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Capcom Fight Evolution must have been born in the same brainstorming session that brought the gaming world Street Fighter Anniversary Collection. After all, both titles are interesting ideas that were so haphazardly implemented that any enjoyment such a unique experience could bring was negated by a lack of care and concern on the part of the developers. I hope greed was the main reason for these releases and not a lack of talent; otherwise, it seems the company has completely lost its footing in the fighting genre. What saved the lackluster swansong of fifteen years worth of solid 2D fighting was the addition of Street Fighter III: Third Strike, which truly is one of the best in the genre. Capcom Fight Evolution, however, has no saving grace, leaving it, like the all-girl and highschool fighters, as a novelty of the genre.

With a character roster including fighters from Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III, Darkstalkers, and Red Earth, the initial character count is twenty-one. Beating the game unlocks other characters, as well as music tracks and other goodies. That is the most enjoyable aspect of the game, really: listening to stage tunes, looking at the comic book-style endings and seeing who becomes playable. Getting to that point, however, is quite a chore.

One of the selling points of the game is that two fighters can be chosen, and the second round can start with either character as the combatant. The whole twist is that this is supposed to make the matches random, keeping players on their toes. The problem with this is that, aside from having little impact, opponents will have be on their toes regardless, unless they have a Street Fighter character. Much like Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, the game takes into account the move list and the style of the characters from the games they had originally come from, but they do not take into account the growth of the fighters during their release. Add to that the fact that the Street Fighter series has always had a tighter fighting engine than

the other releases, which means even the older characters from Street Fighter II can bowl over the handful of players from the other series, despite the token additions of super moves and counters. Ryu is basically a juggernaut in the game, and the computer handles Guy surprisingly well. Aside from Pyro and possibly Dante, everyone else is a pushover. To actually do well in single player, I found that using anyone from Red Earth or Darkstalkers was suicide.

What I would really like to see is a true compilation. I do not want this piecemeal and collaboration garbage. Give me a true collection of all the Street Fighter Alpha titles, the Darkstalkers titles, and possibly an odd-man-out set with Cyberbots, Red Earth, and Pocket Fighter. As interesting as they are in theory, the releases that are coming out now are just are not taking advantage of the true potential. What is especially telling is how a few of the characters were given updates, such as the Street Fighter II characters, while others were not, making for eyesores such as those that could be seen when playing either of the Capcom vs. SNK titles. Even worse are the backgrounds; despite being littered with references to past Capcom titles, which is cool, the majority of them are atrocious, looking like bland, distorted pastel paintings, which can actually be distracting. The audio is about the only thing that was not brutalized. The controls are good, but, since the array of styles is so different with titles so dispersed throughout the years, it often feels like a mix between skill, button mashing, and pure luck. Again, Capcom manages to ruin a charming idea.

Overall: 3/10
When playing Street Fighter characters against each other, the game is not so bad. Being a huge fan of the Alpha series, I liked being able to play as Rose and Sakura, and taking them against Alex from three and Zangief from two is a unique experience. Sure, the bouts kind of fall apart after a while, but they are interesting enough to be enjoyable to a fan of the series. It is when the other characters are introduced alongside the shoddy implementation and graphics that the game just falls to pieces, with the result leaving the player wondering what the point is. If Capcom wants to release a collection, then they should release a real collection with the complete titles being selectable and not altered to add new characters, nor should they mess with the fighting system. If they want to do one of these hodgepodge deals, then they should do it right. It's unfortunate that, as a result of the company's mad grab for cash or ineptitude, one of their favored series is the one who suffers.

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