Ok, so after hunting down a new copy of the Collector's Edition of the highly anticipated Street Fighter IV, and waiting another week after that to finally get it in my hands, I was able to sit down last night and have the biggest blast from the past I've ever experienced. All the cussing at my tv when I get beaten to death from cheap moves by the computer, to nearly breaking skin on my thumb throwing out combos, this game is a huge throwback to the glory days of Capcom, when SSFII Turbo and SFA3 were the reigning champions at my house. Anyways, onto the actual review.

Graphics - (5/5) - From the beginning intro, to the character select screen, everything in this new version of SF is polished to a fine shine. From Ryu's breath-taking Ultra Combo, to Ken's Shoryuken, Capcom has made entirely sure that nothing went without the upmost attention to detail in this game. All of your fears of the game not making a good transition to 3d, or losing that hand-drawn flair should definately be put to rest after you fight your first round on arcade mode. Do I still miss the SFA3 look, where everything was anime-influenced and over the top?? Definately. Do I think that this still is quite possible the most amazing fighting game transition to 3d?? Without a doubt.

Controls - (5/5) - The control scheme has pretty much, like it or hate it, been lifted from both SFA3 and SF3. Which is nice, considering that if you have known all of say...Ken's moves since the beginning of time, then getting right into the meat of your favorite characters isn't a problem at all. I never had a problem pulling off any of the moves, and the only thing detrimental to the playability is probably the D-pad on the PS3 controller. If you have the money, I highly recommend purchasing the arcade stick controller, it'll save you some sore thumbs. Other than that though, perfect.

Sound - (4/5) - I'll admit, when I loaded the disc in for the first time and started the game, I got pumped when I heard the beginning of the menu music, and when I fought Ken playing as Ryu, it was a throwback to the days of SNES for me. Now, I know purists will say that these are mostly remixes or entirely new tracks, but that's not necessarily a bad thing though either. I'd rather get a new remix or new track then have to listen to MIDI music while playing a next-gen game. And in actuality, I give Capcom kudos for going ahead and remixing the music, but still staying true to a lot of the sounds that are a staple to the SF series. Everything else sound-wise in this game is generally superb. From any of the special moves to a simple roundhouse kick, everything seems appropriate and correctly adjusted to sound just right. My only gripe is that the English V/O work is pure garbage. I haven't seen timing this off since I used to get up in the morning to watch 80's anime on the Sci-Fi channel....come on Capcom, it's 2009.

Replayability - (5/5) - Introducing an arcade-like online mode into the game was a fantastic idea, and one that I spent most of the night last night utilizing and cursing at in the same breath. On one hand it completely made me get the feel of the whole arcade experience, where someone you've never met comes up to the machine and slides in their tokens to try and take you down. On the other hand however, I'll say that the quality of players in the online mode left a lot to be desired. I spent most of the night fighting the usual Hadoken abusers, and the crazy crack addicted jumping machines that land just before you to land a tripping move or some form of upper cut. Annoying. As far as offline replayability, there are characters to unlock, including the mysterious Gouken, and the much-loved (or hated) Akuma. Though unlocking them can be quite a chore considering that you have to fight Seth so many times you'll want to literally put your fist through your television (yes, he can be this hard, depending on the mood of the CPU). All in all, typical fighting game replay value, and everything you'd expect from a next-gen fighting game, while not really introducing anything too different than the norm.

Overall - (5/5) - Slight issues aside, I definately give Street Fighter IV a five out of five. Never in my life have I sat down with a game, and re-experienced that same thrill and excitement I got with the original game growing up, and SF4 delivers on all counts. Capcom has created a gem, and no fighting game fan, or SF fan should pass it up.