Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Sep 4, 2014
    90
    Ultra Street Fighter IV is a great experience and should not be missed from the collection of any fan of fighting games.
  2. Aug 13, 2014
    86
    The definitive version of Street Fighter IV, but not the best until its technical problems are solved.
  3. Sep 14, 2014
    80
    The two-player training mode and 3v3 team battles function exactly as advertised. [Issue#253, p.75]
  4. CD-Action
    Oct 24, 2014
    70
    6 new stages and 5 new characters – sounds great until you realize that ‘new’ means ‘borrowed from Street Fighter X Tekken’ (with the exception of Decapre, which is a Cammy clone with an interesting move set). [Nov 2014, p.61]
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 117 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 72 out of 117
  2. Negative: 19 out of 117
  1. Oct 29, 2014
    4
    I have played and followed this game for a long time, but I cannot recommend it for several reasons. First of all, the PC version isI have played and followed this game for a long time, but I cannot recommend it for several reasons. First of all, the PC version is unplayable at current. This is not a single-player game. Unless you want to do the trials (which I spent most of my time doing), you won't have fun offline. To really experience this game, you need to play against human opponents. The online on PC is extremely laggy and inconsistent and slow in terms of the matchmaking process. But the other reasons I wouldn't recommend it are as follows:

    Too dependent on match-up knowledge. You can't counter-pick, which forces you to learn ONE character and learn them well. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. After having cleared all trials and experimenting with every character I still haven't found one that works for me. Whether I win or lose seems to be decided mostly at the character select screen. My performance is not representative of my skill level due to the character I have chosen vs the character my opponent has chosen.

    No opportunity to use combos. This might sound like a noob thing to say but despite having excellent execution when in training mode I can never combo anything online not because I can't make the links, but because the opportunity to use it is rarely there. The risk vs reward makes it difficult to justify at times. This combined with the non-existent juggling mechanics mean you have to rely on bread-and-butter combos. This makes the game far too "flow-charty".

    Too much poking. Everything in this game feels safe and hard to punish.

    And finally, the most important one: NO TUTORIAL. This game is about as accessible as twister is for wheelchair users. There's nothing in the game to help you. Altthough the strategy and fundamentals might be intuitive, the controls and mechanics take a lot of practice and aren't actually all that satisfying. The game requires frame-perfect timing and is infuriating if you don't have the patience.

    Don't get me wrong, this is by far my most played game and I've had some great moments on it, but to me it's more fun to watch others play it (e.g. Excellent Adventures). As a spectator game, it's often more exciting. But to play? It's more frustrating than rewarding.
    Full Review »
  2. Oct 28, 2014
    0
    The game itself is very good when played offline, new characters are nice, solid mechanics and everything you know about SF4 series is there.The game itself is very good when played offline, new characters are nice, solid mechanics and everything you know about SF4 series is there. The nightmare comes when you play online however, lag, freezes, lag and again freezes as they failed to integrate their netcode with the Steam networking services. It will get easily on your nerves. They also released a patch after 2 and a half months which solved almost nothing... the support for this game is just very poor, they just release more costumes to get more money. And no, it's not my connection if you are wondering. Full Review »
  3. Jul 20, 2015
    7
    As a long term Street Fighter fan I have to say that this is a very childish and shallow game. SF2 is a pretty simple game by today'sAs a long term Street Fighter fan I have to say that this is a very childish and shallow game. SF2 is a pretty simple game by today's standard, but it was state of the art at the time and had a cool and tense martial arts feel to it. SF3A and SF3 Third Strike were more "cartoony", but both those games had incredibly deep fighting mechanics which you could spend years honing, exploring and perfecting.

    In comparison to these previous games USF4 is a shallow game with nerfed chains, slow animations, cheap grappling moves, stupid "revenge" mechanics and very badly balanced characters.

    In Street Fighter Alpha 3 each character had 2-3 super moves, and each super move had 3 different power levels which you charged up as the fight went on. This led to an incredibly deep experience with lots of room for tactical play. Now in SF4 each character only has one super available at any one time and you charge it by getting hit, that's right.. you earn the ability to unleash this single special move by playing badly and getting hit.

    It leads to a very stupid experience which doesn't reward skilled players. I recommend playing Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Virtual Fighter 5 instead.
    Full Review »