It's been quite some time since Street Fighter II has had a TRUE sequel, but when III finally arrived, many were simply dumbfounded. While the game set new standards for animation, the same gameplay we've all been spoon fed for numerous years previously was a bit much for any Capcom fan to swallow. The console version provides everything the arcade version did, plus an extra upgrade with Second Strike, the second iteration of the game, more refined with extra characters.

The entire reason this series lives on was due to it's innovative gameplay... for the time. Only so many years can pass before that appeal disappears. The upgrades here are minor and will by no means draw new fans to the game. Not to be misunderstood, the game plays flawlessly, but with so few changes, you really have to ask yourself if you still enjoy pressing down, down forward, forward, punch repeatedly.

The biggest addition to the gameplay is the parry system, allowing players to knock back any attack thrown at them. The problem is that's it easily abused by an expert player. Entire super combos can be rejected just by pressing forward at the right moment. Sure, it takes months of practice to really get it down. That doesn't mean it's not going to be abused.

The games biggest draw is the asinine amount of animation crammed onto this piece of plastic (or a massive oversized arcade cabinet, if you wish). Disney can't touch the work done on SFIII. Elena's stand animation outclasses anything that came before it, and in some cases is smoother than a 3-D fighter. Thankfully, all of the characters have been redrawn for the first time since the Alpha series (well, at least the few number of the returning ones). The backgrounds, while certainly passable, will by no means go down in history like those from II.

Fans of the original game will be sorely disappointed by the soundtrack in this one. Filled with ludicrous amounts of bass and fast, techno-styled tracks, this is a far cry from the Street Fighter we all know. Change the gameplay, but please, don't mess with the music.

Even with the constant griping about the lack of change, this is still a memorable game, even if only for it's animation. However, if you've officially grown tired of Street Fighter, there's not package that Capcom could offer that would draw you into this game. The series needs more than just new characters.