25 June,2023 07:01 AM IST | Mumbai | Jaison Lewis
Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter 6 has made some major changes, including brand-new fighting mechanics. The new game has a roster of 18 playable characters, each with their own set of special moves and fighting styles. At no point does one character meld into the other, which also extends to Ryu and Ken; that's saying something. The game starts with building your custom character. You can customise everything to your liking. You can select the voice you would like, height, colour and other cosmetic changes to the character's face and body.
However, this character is initially bound to a standard selection of clothes and accessories. This character, once ready is then used in two of the three game modes in SF6. The first is an online Multiplayer mode called Battle Hub, and the second is an RPG mode called World Tour. The third game mode is called Fighting Ground. It doesn't use your custom character but is rather a section dedicated to the old-school arcade roots of the game.
Battle Hub is pretty unique in the way it appears. The lobby of the game is huge and you can see players who want to fight or connect in the middle. All around this arena are Arcade game booths and they allow you to play older versions of Street Fighter against players from all over the world. While in Battle Hub you can either approach players looking for a fight or set up your own mini-room where you wait for other players to approach your open challenge. The system works well and prevents you from being overwhelmed or contacting players who are not interested in sparing.
The RPG-ish Open World game is called World Tour. It is basically a story mode with character development, plot twists and bad voice acting. Not to be confused with the Fighting Grounds Story mode. In this mode, your character can complete quests, learn moves from some of the masters and pretty much fight anyone on the street. The entire mode seems very Yakuza-inspired, with everything from the look to the arcade games and the ridiculous quests. The story is actually not all that good it is just a means to an end. Basically, it needs you to move forward to the next task and that objective is embroiled in a story as an afterthought. Most people won't pay attention to it, and my guess is this is what the team on Capcom are relying on. The great thing about World Tour though is the ability to upgrade your character so it's more competitive against online players.
Fighting Ground is the familiar gameplay of Street Fighter. Here you can learn and practice special moves, fight in ranked matches and generally get a feel for all the characters. There are 18 of them this time, and Capcom has taken great effort into the balance of the game. Through Fighting Ground, you can also access another Story Mode. This is independent of the story you are playing out in World Tour.
The Story mode here is similar to what you would find in older versions of the game. You play one character, and it goes through a mostly text-based story revolving around the character you chose, to get a gist of the full story though you would have to play multiple characters and sort of jigsaw your way to a larger cohesive story. It has its charms.
Graphically the game has to be one of the best-looking Street Fighter games there is. The splash of colour which activates while using the overdrive system makes the game pop. The new character designs for the characters also look good. While their core remains the same there are some nice touches that bring the character design forward.
The game is not perfect and there were plenty of glitches both in the story mode and the Battle hub modes but nothing serious or game-breaking. I am hoping the roster also gets bigger with some DLCs. The pay-to-play sections are also not annoyingly in your face, all the time.
Capcom has done a good job in renewing Street Fighter 6. The game serves long-term fans of the series and caters to first-time players as well, allowing them to learn and experience the game at their own pace. Its roster of 18 characters is well-balanced, and there always seems to be a fair trade-off for choosing each playable character. The World Tour is a bit ridiculous, but it forms a good base before getting into the Battle Hub. If you are a fan of Street Fighter, this game has to be on your list, you can also get this if you like the Versus genre because this is a near-perfect specimen of one.
