Street Fighter EX3

Capcom brings its legendary fighting series to the PS2. Unfortunately, subpar graphics and a dusty 2D fighting engine places Street Fighter EX3 a step behind other PS2 brawlers.

Capcom brings its legendary fighting series to the PS2. Unfortunately, subpar graphics and a dusty 2D fighting engine places Street Fighter EX3 a step behind other PS2 brawlers.

Launch Fighters
The Street Fighter EX series is a strange combination of 3D graphics and Capcom's traditional 2D fighting engine that veterans will recognize immediately. This time around, thanks to the horsepower of the PS2, instead of the usual one-on-one or tag-team fights, SFEX3 has many kinds of multiplayer brawls-one-on-three, two-on-one, and even four-player free-for-alls if you have a PS2 multitap. The game's lineup has 16 characters, plus nine unlockable secret personages. There's even a character editor that enables you to create a custom fighter.

Despite all these gameplay extras, EX3 lacks perfected basics. Graphically, EX3 is mediocre (compared to Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore and Tekken Tag Tournament), with its unrealistic, blocky characters and sparkly effects. The slowdown that plagued the Japanese release, however, has been eliminated. The soundtrack continues the trend of the EX series and is pretty weak. Music is bland and forgettable, and character voices are not an improvement from the 2D version. The game's controls are rock-solid, Capcom style. In fact, this game is a little easier to master than the Street Fighter III or Vs. series, which might bring some newbies to the brawl.

2D or Not 2D, That Is the Question
When it comes down to it, this is just a prettier version of the PlayStation's EX series, but it's not pretty enough to make up for its so-so combat. Street Fighter fanatics will have fun with it on their PlayStation 2, but the SF series is much better in 2D on the Dreamcast.

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