If I had my way, I would’ve made Street Fighter X Tekken one of the greatest fighting games ever. Hindsight is 20/20 and it should have been better. SFXT’s launch wasn’t disastrous, but it hit some major bumps in the road thanks to some controversy, quality control issues, and negative PR. Some of the problems seem inexcusable. At the very least some of these problems seem amendable given a little more development time. Alas, in an industry so dependent on making deadlines, games must ship on time, finished or not, bugs and all. If you’re interested in knowing what we thought of the overall product, read our review, otherwise, continue on to see how Street Fighter X Tekken should have been if I had my way.

Online Sound Glitch

Gamers shouldn’t have to beta test games after their retail launch. Any MMO gamer knows what I’m talking about. It’s hard to predict the affect an influx of gamers will have on servers on the first day or week of release, but usually the problem lies in connectivity or gameplay performance. SFXT’s sound problems online is something that just shouldn’t happen. It doesn’t kill the basic functionality of the game. They clearly knew about the problem. They just couldn’t find a solution to it in time. It reeks of the typical corporate mantra, ship it and we’ll fix it in the future. How many times do we have to go through that? Release a finished product. Don’t use online updates as an excuse to put off fixing issues within a game that should’ve been addressed in development.

No, your speakers aren't broken.

Xbox 360 Owners Take a Backseat

I’ll be honest, I don’t care that the Xbox 360 doesn’t get characters like Sony cats, Cole McGrath, Fat Mega Man, or Pac-Man. None of them have anything to do with Street Fighter or Tekken. It is rather disappointing that so much attention was paid to Sony’s version of SFXT. Adding insult to injury, there is a lack of four player co-op in the 360 version of the game. The PS3 game allows two local players on a team to go up against another team online. Capcom’s Tomoaki Ayano stated that they addressed it early enough on the PS3, but the 360 version had to be cut in order to meet their deadline. I don’t subscribe to system war fanboyism, but this sure feels like Capcom isn’t showing the love to 360 owners. It’s a shame since both systems get their exclusives. PS3 is getting Resident Evil: Chronicles HD Collection and 360 is getting a Kinect enabled Steel Battalion.

Do Away With the Gimmicks

I like that Capcom wants to try new things. They should be commended for that, but for all of the gimmick characters, that arguably, no one really wants, and for game changing systems like the Gems System, they could have been focusing on the improvements I want made. Improvements like ensuring a game is fully functioning upon release and is taking strides in the areas it excels in. The Gem System is a seemingly unnecessary system to further add some concept of leveling the playing field and maybe closing the distance between inexperienced and advanced gamers. Ultimately, I just don’t think many purists will care about it because the customization and implementation of the system is too cumbersome. Gamers are overwhelmed as it is with all of the new gameplay systems in place, now they have to tool around with gems. Why complicate it even more? The amount of time and manpower placed into creating these gimmicks should have gone into providing a better experience for the fans of these series. Let us feel some level of appreciation for the pervasive greed seen in the DLC cash grabs that both Capcom and Namco Bandai have been guilty of.

Fat Mega Man? You can keep him.

Pages: 1 2