Enjoy new characters, Super and Ultra fighting moves, plus Focus Attack capability.

This is a new maneuver added to Street Fighter and every character in SF4 has one. A focus attack is an attack with a long animation that absorbs one of the opponents hits and retaliates with a hit that stuns the opponent leaving them open for whatever. Unlike parrying in Street Fighter III, focus attacks can only absorb one hit but it is much easier to do. Also, absorbing a hit with a focus attack will cause damage to your character but, as long as your character does not take any further damage after the focus attack, the damage will slowly be regenerated. Focus attacks can also be used quickly, but a quick focus attack will not stun your opponent. Quick focus attacks can also be linked into combos to add extra hits and do more damage to your opponent. At the risk of sounding like an infomercial: "But wait! There's more!" After starting a focus attack, players can perform a dash to cancel the focus attack which is great for baiting opponents into a trap or continuing a combo.

Almost any maneuver in Street Fighter IV can be linked to another maneuver, and as you play more and more you'll find some outstanding combo possibilities. In addition to the main arcade mode there is actually a trial mode in SF4 that challenges you to perform certain actions and combos just like the Kombo Challenge mode in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Adding to the content of SF4 is a survival mode which tests how long you can survive through a gauntlet of opponents and a time-trial mode which challenges you to beat opponents within a certain time limit. Online play is a must for SF4, but, if you are going to play ranked matches, be prepared to face some seriously cheap players.

As you begin the arcade mode with each character, you are treated to an anime-style scene created by Japanese animation house Studio 4°C, which explains why your character has entered the tournament. This is the only gripe I have about the game: although they can be funny sometimes, the 2D anime sequences just don't feel on-model with the rest of SF4's 3D gameplay. People who picked up the Collector's Edition of SF4 are treated to a feature-length animated movie also created by Studio 4°C in the same art style as the in-game anime scenes. The film explains what happens between Street Fighter II and IV; it's a little long-winded in the dialogue department but don't be surprised if some scenes give you a goose bump or two.

Back to the main game, the 3D art style is an outstanding feat with some very well-done cel-shading, excellent lighting and a hand-painted style that, coupled with the outstanding animation and facial expressions, brings life to each character's personality the way you would imagine each character would be. Some of the character's facial expressions, after being hit, can be a little over the top, making it hard to take the game seriously sometimes but it's really not anything that would hold the game back. Street Fighter IV is easily the best fighting game on current gen consoles. The only fighting games that come close are Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which SF4 easily beats both due to the outstanding amount of content that SF4 offers.

Are you a button-mashing mother f%&#$r!? The videogame extension of the Samuel L. Jackson anime Afro Samurai would like to test you out. © Namco Bandai.

Afro Samurai for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; Publisher: Namco Bandai; Developer: Namco Bandai; Release Date: January 27, 2009; ESRB Rating: M for mature; Genre: action-adventure; Players: 1; Support: N/A; Online: N/A

Two years ago an awesome anime with a hilarious name was released, called Afro Samurai. Not to be taken lightly for its goofy sounding name, the first 10 minutes of the anime dropped more F-bombs than any regular person could possibly fit into 10 minutes of speech. Afro Samurai is also known for its righteous fight scenes, buckets of 2D animated blood, the musical talents of the RZA from Wu-Tang Clan and the voice acting talent of everyone's favorite and most intimidating actor, Samuel L. Jackson. Namco Bandai has taken us to the front line and brought us the Afro Samurai game.

The story of Afro Samurai is actually not very deep. The main character -- who everyone just calls Afro -- witnessed his father get murdered when he was young. Afro's father wore the Number 1 headband, which was a sacred headband that showed every fighter who came in contact with its wearer that, basically, this was the baddest man on the planet. Anyone and everyone would challenge the Number 1 in order to become the new Number 1, hence why Afro's father died. Afro is now grown up and has killed so many people that he wears the Number 2 headband and is constantly looking for the man wearing the Number 1 headband in order to avenge his father. The story in the anime and the game are the same thing; the game is just a continuation of the anime.

Jackson returns to the role of Afro Samurai and his counterpart Ninja Ninja. RZA also returns to create new beats for the Afro Samurai game. The graphics in Afro Samurai are absolutely gorgeous. Everything is modeled in 3D but you would swear up and down that it looks exactly like the anime. The artists created texture maps that completely retain the look and feel of the anime right down to the penciled cross hatches across the characters faces during dimly lit scenes. As in the anime, Afro Samurai is set in a modern-day Feudal Japan. What that means is that everyone in the Afro Samurai world enjoys all the same technology that we have today but they have chosen to keep everything looking like it did in Feudal Japan. It's not uncommon to run across a 17th century Japanese hut with an air conditioning unit sticking out the back of it.