Street Fighter 6 Review – A Clean Reversal

It’s no secret that Street Fighter V got off to a disastrous start, and despite years of course correction, its flawed foundation made a comeback difficult. By contrast, Street Fighter 6 is a thorough response to its predecessor’s failings, defined by well-considered central mechanics, formidable single-player offerings, and a plethora of smart decisions that make for a powerful opening punch.

Those primarily interested in duking it out against other players have a lot to look forward to; between the snappy movement and wealth of strategic options, it’s a joy to play. Drive System is the biggest new addition. It combines several mechanics such as powered-up attacks, defensive maneuvers and cancels into a single resource. The meter is fully-stocked at the start and automatically replenishes, giving you access to an arsenal of powerful options. However, it leaves you vulnerable if depleted. This creates a risk/reward dynamics that permeates every interaction.

Additionally, the game’s pace feels more deliberate than Street Fighter V, creating rewarding back-and-forth exchanges allowing its more cerebral elements to shine. Specifically, the extended range of normal attacks makes careful poking battles more common, and strikes are less advantageous when blocked, meaning aggressors can’t single-mindedly run their offense. It’s also easy to see why the 18-character roster works so well. The combination of returning characters and cleverly designed, newcomers allows for a variety of styles of play. Every fighter comes with a powerful move set and almost all have a unique trick that can change the game.

Manon, for example, is a grappler, whose command grabbes get more powerful with every landing, thus making her a character that is heavily based on momentum. Jamie, meanwhile, is an aggressive brawler in the Drunken Master style, who gets new moves after each chug. Every major character archetype feels well-represented here, from zoners to rushdown characters, meaning players shouldn’t have a hard time finding someone who speaks to them. While only time will tell how the metagame shakes out, Street Fighter 6’s starting roster and core systems offer an excellent platform to build upon.

World Tour is the best mode for players who are less interested in competing against other people. In this long single-player adventure, you’ll explore the semi-open Metro City, which is filled with weirdos who love to fight, as well as sidequests and an RPG-lite. In addition to being an enjoyably strange adventure, it also successfully introduces and tutorializes some of the game’s deeper systems while offering a largely satisfying series of brawls.

Battles in World Tour are enticing thanks to foes’ unique attack patterns and how each enemy is paired with optional objectives that grant bonus rewards. The best part is that your avatar will be able to learn new abilities, which allows you to create a funny, broken fighter by combining the strengths of zoners and grapplers. The amount of content in this mode was so impressive that it took more than 25-hours to get to the credits. While the World Tour is far from perfect – some fights felt overly chaotic due to how they handle being sandwiched between multiple enemies, and the overarching storytelling leaves much to be desired – it is a solid entry point for new players that will give those uninterested in testing their mettle online plenty to do.

A multitude of features and inclusions demonstrate an impressive level of polish. The game offers a variety of control options for newcomers, as well as party settings, training rooms, accessibility, Arcade mode and fully-realized lobby systems. Street Fighter 6 is easy to play thanks to its well-implemented rollback of netcodes, the quick rematches and ability to queue for online games almost anywhere.

Each new Street Fighter is met with high expectations as the original fighting game series. Street Fighter 6 is able to meet this expectation, as it caters both genre newcomers and veterans. It offers the largest offline offering of the series’ history along with a versatile set of core system and diverse cast. Between its cohesive aesthetic, the bounty of clever features, and crisp central gameplay, it’s one of the most impressive entries the genre has seen in some time.