With an open world and lots of other features, Street Fighter 6 wants to be the most beginner-friendly fighting game since Smash Bros. The test shows: It works, too. With one but.

There are three ways to write a review of Street Fighter 6  You can test for the hardcore fans who want to understand in minute detail how the new Drive Gauge replaces Street Fighter 5”s overloaded V-Trigger system, which moves change with what frame data and how, and what fresh meta tricks will take the fighting game community by storm.

Alternatively, you can write for absolute newbies who think Cancelling is primarily a Twitter fad and Dragon Punch is a new kind of energy drink.

Or do as I do and lie somewhere in the middle. Although I love fighting games, Street Fighter 5 put me off for years with its crappy launch. So I return with fairly fresh eyes and can give the all-clear straight away: Capcom does much, much, much more right with the sequel.

Veterans will be pleased right at the release with a lush fighter ensemble – a sensible mix of old and new faces -, a coherent but not too intrusive drive mechanic, a fantastic fighting feeling. And newcomers … believe me: this game wants you!

Street Fighter 6 is more important to fresh meat than the health authorities when they target Tönnies once again. Everything in this game feels like an invitation for beginners: there”s a beginner-friendly open-world mode, extensive tutorials, explanations, exams, plus an alternative control scheme so beginners don”t get their fingers all knotted right away.

And indeed: I”d say Street Fighter 6 is the most beginner-friendly fighting game since Super Smash Bros. But still, all that open-world pomp shouldn”t lead you astray. Street Fighter is Street Fighter – and if you don”t want to suffer in multiplayer, you won”t have any fun here in the long run.

Microtransactions in Street Fighter 6: Shortly before the test embargo fell, Capcom informed us by email that Street Fighter 6 will get a Battle Pass, in-game shops, microtransactions and currencies after release. On paper, this all sounds like standards that have now been established: Only cosmetic outfits cost real money, so you”re not paying for gameplay boosts. Given all the monetisation shenanigans of Street Fighter 5, though, I”m still going to scrutinise the shop before giving it a score. And the fact that this content is (magically, of course) missing from the test version always has a stale aftertaste – as often as it may unfortunately happen in the industry now.

The three pillars of Street Fighter 6

Where its predecessor could barely heave a single pillar reasonably out of its skew at launch, Street Fighter 6 offers three supporting pillars from day one to get you started:

The World Tour: An open-world mode for single-player fans, in which you go from nobody to champ with a self-made avatar in a large US metropolis and travel the rest of the world in between.

The Arcade Area: Street Fighter 5 taught us that the classic arcade mode is not a matter of course. Fortunately, it”s right in there in the sequel. You compete with your fighter against AI opponents, practice in challenge mode and so on.

Battle Hub and Multiplayer: I have not yet been able to test the online multiplayer under live conditions, but theoretically you can fight against people from all over the world and hang out together in a virtual lounge.

Before I get into the details there: All three areas logically share the same grandiose combat system, the basic idea of which hasn”t changed in 30 years. In the side view, you fire punches, kicks and special manoeuvres at your opponent with your fighter, chain together whirl kicks and fireballs to create powerful combos until the health bar is at zero and the enemy”s face is massaging the asphalt.

New is the so-called drive system, which (greatly simplified) works like this: I can opt for particularly powerful special attacks and even make myself temporarily invulnerable to enemy punches and kicks – but in doing so, a bar empties and when it accidentally runs out, my Ryu is more drained than the Star Wars cast after Episode 9. And extremely vulnerable.

This may not sound particularly exciting in such a radically abbreviated way, but it gives the already gripping battles an additional tactical layer that is much easier to understand than the small-scale V-triggers of the predecessor. I always have to weigh up whether to weave particularly strong drive attacks into my combos or ignite a joker to interrupt the opponent but risk exhaustion in return.

In short: The fights in Street Fighter 6 are awesome! They look stylish, have a lot of bang and a great flow. Now let”s talk about how they come into play in Open World and Arcade Mode.

How do the alternate controls work? Normally, special manoeuvres like Ryu”s fireballs require more complex inputs, but with the new control scheme you can make that easier. Here, each special attack is on a clear button, so you don”t have to struggle with quarter circles and the like. For me, however, the new control scheme was more difficult to internalise than the classic one, because you don”t easily overwrite 30 years of muscle memory. Still, it”s cool that there”s an alternative. In Ranked Multiplayer, however, you have to switch to the classic format.

The open-world mode: A very cool appetiser

A few weeks ago I already wrote it: The Open World of Street Fighter 6 is much more fun than I thought possible, because there is more behind it than just a nice gimmick. I build my dream fighter in a lavish editor, roam the streets of Metro City (Final Fight), learn new manoeuvres from the classic Street Fighter characters. As in real life, I can challenge almost any passer-by to an official duel; with victories, I level up my fighter, improve stats such as attack, defence and health and invest money in new outfits, which in turn boost further stats.

(In the Open World you don”t just fight one enemy, but sometimes three at once.)

So to all intents and purposes, a playable Street Fighter action role-playing game that is delightfully fun in the first few hours, but noticeably loses momentum out the back. The World in World Tour Mode turns out to be a bit of a sham: yes, strictly speaking I travel the whole world, but don”t expect any new open-world areas in Mexico, Brazil and the like. You just visit one of the established Street Fighter characters, learn their moves and then slip back into Metro City.

Metro City itself does its best to offer you a variety of activities, but in the long run it becomes monotonous to always hit the same passers-by on the chin. Various mini-games, in which I beat up a truck for a change, do nothing to change this.

The story is also lost in irrelevant clamour over long stretches. The side quests are a constant regurgitation of “just kill me with throws” or “find the stolen helmet” – and the main story offers a few really cool moments, but is far too disjointed and incoherently staged.
(The open world has its nice corners, but is overall technically merely functional.)

What I”m trying to say is: The Open World mode is a really nice and entertaining activity to get into the world of Street Fighter for a few hours, but offers too little meat on the ribs compared to a Yakuza, so that you should only buy the game for the World Tour. Fortunately, there”s still arcade and multiplayer.

The Arcade Mode: Solid Basics

If you just want to fight the AI as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Co. in the classic way, choose the arcade mode. With 18 fighters, Street Fighter 6 doesn”t have the largest starting ensemble of the entire genre, but each character offers strong reasons to play them. Classics like Blanka, Honda and Guile warm the nostalgic heart, newcomers like Jamie or Lily score with exciting mechanics. For example, little Lily fights across the arena with two clubs and gladiator Marisa can charge up her powerful blows.

And thanks to the great tutorial options, I can spend days learning all the tricks of a single fighter. Street Fighter 6 not only shows me what Ryu, Ken and co. can do with combo challenges, but also offers detailed explanations of when I use which manoeuvre and why. Sounds like a small thing, but it makes a huge difference, because newcomers don”t have to cram four-hour YouTube tutorials to understand their fighter.

(In arcade mode, you hit each other on the chin in the classic way.)

As cool as the fights are, the arcade mode is rudimentary: don”t expect any surprises. You face either five or twelve enemies, there are the truck bonus days from Street Fighter 2 and the basketball bonus days from Street Fighter 3 … and apart from that, nothing worth mentioning, not even a cool boss fight at the end.

The story snippets at the beginning and end of each arcade journey also present themselves as very unadorned still images and tell nothing exciting. So: for a bit of AI-bashing or training an arcade area is always cool, but beyond that nothing holds you here. And that”s why I said at the beginning that the heart of Street Fighter still beats in the multiplayer.

To the core: Multiplayer

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself the fundamental question before you buy: Am I keen on multiplayer? If yes, then Street Fighter 6 is a terrific package. Warm up with the arcade and open world, then jump into the ranked battles and spend the next 600 hours working your way up the ranks and getting better. The multiplayer sorts itself into three categories:

In Ranked mode, you will rise in rank with every victory, while defeats will cost you your position.

In friendly matches, you face opponents without the result affecting any league ranking.

Alternatively, open a lobby, invite your friends and face the same people over and over again in the evening.

Theoretically, these modes leave nothing to be desired, but there”s not much to discuss here for the time being because, as I mentioned at the beginning, I haven”t yet been able to test the multiplayer under live conditions (which is why I haven”t given it a rating yet). But of course I”ll let myself be beaten up by real fans as soon as possible after release – all for you.

(With the new Drive Meter, you can distribute swats through cover, but it costs you stamina.)

Is Street Fighter 6 worth it?

I know I sound a bit critical with regard to open world and arcade mode, but this should not give the wrong impression: Street Fighter 6 is a really, really great fighting game. The animations, the art design, the fighting feeling, the force of the hits, the flow of the matches – all this hits the mark. The drive mechanics play as sensibly as they do comprehensibly, the new characters fit wonderfully into the ensemble, but even as a veteran I get almost all the heroes I want (Akuma is coming as DLC).

But I still can”t recommend Street Fighter 6 to pure single player fans at full price. I”d say that about almost any fighting game aside from Smash Bros, but with SF6 I stress it especially because the game presents itself as a single player dream with its open world. And behind this facade there is too little for over 60 Euros.

Preliminary rating box

Category
Pro
Contra
Rating

Presentation
+ cool open-world mode
+ absolutely stylish graffiti street art aesthetics
+ wonderfully detailed fighters
+ buttery smooth fighting animations
– the regular open-world NPCs look very pale and lacking in detail
4/5

Game Design
+ excellent combat feeling
+ understandable, sensible drive display
Online multiplayer
+ whimsical open-world mode …
– … but which quickly loses momentum
3 – 4/5

Balance
+ 18 fighters with unique strengths
+ a wonderful number of entry aids
+ three arcade difficulty levels
+ Open World acts as a huge tutorial

?

Does the balance of the fighters also fit online
What is the effect of microtransactions

?

3 -5/5

?

Story/Atmosphere
+ Open World has some cool story ideas.
+ the hip-hop atmosphere fits Street Fighter perfectly
+ lots of little fan details in the game world
– lame arcade stills
– Open world with too much petty clunkiness
3/5

Scope
+ 18 fighters with great gameplay depth.
+ solid open world to explore
+ online mode delivers a lot of replay value
+ many cool training modes
– The single player quickly runs out of steam
4/5

Verdict
Capcom learns from its mistakes and delivers one of the most fun Street Fighters in series history.
 
 

Valuation
 
 
80 – 85

Editorial conclusion

Street Fighter was one of my first great loves. And even though I”ve played all the King of Fighters, Fatal Furys, Soul Caliburs, Samurai Shodowns and Smash Bros of the world over the years: Street Fighter will always be special. I associate half my childhood with Ryu, Ken and Street Fighter 2, and I”ve played every SF part since, even the very avant-garde (to put it positively) EX games for PlayStation. Part five was a gigantic disappointment with its crappy release scope and cheeky monetisation.

What I”m getting at is that Street Fighter 6 is important to me. There”s hardly a game I”m so excited about right now, my soul as ready and willing as my body to put in hundreds of hours to master Luke, Ryu and later Akuma. Street Fighter 6 must not fail – and after the test I breathe a sigh of relief, because Street Fighter 6 will very, very probably not fail either. Not only does the game offer a terrific fighting game experience at release, it also provides a solid foundation for a glorious future.

Even more: Fortunately, Capcom learns from the innovations of the competition and offers heaps of training wheels for beginners to immerse themselves in the world of Street Fighter. So the chance of an active, long-lasting community is higher than it has been since Street Fighter 4. Only the game doesn”t live up to the big dream of a single-player open-world opus. The World Tour is simply too much Yakuza without milk and sugar.

If you only want to play solo: Wait for the sale. If you want to play online: See you there.

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