Kudos, Capcom. Before I get into the details, the
point that stands out to me the most with their recent release of Street Fighter x Tekken Mobile is that this game really
doesn't feel like a port, this version has been reworked from the ground up to suit touch screen devices. Read my review after the jump...
The tag system has been entirely re-imagined for the iOS version. Your tag partners
don't have a health bar, instead you get to fight with them for a set
amount of time, to either deal some damage or soak up some damage while your
main character's red life (sorry, Tekken term) regenerates in the background.
The game switches back to your main character if your secondary character has
taken too many hits; Pandora mode will sacrifice him permanently for a
temporary power boost. Of course you will also tag in for tag combos and Cross
Assaults, the latter being unleashed by a tap on the upper corner character portraits and looking almost as beautifully animated as the console version ones. You have a punch, a
kick and a special button and the x button to swap between your 2 characters.
Arcade mode unlocks Trial which will give you the chance to practice combo
moves while the standard Practice mode is available from the get go. With
currently 10 characters to choose from (5 from each franchise) the roster is a
bit anorexic. But who cares? Nina is there and she has 9 other characters to
kick the shit out of. Expect to see additional characters being made available
to buy in the future (we're talking Capcom here after all). Graphics and sound
can't be faulted, character models and backgrounds all look polished, some new
artworks have been added exclusively to this version's menus and it even has a
beautiful (despite its lack of Nina) intro movie (remember the 8 minute Vita
Episode 1 Cinematic?). You can fight other players online via WIFI and locally
via Bluetooth, both silky smooth in my test run. But I'm not an online player
type of person and my time online was limited, so don't quote me on it. Precise
execution will take you far online, and let me tell you, you have to be very
precise in your handling of the touch interface, something I've always had
problems with. Don't get me wrong, I have the beautiful spidery fingers of a
master piano player, it's just that while my eyes are glued to the 2 characters
on-screen my fingers tend to slide away from where they should be. In short,
I'm a lost case when it comes to playing fighters on the iPhone. The iOS
edition of SoulCalibur made me learn my lesson the hard way and I'm glad I
only just bought it to support Namco's iOS releases and make them release a
Tekken mobile game. So, it goes without saying I didn't buy SFxTK mobile for
the competitive experience it definitely is able to provide, I bought it to
have Nina on my smart phone, naturally. Will I ever be able to use her to full
effect? No. Do I want to? Nah. I'd rather play my old school Broken Sword point
and click adventures which are a perfect fit for touch devices and my
incompetent fingers. But it's good to see Capcom put so much care into this mobile version. It's also good to know that if ever I were to shipwreck on a deserted island, I'd be able to vent my frustration for a few minutes, kicking derrière aplenty with Nina Williams in Street Fighter x Tekken Mobile.
No comments:
Post a Comment