Street Fighter IV is an amazing game, it could be the game to bring back the fighting game genre back to it's former glory. But for me it's possibly one of the worst kind of games, not because it sucks because, again, it's an amazing game, but because it's also hard to get a handle on. Especially online, it doesn't matter whether or not you know how to do combos or all of the characters special moves because without knowing when to do those combos or special moves it's all useless. To me the split between the mind games and the actual fighting in a game like SFIV is something like 60/40. Figuring out ways to make openings in your opponent by faking him out or predicting what they'll do is what separates the good players from the bad. In the same vein, switching up your style so your opponent can't figure you out is also something essential to being good. These kinds of things you cant really learn from the single player or some mode in the game. The only thing you can do is play. Play as many matches online or with your friends and if you lose learn why and bring that into you next match.

So while I learn why I'm losing all the time I want to suggest something to those that feel like blaming the game or the person that decided to pick Ken. Think about what just happened, did your opponent just spam an attack? Then think about how you can get around it. Did he turtle? Think about how to get him out of his shell. Was he able to constantly pull combos and just dominate you? Think about how he was able to open you up to attacks and maybe you'll fair better next time. These are the kind of things that can't be taught.

So what makes SFIV the worst kind game? It's so good but so very frustrating.