If you peer back through the mists of time to an arcade circa 1984, you can witness the earliest days of the videogame fighting genre with such classics as Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Just a few years later 1987 saw the premiere of Street Fighter, and fighting games changed forever.

Street Fighter IV is a sublime reintroduction to a brilliant series, one that will be celebrated by fans and adored by new players alike.

Street Fighter IV, as with most fighting games, is difficult to review. Almost everyone that has enough interest in the product to bother checking out a review has also followed the game for months on end, read previews about how the game plays, looked at numerous videos showing the fighters in...

I'm standing behind the Street Fighter IV cabinet at ATEI, the UK's only amusement arcade exhibition. Around the machine loiters a group of twentysomethings, all of whom invented or lied about the names of companies they work for in order to gain access to this supposedly industry-only exhibition.

" Street Fighter III never happened. Shadaloo was never destroyed. Alex never unseated Ryu as the main character. The final boss was never a one-half ice-blue, one-half fire-red self-proclaimed god who fought in a white cloth thong that would have made Cammy (slightly) jealous.

Fully revives the; Accessible to casual and hardcore players; Focus Attacks and Revenge Gauge; Stunning brush effects and 3D modeling; Hard-hitting sound effects; Online mode; finally; Overall balanced character roster

AI for Seth is insane; Mostly dull soundtrack; Lack of hometown stages; Rufus

So here we are then. Street Fighter IV. A game which a couple of years ago existed only as an unlikely fanboy dream, but which now elic...

Endlessly fun, deep and exilarating fighting, Gorgeous and unique visuals, The best vs; multiplayer around

Seth is a horribly cheap boss, The anime cut-scenes are short and badly animated, That ill-fitting intro song; Ugh

As for the game's sound, I'm happy that we're treated to a heck of a music selection. Hideyuki Fukasawa, assistant on the Onimusha and Devil May Cry series, took the helm here. I'm extremely pleased with the blending of metal, techno, orchestral, and ethnic styles in each track.

Dan Chiappini gets his hadoken on in our review for Street Fighter IV.

SF IV features a mix of returning favorites such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Guile along with new characters created for this game, such as Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus.

Street Fighter IV takes the supreme legacy of the Street Fighter series to new heights with reworked visuals, a solid and well-balanced character roster, solid gameplay mechanics and an impressive audio score.