I primarily played Street Fighter 6 on the new World Tour mode (essentially campaign/story mode). I was pleasantly surprised how much effort was put into this to update the game and yet tell a coherent story. I don't know if any fighting game will ever have a literary-quality story (my favourite is still Def Jam Vendetta 2: Fighter For NY) but Capcom also didn't phone it in. The protagonist searches for the meaning of strength while gradually interacting with the rest of the roster and picking up styles and moves from sparring with them. There's a larger focus on the disappearance of his friend Bosch as well and that got the job done for me. But as much as I enjoyed playing through the story, I'd be remiss if I didn't also explain how it could be so subsequently frustrating. World Tour isn't super challenging until it is. Forget about facing characters leveled past you, you don't have any shot whatsoever. Certain battles took multiple attempts, spamming certain attacks or oodles of consumables just to finish. Difficulty can also spike randomly to infuriating results. I didn't love the lack of checkpoint in tournament-style engagements as well. If you've got 4 scheduled matches and you lose on fight 4, you're transported back to the beginning. This just seemed unfair to me and I would have to go fight random npcs over and over again to level up to a point that I would finally do sufficient damage. World Tour is surprisingly well crafted but I considered giving up at a couple of times too. The game can be punishing and that affected my enjoymen at times. I also enjoyed the largely goofy tone but it also felt like it was cribbing of some of the strange vibe from games like Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Street Fighter 6 was funny for sure but not wholly original in the weird directions it decided to go.
Street Fighter 6 allows you to either use classical controls or an updated version called modern. When you're not an exceptionally talented player (such as myself), the concessions the game makes to help more people get comfortable can be a tricky balance. You have to prioritize engagement with the uninitiated without ticking off veteran players. I was mostly satisfied with how the game functioned, I thought the controls were slick but still carried the much needed punch. I enjoyed stringing together combos and countering while blocking and playing defense far less than I should have. The bouncy tone of the game overall flows into the sound design. The pops and crunches boom in a way that's not realistic but they amp up the stakes. But I didn't find anything too buggy or discover any notable performance issues and with the state of gaming today, that's a low bar that's cleared far fewer times than it should be.
While I think World Tour was mostly well done and the mechanics are impressively accessible, I think the biggest draw for this game will be the varied cast of characters. While the NPC fighters get repetitive (which was predictable) I never got tired of interacting with or fighting as our main roster. They all are distinct, funny and fun-loving. Street Fighter 6 is not a subtle game but I also doubt that's what the creative team had in mind. The characters all have different styles that can be mastered and it's a lot of fun experimenting with each of them. They updated the designs of the characters while retaining the flavour and I appreciated the effort.
I can't say I loved/enjoyed every moment I spent playing Street Fighter but colour me impressed overall. I'm not going to touch on the online/co-op play, I would never consider myself good enough to even attempt to beat other people who play this game regularly. I know some of the fans are exclusively picking up the title for that side of the game but it's just not my forte. World Tour mode is a genuinely fun and surprisingly fresh take on the campaign of a brawling/fighting game despite some migraine-inducing difficulty spikes and some checkpoint systems that tilt the game in favour of the house. While I think the game will please a lot of fans of the franchise, Street Fighter 6 is a great introduction to new players and I think that's where it succeeds the best. The controls are easy to pick up, the characters are a lot of fun and I think the enthusiasm the game is reveling in borders on infectious. I got this 1/2 price on sale and I more than got my money's worth out of it. Fighting games can be a little intimidating but if you're looking for something to even play casually, I'd have no reservations about recommending Street Fighter 6.
