Street Fighter IV Power Up Pack Impressions

Apr 24, 2009

Street Fighter IV got an update today, called the Power Up Pack, that adds in new online functionality as well as a replay feature. Price isn't really an issue because this update is free, so what you'll find below is a basic description of what's included.

Once you've downloaded the update on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, you'll have access to a Championship Mode for online competitions. For anyone who's been grinding through ranked match after ranked match online since the game was released back in February, this should be a welcome change. The content update adds in a few new kinds of rankings to gauge your status as an online fighter, as well as a new style of competition.

Video Feature - Watch or download the video here (HD available).

Championship Mode is broken down into several tiers of tournaments. Your eligibility for each is determined by a new player rank, which you can bump up by earning grade points, or GP, which are accumulated through participation in Championship Mode matches. The term "tournament" here may be a little misleading for some: you don't actually enter into a bracket or anything like that. Instead, the system works in a similar manner to ranked match searching.

When you win a Championship Mode match online, you'll see your "Championship Progress" tab get updated to something like "1st Battle" or "Final Battle." After each match you're kicked back out to the search screen and to advance to the next round you simply search again like you would in ranked matches. The difference here is that you're only be matched up against those with the same progress tag as you. As you participate you get GP (which are not taken away, like ranked match Battle Points, when you lose), boost your rank, and if you're able to win a full tourney you're rewarded with a heap of championship points. If you'd prefer to play arcade mode and wait for someone to send a request for a Championship Match, you can do that too.

For setting up a Championship Match, you'll find a few more options available. First off, you can set the type of match to Grade or Free. If it's grade, rank restricts those eligible to join. If it's free, anyone can join, which could toss you into a match where you're up against someone of a vastly superior skill level. When waiting to start you'll see the player's disconnect rate, meaning if they're someone prone to quitting before a match is through, you'll know beforehand and can boot them out to make room for someone more reliable. You'll also notice the game uses blind character selection when starting up, which means neither you nor your opponent can see which character the other is selecting. Note that blind selection is only implemented in Championship Matches, not the ranked ones.

Anyone interested in the replay system may be a little disappointed with what's been included here, even though it's a free update. Only replays of the top Championship Mode players can be viewed, and beyond that the way you interact with them differs across Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions. On PlayStation 3, you can only view and rate the replays. On Xbox 360, you can actually save them to a list and choose to display the fighters' button inputs while viewing, making it the better experience.

All in all, this doesn't really overhaul the entire system, but for anyone who's been playing online since the game came out, like me, it's a great addition. Though the Championship Mode matches still function in a similar manner to the ranked matches, the fact that there's an additional progression structure and new forms of rewards is definitely appreciated. The replay feature seems like it could be more developed, but it's tough to really complain that much about a free update.

I also happened to notice the Championship Mode searching seemed a lot more reliable than ranked match. Anyone else?

Feel free to leave your thoughts on what Capcom's added in the comments below.