Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX [PSP]

SFA3 Max boasts roughly a dozen modes, although some of them are simple variations on others. Arcade Mode is fairly self-explanatory and will likely be the first course of action for most Street Fighter fans. World Tour, Survival Mode, Dramatic (and Reverse Dramatic) Battle, and Final Battle are among the numerous different modes to be found on the UMD. Players will also be able to go under Edit Mode and tweak their favorite fighter to pump up their stats. The newest game mode, Variable Battle, brings some tag team a la the Marvel vs. Capcom series into the mix, as fighters can tag in and out on the fly. It appears that between the variations on SFA 3 available here and multiplayer, Capcom looks to deliver lots of bang for PSP gamers' bucks.

Multiplayer looks to be Ad Hoc only; looks like the hopes of some Wi-Fi Infrastructure action at Starbucks have been dashed, which is a shame, because the nature of Street Fighter has always been one that is highly competitive; last year's release of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection was a godsend for Xbox owners clamoring for online competition. We hope to get more time with the multiplayer aspects of SFA 3 once the game releases and we get some time to try out the person to person Ad Hoc in a real world environment. Hopefully, there won't be too much lag between PSP units; the split-second nature of fighting games hasn't always been successful in its translation to Wi-Fi or online.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max looks like a bonafide winner for Capcom. The Street Fighter series has always been a contributor to the company's license to print money, and this new title seems to be no exception. Unlike Darkstalkers Chronicles, which was a decent 2D fighter, Street Fighter has always celebrated more mainstream popularity, which should factor in heavily to its sales alongside the dearth of fighting games on PSP. That D-pad issue could potentially be a huge negative for some gamers, or it might not be. No matter what, though, this game is shaping up to be one of the biggest hits of early 2006.

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