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Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX Review

OK, lets get past the fact that this is 2D, because that should have no bearing on how good this game is. Second, lets take the fact that this game is a port of a game that came out quite a few years ago, very lightly.

What can I really say about this game. It is one of the greatest fighting games ever made, not because its Street Fighter, but because is genuinely is a fantastic fighting game with tons of characters, multiple "ISMs" to customize your character and how they use their Super Bar, seamless animation, and AWESOME extra modes.

I won't waste your time or mine explaining all the modes because anyone who has played street fighter already knows the basics of the moves and the way each mode is. I will say however that the ability to do a mode where you can do a 2 on 1 is LOTS OF FUN, especially if you play with other buddies. This game really shines with its wireless play, when you have friends around that are fairly good at it.

The animation and is arcade perfect, smooth and very colorful and like other people may say, it really is amazing how good this game looks on PSP screen. So when it comes down to the visuals of this game, it is arcade perfect and anyone who played this game in the arcade or on any other system would agree on how good this game looks.

The sound quality is just as good as it is what you would expect from a street fighter game. Great music and your standard fare of sound effects accompany this games gorgeous 2D goodness.

The controls are effective but in some ways leave a bit to be desired as it is sometimes difficult to pull of certain moves and combos with the directional the way it is. Anyone who played Darkstalkers for the PSP will know what I mean by this. The directional is just not very forgiving and is slick because of the plastic they used. This takes away from some of the matches as nothing is more annoying than having someone beaten and going for the killing move or combo only to have your thumb slip off the pad or to just plain do the motion and not have it register. Once again, this is a problem BUT NOT THE GAME'S PROBLEM. It's a design flaw in the PSP itself...Oh well.

In closing, this game is well worth the money if your are looking for a great fighting game and DYING for a Street Fighter that you can play wirelessly with friends....MMMMMMM gaming GOODNESS!! Pick it up, play it, love it, and if you don't, you obviously are not a real fighting game fan. I do agreet that we could use a Street Fighter 4, but until that happens, this is a fantastic addition to my fighting game library, especially

If I ever get a PSP, I'll be sure to grab that.