Street Fighter 6 for Xbox Series X REVIEW – Back of the King?
Street Fighter 6 should serve as the standard by which all future fighting games should aspire, offering an all-inclusive experience that appeals to newcomers as well as series veterans alike. Capcom have certainly achieved their aim here – don’t miss out! It will serve as the new standard in its genre.
Street Fighter 6 stands as an antidote to Street Fighter 5, providing something enjoyable for every member of your gaming party. Be it World Tour mode, character creation/Battle Hub lobby system or approachability while maintaining depth – everyone will have something they like about Street Fighter 6. There’s simply no fault that stands out when considering all this game offers!
As is to be expected from a Street Fighter title, its core fighting is truly outstanding. Even for all its faults in Street Fighter 5, its core gameplay remained unparalleled, which can only mean one thing for Street Fighter 6; that experience players, combo fiends, and lab gremlins will find even more compelling due to Drive Rush mechanics that provide ample potential for combos and damage conversion. We might still find new combos and optimal damage conversion ratios months from now!
The Drive system in Street Fighter V is spectacularly innovative. Acting almost like an amalgamation of every aspect of this iconic fighting game franchise, Drive features overdrive Arts (equivalent of EX special moves), Drive Impacts are more powerful Focus Attacks from Street Fighter 4, while Rush is faster Focus Attack dash cancel. Parry is simplified parry technique from Street Fighter III while Drive Reversal returns as V-Reversal defense from SF5. All this can be controlled using its own gauge separate to your Super Arts meter so your ultimate attacks can also come more frequently too!
However, Street Fighter 6 stands out with its special attention paid to newcomers. Tutorials, combo trials and character breakdowns for every member of its roster provide players with all of the tools necessary for understanding a character without just diving headfirst into training mode; of course this option remains too. Nonetheless, its signposts have made fighting games less daunting for newcomers who might otherwise find them intimidating.
Capcom took things even further by including two unique new control schemes to their game. Classic controls employ six buttons and motions veterans have become used to, while modern control schemes simplify things considerably: instead of six attack buttons you get three as well as one special move button which can be customized by pressing multiple directions at the same time.
Capcom have wisely decided that Dynamic Mode allows players to mash buttons. Although it must be played offline only, it’s great seeing mainstream fighting games allow controls that encourage all to participate, almost like party game controls extending an olive branch to those who normally fold their arms when watching fighting games be played. Furthermore, Extreme Battle mode trades traditional fighting for some bizarre rulesets.
There have been concerns that modern controls, with their ease of execution, could give their players an unfair competitive edge; but both options come at their own costs and benefits. Modern controls may work better for people who excel at reading opponents but struggle with execution; but because modern control games tend to be simpler overall, modern control users may sacrifice three attack buttons and certain special moves due to its more minimalist nature; classic players generally possess more options and tools in battle compared to their modern control counterparts which give classic players an advantage in combat.
Modern controls may prove helpful at lower ranked tournaments, while classic controls become essential as you advance up the ranks. Capcom announced modern controls will be legal in their Capcom Pro Tour tournament so this provides me with an opportunity to test them. No matter the competitive viability, having such an option which helps newcomers manage the game easier can only be seen as beneficial.
Street Fighter 6 Online features have also been expanded substantially, from casual, ranked and custom rooms to Battle Hub: an expansive lobby where players from around the globe can meet to compete or simply socialise while challenging each other to matches, playing classic games or emoting in digital selfies. As someone who grew up using Soulcalibur V’s Global Colosseo lobby lobbies as reference points for comparison purposes – though only for visual comparison purposes! – this massive space feels far larger – even if just to see everyone’s weird avatars!
Street Fighter 6 stands out as an enjoyable gaming experience due to the World Tour mode; an RPG-esque adventure mode which gives players complete creative control in designing their characters and exploring Street Fighter world alongside many memorable characters who help you discover answers for “What does being strong mean?”
As part of your quest, you’ll explore two semi-open worlds as well as multiple separate locations with unique characters and masters to encounter. As you travel around in these open worlds, enemies might appear; when this occurs, 2D fighting of the regular game switches back over but this time goons with cardboard boxes on their head, drones, fridges or random businessmen with whom you get into an altercation are encountered and defeated; it seems Metro City remains pretty violent even today!
Experienced players and fans of Street Fighter universe will undoubtedly delight in finding all of World Tour’s hidden goodies and humor scattered throughout its different areas – especially those familiar faces who will likely receive a warm reception by fans when discovered!
World Tour serves a wonderful purpose as an extended tutorial mode, giving newcomers an in-depth introduction to Street Fighter 6 gameplay and its mechanics like Drive system. While experienced players may breeze through it quickly and stop for reference appreciation when appropriate, its primary role remains instructing new players in how Street Fighter 6 works as well as each roster member having different moves available and even explaining mechanics like Drive system.
Your player character has the capability to adapt and learn each style on the roster, picking up new special moves with increased EXP in each style. While you have freedom in customizing characters to your tastes with teleports, fireballs, command grabs and other effects – it also gives players an opportunity to become acquainted with new characters and moves as desired, changing up movelists when your mood so dictates.
World Tour provides some basic tutorials and missions designed to familiarise players with its mechanics, but its true power lies in teaching lessons without actually teaching. Learning new moves from master instructors is far less cumbersome than having to access Mortal Kombat story mode command lists every chapter; even basic enemies provide lessons aimed at dislodging bad habits like when jumping too quickly into combat with enemies that keep throwing wrenches into the mix–forcing players to adapt or solve issues on-demand like they would when faced with real matches!
World Tour does have one minor issue when it comes to special moves your avatar can equip. Naturally, your movelist only supports moves requiring one input at once (such as quarter circle forward), which extends beyond punch or kick buttons – for instance you could equip Luke’s Flash Knuckle (quarter circle back + punch + kick), but not Ryu or Ken’s Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (quarter circle back + special move + special). While likely due to modern controls’ similar input for these special moves – back + special), classic controls players could miss out altogether on something special!
Street Fighter 6 stands as the new benchmark in fighting games, meaning titles such as Tekken 8 and Mortal Kombat 1 may find it tougher to challenge it than ever. Capcom has begun their new era with great stride with Street Fighter 6, unquestionably outclassing even their competition in all aspects.
PR kindly provided me a digital version of Street Fighter 6 to conduct this review.
