One Small Down Forward Punch: Initial Impressions on Street Fighter IV Volt (iPod/iPhone)

I am a button-masher. I'm as casual as it gets when it comes to fighting games. Sure, I enjoy them once in a while, but I just wallow in the misery of single-player modes, and that's because I suck when it comes to going against a human opponent.

Why Volt? I have no idea.

That said, SF4 Volt was recently released for the AppStore, for a dollar, so what the hell, right? Everyone's been raving about SF4 since it was released in the HD consoles and it's about time I take a look myself. Even if the virtual joystick and buttons would probably suck the fun out of the game, what's $1?

Boy, was I pleasantly surprised.

This picture does not give the opening cinematic justice.

The graphics are the best thing I've ever seen in a handheld device. The animation is superb and the framerate is stable, if a bit slow. The opening cinematic is jaw-dropping.

The controls are not as bad as it looks.

And while the controls take up a significant portion of the screen, they are actually workable. They are as responsive as buttons as far as I can tell. My only complaint is that my thumb occasionally grazes away from the joystick area in the heat of a match.

A new challenger has entered the ring!

And then there's the online versus mode which was the huge addition to the already existing SF4 in the AppStore. While playing the arcade mode with the option to battle online people turned on, you get challengers pretty much all the time.

And the best part?

Some people suck more than I do