Sinclair User


Street Fighter
By Go!
Spectrum 48K/128K

 
Published in Sinclair User #74

Street Fighter

If you're the sort of person who enjoyed Renegade then Street Fighter will make you go absolutely gaga.

Street Fighter was just one of the coin-ops which Go! acquired when it signed a contract with Capcom not so long ago. And, as a coin-op conversion, it's very, very good. As a kicky, gouge, bite and scratch yer eyes out two player optioned, piece of mindless violence, it's absolutely great.

The game takes place in five different countries and invites the player to beat the living daylights out of the champion thug of each country in turn. The game begins in Japan, with a couple of extremely unpleasant Ninjas, one of whom does a truly impressive disappear-reappear trick, which is thoroughly confusing. Waving long, spiky claws at yet man, he'll do his best to mash him into the ground. But even I managed to get through Japan fairly easily, and it was on to the good-ol' US of A.

Street Fighter

Your opponent in the States looks like he's a reject from the Hammer House of Horror remake of West Side Story (ask yer mam!). Set against a railway siding, the violence continues until you've won two rounds and then - whoops! - it's off to good old Britain.

This is where the Renegade comparisons become really pointed. If you were impressed by the measly little dude with the Ray Bans and the leather jacket, then your laundry bill is going to rocket once you clap eyes on the eight foot tall mohican in Street Fighter. Swinging his chains around his head (Takes some doing, that!) and nutting all and sundry (bet he uses Harmony hairspray!).

Once past the punk, there's a glimpse of the Great Wall of China, and finally, to round off the whole expedition, there's a trip to Thailand. And this guy's even more frightening than Yul Brynner in The King And I.

Street Fighter

Throughout the backgrounds are effective, not hugely detailed, but always appropriate for the country in question. The sprites are enormous in comparison to those in Renegade, and the British punk is truly spectacular. Each one moves well and is finely detailed. Though I'm not at all sure that the guy from Thailand is particularly menacing Thai?

Programmer Tiertex have included a screen colour option, which allows you to be mutilated in whatever shade you prefer. Whatever colour you go for, there never seems to be an icky-clash, the sprites just get on with their mutilation in a neat and tidy fashion.

Sandwiched between the various countries are bonus levels which involve smashing a large number of bricks with your bare hands. I didn't go for this much myself. Well, I'd have broken a nail, wouldn't I?

Street Fighter

Controls are pretty much as one would expect, various combinations of joysticks up and down and fire button pressed will produce flying kicks, underhand jabs and the good old fashioned cowardly duck.

If you liked Renegade, and thought we underrated it, take a look at Street Fighter. It's bigger, it's better, it's a lot more polished methinks. This is a *really* aggressive game and that's as much a tribute to the gameplay as to the excellent graphics, Street Fighter is definitely one of my games of the year so far. More!

Verdict

Thoroughly impressive combat game which knocks Renegade for six. Go damage someone.