Author’s Note: The Downside of Gamefly
So I am sure everyone has heard of Gamefly, the Netflix of the gaming world, but it does come with a small downside being the lack of manuals with each game. For most gamers, this is a fairly mute point since they don’t even look at the manual of the games they actually buy and most games featuring tutorials to walk new players through the basics. I did run into a problem when playing the Street Fighter 4 for one of my reviews I do for the American News, the game featured no tutorial and while I was easily able to pick up on the basics and found the combo list, things like the Ultra meter and Focus Attacks were left unexplained. I did a google search hoping to fill in the blanks of my knowledge, but only found guides how to unlock characters. The most helpful thing I managed to find on the wikipedia article of all places, explaining how to unleash the focus attacks.
Overall, I found the game somewhat unenjoyable and unbeatable on only the very easiest of difficulties, I am not sure if the game was intentionally made to be this hard or my inability to use my full strength kept me at a disadvantage. The 360 controller didn’t lend itself to the fighter well either, often leaving my hands struggling to hit the buttons accuratly enough to pull off the more complex moves. This made me understand why so many were purchasing special arcade sticks to play the game. I gave Street Fighter an overall pleasant review, noting inexperience as a likely disadvantage to enjoyment, and would defiantly recommend Gamefly to any of my friends but I certainly wish the information I needed would have been available to me.
Some game companies have a PDF version of the game manual on their site. Useful if you rented/purchased a game without a manual.
As for Street Fighter IV, I avoided it at all costs at its not my style of game.