Preview: Street Fighter X Tekken

In the land of punch-the-face, kick-in-the-bollocks, fire-from-hands fighting games there are two colossi, namely Street Fighter and Tekken. Each offers their own unique approach to the fighting genre and usually succeed in doing so otherwise they wouldn’t be so successful today. Now what happens when the two combine? Is it going to be a Dragon Ball Z like fusion like I imagine it to be?

Title: Street Fighter X Tekken
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Multiplayer: Yes
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Genre: Fighting
Expected Price: R528
Release Date: March 9 (Xbox 360 and PS3) May 14 (PC)

Street Fighter X Tekken features gameplay mechanics from both sides of the fence. On the one side we have Street Fighter with its unique Super Combo elements and EX Attacks from Street Fighter IV. The game will also use Street Fighter’s traditional 6 button approach to controls. On the other side we have Tekken with its own characters and special combos that are pulled off using its 4-button control scheme.

Street Fighter X Tekken will use a tag team approach where various characters from both games will be pitted against each other. It plays an integral part in the game for it’s responsible for various attacks and special moves. The first ability is Switch Cancel which allows the player to switch out characters in the process of a combo. The next ability is Cross Rush that get insinuated by one fighter launching his opponent in the air and switching out with his tag partner allowing his partner to continue with the combo.

It was also use a victory system reminiscent of Tekken’s Tag Team Tournament where the first player that reduces one of his opponent’s character’s health to zero, will win the round. Whoever has won the most rounds wins the match.

As fights progress there will be a gauge that fills up called the “Cross Gauge”. Depending on how full the gauge is, there will be a variety of moves that can be executed namely Super Arts, Cancels, EX Attacks and a host of Cross attacks.

A variety of tag team moves become available once the Cross Gauge is completed. One of these is called Cross Arts which gives the player the ability to do each character’s own unique Super Combo in one violent burst. Cross Assault  allows the player to control both characters at the same time doing massive combos until the Cross Gauge fully depletes.

Street Fighter X Tekken introduces its own unique gameplay mechanics to the stable of fighting games. These two features are known as Pandora and Power Gems

Power Gems 

There are six unique  kinds of gems available: Attack, Defence, Speed, Vitality, Assist and Cross Gauge. Each type of gem has its own colour assigned to it, Three of these gems can be assigned to each character and offer stat boosts correspondent to the gems equipped when certain conditions are met. This opens up a whole host of strategic options when it comes fighting.

Pandora

Pandora is an optional mode that can be activated when a player’s fighter’s health drops below 25%. It gives the opportunity to have one final burst of power with increased strength and an infinite Cross Gauge, but it has a time limit attached to it and the player will lose if the player doesn’t defeat his opponent before the limit reaches zero.

Multiplayer

There will be a host of various multiplayer modes available. The game features online training modes which can be either competitively or cooperatively played by two players. Two players can fight on the same team, each controlling his own character and compete in four player matches together. There will also be a Scramble mode where fight in pairs of two at the same time. There will also be a Fight Request feature.

List of playable characters 

Street Fighter:

1. Ryu
2. Ken
3. Guile
4. Abel
5. Chun-Li
6. Cammy
7. Segat
8. Dhalsim
9. Poison
10. Hugo
11. Ibuki
12. Rolento
13. Zangeif
14. Rufus
15. Balrog
16. Vega
17. Juri
18. M. Bison
19. Akuma