Metareview - Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (PSP)

What do we need to know about new PSP release Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (otherwise known as Street Fighter Zero 3: Double Upper in Japan)? The port's pixel-perfect, ad hoc multiplayer is great (despite the lack of infrastructure support), stretched widescreen is serviceable (though the "letterbox" version might better suit 2D purists), and the controls are wonky (even with the sticky D-pad cover that came with pre-orders). Other than that, SFA3M is the epitome of 2D fighting games, a decent title (metascore: currently 80 out of 100) which will probably appeal to fans more than the critics. Here are some review highlights:

• GamePro (4.0/5): "Yes, the game is essentially a port of a decade old fighter and it can be hard as hell, but all the horsepower the PSP brings to the table can't keep this game from being at times mind-numbing frustrating when it comes to control. Put simply, the D-pad the PSP has just isn't cut out to be used for a fighting game, where fast fingers and accurate directional control is paramount."

• GameSpy (3.5/5): "Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max is one of the best-made games you can get on your PSP, far better than a simple port of an arcade game, yet hindered quite significantly by the handheld's design flaws."

• GameSpot (8.2/10): "Capcom created limited supplies of an adhesive D pad attachment, which gives your thumb more leverage and simply makes special moves easier to pull off. Diehard fans of this game and Capcom's first PSP fighter, Darkstalkers Chronicle, should seek this new D pad attachment out. For most everyone else, it's really not that bad tolerating the PSP controls with this game. But since it's such an exact translation of the original, you can't help but wish for perfectly precise controls to go with it."

For Fighter fans who need an Alpha fix on the console homefront, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology may be just the thing for PS2 owners who can wait till summer (unless, of course, they already own an Alpha iteration for the PS1). If no online play is included in that version, however, Capcom should pull things together and release the SF "prequel" to the XBL Arcade service once Hyper Fighting finds an audience on Live.