Capcom NYC Fight Club: Hands-on Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Thursday afternoon, Capcom hosted another Fight Club event, this time taking over New York City’s Eyebeam Art and Technology Center to show off some upcoming titles. On hand were next week’s Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition, November’s Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and next year’s much anticipated Street Fighter X Tekken.

You really have to hand it to Capcom for putting together these community events. In an age of online multiplayer, Capcom can rally together hundreds of fans on short notice, all for a chance to play some of their games in development.  I was able to play all three titles for a fair amount of time, and grabbed some pictures of the event. Check out the full gallery below, and my game impressions below the break!

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Street Fighter X Tekken was certainly the show-stopper. Serving as a dream team collaboration of Namco and Capcom’s most elite franchises, fans literally jumped up and down out of excitement once inside the venue. Anticipation had mounted as Capcom devoted minions grinned from ear to ear, ready to throw down on the latest of fighter titles — or fightles? I spent my battles with a mix of characters, SF veteran Chun-Li and Tekken’s Yoshimitsu mostly. I used both an arcade stick and PS3 controllers, and found both controls equally satisfying, although I fancy myself a traditional controller player. I inadvertently switched between my two characters, seemingly from a variety of button combinations, while using the arcade stick, but that’s likely due to the fact that it’s not my preferred method of play.

Visually, I absolutely adore the game. Screenshots don’t do it justice, as characters are beautifully animated, and the environments are vibrant and often stunning. Much like how SFIV brought along a darker more stylized approach than its predecessors,  Street Fighter X Tekken seems to enhance those effects. I loved how time within environments progresses rapidly throughout your battle, where the stage’s sky will go from day to night by the end of your third round. Additionally, the roster is just so much fun. Characters like Hugo, who’s been absent from all SFIV iterations, was a crowd favorite at the event. There are many more characters to be revealed, and still a ways to go, but there’s no doubt Street Fighter X Tekken will deliver exactly what you’re expecting of it when it hits stores spring 2012.

On the surface, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 is mostly a polished version of the original, but it does a great job of keeping fans happy by adding new characters, and making some gameplay tweaks. Initially, half of the content from Ultimate was slated to be DLC for MvC3, but tsunami destruction in Japan resulted in development problems that brought about the creation of a new game. With just a few months before release, we still don’t have a confirmed final roster, though leaks have all but confirmed who you’ll be fighting with come this November, characters like Phoenix Wright — reason enough for purchase if you ask me.

At Fight Club however, it was Ghost Rider who earned a permanent spot in my rotation of characters, as clearly the coolest newbie — unless you’re more of a Dr. Strange person. Ghost Rider is powerful in his attacks, using his chain whip to damage far away enemies. He’s got an awesome motorcycle based special attack as well, though asking me to execute specials using an arcade stick is a near impossibility. I left that to the crowd of fighter fanatics that seemed to really love his addition. The game may feel like more of the same, but if you’re like me, you’d enjoy countless iterations of the high energy off-the-wall craziness of the MvC series.

My thoughts and impressions on Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition will be included in a full review of the game, coming Monday, August 22. Stay tuned for that!

A huge shoutout and thank you to Capcom for letting me check out the Fight Club event! They truly go out of their way to accommodate fans and press alike.

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