Street Fighter X Tekken isn’t out until March but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a preview build this past weekend. The game represents the first half of the collaboration between Street Fighter creators Capcom and Tekken creators Namco, with Capcom first out of the gate with Street Fighter X Tekken while Namco ramps up production on Tekken X Street Fighter.

Naturally Capcom’s creation is in the style of recent Street Fighter titles, with Street Fighter IV’s gorgeous cel-shaded graphics making a return along with nineteen characters from the Street Fighter series. The rest of the line-up consists of nineteen Tekken fighters plus five PlayStation-exclusive characters (including Cole from the inFamous series).

I found Tekken 6’s graphics to be a little on the sterile side so it’s a real treat to see iconic Tekken characters such as King and Hwoarang rendered with far more pizazz using Capcom’s cel-shaded technique. Street Fighter X Tekken’s overall tone is very tongue-in-cheek so the cel-shaded look breathes life into the characters’ exaggerated expressions.

There’s a lot of detail to be found in the game’s graphics, whether you choose to focus on all the background activity in each stage or pay attention to the way a character’s expression changes when they’re dealt a particularly heavy blow. Each stage has its own allure and the environments are definitely some of the most interesting and varied fighting arenas I’ve seen in a while. For example, there’s one stage where a couple of trucks decked out in LED lights pull up in the background as you fight. The new arrivals lend a carnival atmosphere to the battle and it’s hard not to smile at the sheer creativity of the background designers.

Street Fighter X Tekken boasts a number of modes which should please fighting game veterans. Joining the standard modes such as ‘Arcade,’ ‘Challenge’ and ‘Practice’ is an interesting new multiplayer mode called ‘Scramble.’ This allows four players to fight simultaneously in pairs of two, with all four characters being on-screen at once. This should be chaotic fun whether you play locally or online and is one of the modes I’m most looking forward to sinking some time into.

Arcade mode sees you selecting two characters and taking part in tag battles similar to those seen in Tekken Tag Tournament. You lose the round as soon as one of your characters is knocked out so it’s important to summon your ally when your health is low. Of course, the tag mechanic in Street Fighter X Tekken is a lot more refined than it was in Tekken Tag Tournament so there are plenty of tag tactics to learn if you want your team to be unstoppable against similarly skilled human opponents.

One of the things that surprised me about the control scheme in Street Fighter X Tekken is that every button on the Dual Shock 3 is used during combat. ‘Quick Combos’ can be assigned to L3 and R3 and the shoulder buttons are used to pull off powerful punches and kicks. This gives the player easy access to a range of destructive moves which can quickly turn the tide of battle.

Tekken is a 3D fighter while Street Fighter’s battles typically take place on a 2D plane. This game opts for 2D action so there’s no way to sidestep around opponents for players used to Tekken’s gameplay mechanics. That said, part of Street Fighter X Tekken’s charm is seeing how the Tekken characters have been adapted for the more range-orientated gameplay of the Street Fighter series. They all have a new arsenal of moves, some of which are fantastically potent.

A new addition to Street Fighter’s gameplay is the gem system. You can assign three gems to each character and these grant stat bonuses when certain conditions are met during battle. For example, you may need to perform a six-hit combo to activate a speed gem which allows you to move faster. Experienced players will no doubt relish the extra layer of strategy that the gem system introduces to bouts.

Street Fighter X Tekken has a couple of great options hidden away in its menu system. Installing the game to your PS3’s hard drive will shave a good seven seconds or so off the loading time between each stage, and there’s also the option to select English or Japanese voice-overs on a per character basis.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how the finished game turns out, and can’t wait to see how Street Fighter X Tekken translates to the PS Vita’s hardware. I think the game will bring Street Fighter and Tekken players together in an unprecedented way, and both groups of gamers should find a lot to like about the other franchise after being exposed to many of its central characters and components.

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