Visuals:: While the Alpha and Versus series both bring smoother animation to Street Fighter, the Street Fighter III series brings some silky smooth animation to it. This alone makes the game stand out on its own, as no 2D fighter has ever looked this good. Whether it's the classic cast of Ryu, Ken, and Chun Li or any of the newbies, each character gets the full overhaul animation treatment. All the classic animation routines we've come to know and love all look absolutely fantastic; Ryu's Hadukens, Ken's flaming Shoryuken, Chun Li's Whirlwhind Kick...the familiar scent of nostalgia certainly makes things all the sweeter.
Yet the characters aren't the only things that managed to get upped on the eye candy scale. The backgrounds are now a lot more vibrant and detailed with smoother (although still rather limiting) animation routines as well. Chun Li's homestage for example, now features more people doing a lot more daily activities, and even some breakable objects that, despite having no real impact on the fight, are a nice touch. Other stages, such as Elena's African fighting spot, will flood your television with a gorgeous array of reds and oranges as you fight in front of the sun setting over the African wilderness.
With the Dreamcast's superior hardware capabilities, all this is a breeze for the machine to handle as it never slows for a second and you won't notice any other related problems such as flicker. The entire game runs smoothly and looks great at all times; the higher resolution of the SFIII series eliminates a lot of the eye sores previous installments of the SF series on the DC had. It should also be noted that Capcom has really upped the presentation with Third Strike (versus Double Impact), as the menus and pre-fight match-ups look a lot better.
Audio:: In another smooth move, Capcom has offered a refreshing change in the music department from their usual offerings. There's no strange lounge music or mediocre techno; the in-game tracks are well done and written. If you have a good sound system you should be able to get some enjoyment out of it, as some tracks have more emphasis on the bass (like Hugo's stage). There are a number of tracks for the stages, each different from the previous, and match the general atmosphere of the setting. Gill's final stage music has a more eerie, choir effect, while someone else's stage, like Sean's, will feature a more hip hop style.
On top of that, the sound effects are just as you remember from the arcade. All the characters' phrases and screams are here and sound as good as they ever did. Everything from the usual exchange of blows to smashing the car has a satisfying sound that shows Capcom didn't cut corners here either.
Gameplay/Control:: Ahh, Street Fighter. For those of you who have shunned the series since Capcom created a litter of SF titles that rival the world's rabbit population, now's a good a time as any to jump back in. Don't worry if you haven't played the series in years; this is pretty much old school Street Fighter, with some new characters, slight adjustments, and refined gameplay style.
First off, the only real familiar characters to return are Ryu, Ken, and Chun Li; the latter being the latest old-school addition to the SFIII series. Just about everyone else comes from Double Impact, although Third Strike adds a few newbies in here as well: Makoto, a karate practicing young girl, Q, a metal masked man in a trenchoat and a hat, Remy, a mysterious, long haired Gothic styled young man, and Twelve, a white, elastic alien type. It's the same assorted cast we've all come to expect, as only a few of the characters play even remotely alike (namely, Ken, Ryu, and Akuma). While you may be instantly inclined to stick to someone you know, Capcom has done a fine job balancing out the characters as spending some time with them will allow you to easily take out some of the more known characters. In one example, I managed to take out Ryu on the first try at a substantital difficulty setting with Makoto after a bit of time.
The other change Third Strike brings is a grading system which is based upon several factors such as your Defense, Offense, Time, and so on. Much like Crazy Taxi however, getting a decent grade is a pretty tough thing to do, and novices will easily find themselves resting comfortably at the D or D+ level. There doesn't seem to be much of a gameplay effect because of the score, although it makes it easier to see exactly how well you stack up against Capcom's insanely high standards.
In truth, if you've played Double Impact, you know what to expect: the engine doesn't really change much of anything. The parrying, Super Arts, and other features of SFIII all return in fine form. There's a new option called System Direction that essentially allows you to tweak the game's engine to your liking, and while a slick addition, it's not enough to make owners of Double Impact rush out to pick Third Strike up. The game also doesn't seem to offer the speed that Double Impact does which is a bit of a downer as well. However, the return of the bonus stages, such as the classic car stage, and the more polished collision detection system make things a bit more polished in general.
Extras:: In line with the seriers, there really aren't too many extras. You can unlock some additional characters and some extra options, but there's nothing really out of the ordinary to be found here.
Overall:: If you haven't picked up a Street Fighter title in a while and would like to, Third Strike will get you back in the groove and add one more great fighter to your Dreamcast library. However, if you already own Double Impact, there's no real reason to pick this up unless you sorely miss Chun Li, have to have the new characters, or are simply a hardcore SF fan. It comes more highly recommended than Double Impact as it cleans it up in some ways (particularly in presentation), although it'd be nice to see the next addition take Third Strike and the Street Fighter series a bit further, faster.
Score:: 8.5/10 Developer | Publisher | Genre | Players | ESRB | System |
