spotty across the US as well as around the world)  In the solo play modes or offline, however, the game is supreme and gorgeous in nearly every area. I didn’t mind the shifting through multiple menu screens (but it would have been nice to see random art used in each menu rather than the same pieces each time).

As for those locked characters, they’re a point of overblown argument to some, but I’ll stay out of trouble (mostly) and hope someone smarter and more patient than I schools the more ignorant of these folks on just how games are made and the sad fact that we’re shifting toward the age where DLC is going to be part of any multiplayer focused game, no matter the genre. My score above is about the game EXPERIENCE Street Fighter X Tekken brings to the table, nothing more, nothing less. It doesn’t reflect any biased anger toward Capcom for making the extra characters DLC simply because paid content on a disc game isn’t “new”, Capcom is far from the first (or only) publisher doing this and trying to be critical about a process that while far from perfect, was supported for a few years by many gamers (until all this outrage became the new trend).

Off the soapbox and down to the important stuff: While it’s not totally flawless if you get too picky about what it doesn’t do compared to other versions (or other fighters), it’s hard not to be totally floored  by Street Fighter X Tekken on the 360. This one’s a keeper with tons of hidden depth, new fighters to be unlocked and the possibility of some sort of sequels down the road. I know Namco is working on their version of the game (Tekken X Street Fighter), so that’s going to be a no-brainer for me and a whole lot of other fans who want to see what happens when Capcom’s big deal brawlers get a completely new look and possibly some all-new gameplay that shakes things up once more.