Street Fighter 6 - Review "Arguably The Best Overall Fighting Game Package Ever Made"
With expressive combat brilliant game modes and a great roster of characters this game makes a good argument of being the best overall fighting game ever made.
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00:00 Street Fighter 6 is one of the best fighting game packages I've ever encountered. It's
00:04 absolutely jam-packed with things to do right out of the gate. Capcom has delivered a diverse
00:10 collection of game modes, fighting styles and opportunities for personal expression,
00:14 which work to both reflect the diverse fanbase that has rallied around the franchise over the
00:18 last 35 years, and rebuff any fears that the studio would repeat its past mistakes.
00:23 Street Fighter 6 arrives with three separate, fully featured game modes that complement one
00:29 another - Battle Hub, Fighting Ground, and the single-player focused World Tour mode.
00:34 World Tour is unlike anything I've seen before in a fighting game, with the closest comparison
00:38 being something akin to Yakuza Light. You're able to create a custom character, and then cut around
00:44 a hub-based map based off Final Fight's legendary metro city. From there, you're free to get into
00:49 scraps, complete quests, level up stats like damage output and defence, and progress through
00:54 a relatively self-contained story. Ryu, for instance, is quite happily tucked away in Japan,
00:58 trying to figure out how to use a mobile phone, and Chun-Li is teaching Kung Fu in Metro City's
01:03 Chinatown district. They've beaten M. Bison, saved the day, and their position in the Street Fighter
01:07 lore is at an end. They're pretty much retired. The real brilliance of World Tour lies in its
01:12 variety. The ability to mix and match special moves from the entire roster with a character's
01:17 base fighting style is a lot of fun. Imagine having Dhalsim's ranged normals and ability
01:22 to teleport, Mannon's command grab and damage stacking ability, Luke's ludicrous fast fireball,
01:27 and Ken's multi-hitting dragon punch. World Tour lets you piece together initially broken
01:32 characters, and it's undeniably enjoyable. Not only to find new combo paths, but to better
01:37 understand how each core fighter on the roster has been created and balanced. As entertaining as World
01:42 Tour can be, it's the Fighting Grounds mode where you'll initially sink the majority of your time.
01:46 It's here where you'll sharpen your skills, test them against other players online, and take part
01:51 in traditional activities. A classic arcade mode, a new extreme battle mode which allows you to fight
01:56 with modifiers that Spicing counters up. The training systems offered throughout are extremely
02:01 robust, regardless of whether you're a day one beginner or a seasoned professional. Street
02:04 Fighter 6 provides all the tools you'll need to gradually improve. All the usual stuff is here,
02:09 such as input and attack information displays, but there's also an excellent visual indicator
02:14 of frame data for you and your opponent, which clearly messages who has an advantage.
02:18 When you're sick of training, you can always blast through Arcade mode. Fights with AI characters,
02:23 which are bookended by artwork and a voiceover that fleshes out your chosen fighter's actions
02:28 around the events of Street Fighter 6. This is actually where most of the real Street Fighter
02:31 story elements are found, so if you're jonesing to find out who new final boss JP is and where
02:36 he fits into all of this, you're better off firing through this Arcade mode ladder than sitting
02:40 through World Tour mode. Once you've familiarised yourself with the basics, it's the Battle Hub
02:44 where the vast majority of your time will be spent. Somehow this online mode has managed to foster a
02:48 strange sort of community, players from around the world gathering to show off their horrific
02:52 creator character monstrosities, or rallying around a cabinet to watch two top players go at
02:57 it. Online matchmaking was, despite the small pool of opponents during the review period,
03:02 almost completely flawless, undoubtedly some of the best netcode seen in any fighting game.
03:07 Naturally, the most important component of any fighting game are the unique systems that give
03:10 it its own particular flavour. Street Fighter 3 had parries, Street Fighter 5 had the V system,
03:15 and Street Fighter 6 has the Drive system, and it might just be the most interesting development in
03:20 the series history. It's all governed by a single meter, the drive gauge, and by spending certain
03:25 amounts of this you can perform several different actions. There's Drive Reversal, which acts almost
03:29 identically to the V Reversal in Street Fighter 5, essentially acts as a 'get off me' move and
03:34 knocks your opponent away, temporarily mitigating any pressure they might be putting on you. Drive
03:38 Rush is a sudden dash forward, allowing you to continue combos where previously it would not be
03:43 possible, or simply just trying to catch your opponent off guard. The Drive Parry, which acts
03:47 as not only a way of deflecting the opponent's attacks, but also as a means of recovering your
03:51 drive gauge. Holding down both medium attack buttons puts you in a parry state, where you
03:56 will automatically deflect any incoming attacks, although you will be very vulnerable to grabs.
04:01 Hitting both medium attacks as the attack lands causes a perfect parry, which actually allows you
04:07 to counter with your own attacks. The timing on this is very precise, so it's a big risk,
04:11 but for a hefty reward. One of the most instantly effective uses is the Drive Impact,
04:16 a huge armoured strike that will blast through 3 incoming hits to deliver a crushing blow,
04:21 leaving your opponent completely vulnerable. It's extra scary because if you block a drive impact,
04:26 you get pushed back substantially, and if you hit the edge of the screen from this pushback,
04:31 you get stunned automatically. There's a lot of mind games around this technique,
04:34 knowing when to use it to catch your opponent out and not just throw it out wildly or predictably
04:39 is going to be a key part of what makes a top player, as it is easy to counter by simply doing
04:43 a drive impact of your own on reaction. Finally, you can spend some of this meter to perform
04:48 overdrive versions of your own special moves, such as EX moves in other Street Fighter games.
04:53 The most radical aspect of this system is that you start every round with a full drive gauge.
04:58 Traditionally in a fighting game, you build up this meter throughout a match, and you can spend
05:02 it on enhanced special moves, super moves and other means of turning the tide in battle in
05:06 your favour. The meter is usually part of, or heavily linked to, a game's comeback mechanic,
05:10 something you can use to drastically swing the momentum of the fight. Here, this is not the case.
05:15 All parts of the drive system are available to both players from the word "fight", so the game
05:19 has you empowered and fully stocked up, capable of pulling off your best stuff at the start of
05:23 the round, rather than giving it to you just in time to steal one for your opponent. You're not
05:28 building to a conclusion, but instead have all the tools to build a strategy. It's completely
05:32 at odds with not only how Street Fighter, but most fighting games tend to work nowadays,
05:36 and is a major part of what makes Street Fighter 6 feel so fresh. Whether you're a hardcore fighting
05:41 game player, or a casual Street Fighter fan who hasn't touched the series in a generation or so,
05:46 Street Fighter 6 has something for you, and not only that, it manages to offer enough reason for
05:50 both sides to dip their toe into the other side's water. It's a strong package, arguably the best
05:55 overall fighting game package ever made, but it'd be all for naught if the fighting system that
06:00 underpins it wasn't up to much. It just happens to be the most flexible, versatile and expressive
06:05 combat in a Street Fighter game to date. Street Fighter 6 is a perfect place to start,
06:09 or a brilliant continuation. An exceptional time for those who are looking to play 30 hours,
06:14 or 3000. We give Street Fighter 6 5 stars out of 5.
06:18 "This is your last ride! Let's go!"
06:20 "My beautiful body is built better!"