Akuma in action [videos]

Yay!! A video of Street Fighter IV with actual gameplay (at least the first that I've seen). Boooo!!! Akuma is getting his butt kicked. Yay!!! AKUMA!!! Boo...who the heck is Abel?

I'm pleasantly surprised (and relieved) that SFIV plays like a 2D fighter but looks like a gorgeous 3D fighter. I don't know about all of you readers, but when I played Street Fighter Ex on my PS2, it literally felt like a 3D game. It didn't have that sense of flair and gracefulness that the SF series is known for. And it always seemed that the graphics hindered the gameplay. It's almost as if the graphics kept the game from reaching top speed. Granted, I enjoyed playing it, but it just didn't feel like Street Fighter to me.

Even though I haven't played SFIV I can tell by watching the video that this particular 3D fighter is going to have the same charisma that all of the 2D Street Fighter games were known for.

Check out how badly Akuma gets beat in the second round. It almost makes me want to shed a tear, but then I think to myself, "Wow...that was frickin cool..."

-Jeremy aka Adridius