Reviews// Capcom, SNK & Sammy revive the 2D beat 'em up

SF Anniversary, bundling together Hyper Street Fighter 2 Anniversary and Street Fighter III: Third Strike, and boasting options for full on-line battling, as well as the 1994 Street Fighter anime movie, is probably the best value package. These are the two most well polished releases in the whole Street Fighter series, and their porting to the Xbox has only done good things for the crispness of the otherwise lacklustre graphics. More importantly, the incorporation of Third Strike's unique ‘parry’ system also adds an entirely new dimension to the gameplay. This may cause some upset for those who had already found their inner Street Fighting selves, but offers further depth to those willing to explore and train further. Hyper Street Fighter 2, recently released as a stand-alone game on PS2 as the newest title in the family, also looks decent: if dated by the re-used ports from games past.

Graphically speaking, the Guilty Gear games are far superior. The beautifuly animated, high-res sprites are a world apart from the inevitably blocky retro feel of games like SVC Chaos, which was, after all, made for the Neo Geo – fundamentally a 16 bit system. However, being the latest entrant to the tightly contested battle, Guilty Gear has fewer fans than either of SNK or Capcom’s principal offerings. It’s got the obligatory inclusions: splendidly ornate special moves and an array of truly bizarre and thoroughly Japanese characters; but because some of the moves aren’t already part of the generally accepted joystick vocabulary, it may take longer for some to pick up how to play it like a pro. And although the gameplay is just as fast and frenetic as its rivals, if not more so, it rarely feels quite as precise as either of SNK or Capcom's offerings.

X2 Reload is the more straight-forward of the two GG games on offer. It’s pure one-on-one battling, with all the vanilla combat that should bring. Isuka, on the other hand, dares to break the mould, and is the most unusual title in this round-up. Much like the much-loved karate classic IK+, Isuka lets more than two players fight at any one time. In fact, you can have four. Whilst this feature is likely to be Isuka’s major selling point, it is the sort of advance that might not wash with the more pious members of the fighting hardcore. But for now, Isuka remains the reserve of Japanese and US PS2 owners anyway.