Street Fighter 6 - social, silly, spectacular

Street Fighter 6 feels like a response, the counter-punch from a developer bruised and battered after a heavy defeat. You can't call it a comeback - for the fighting game core Street Fighter 5 served its purpose well enough. But you can call it a triumphant return to the ring; better, wiser and with a new plan of attack.

Street Fighter 5 launched half finished. Online play was a broken mess, the story mode was barebones and there was no arcade mode - a fighting game prerequisite. Street Fighter 6 follows up on that release disaster with a meaty campaign mode unlike anything we've seen in the series, an online hub that recreates the feel of an old-school arcade, and a raft of single-player options to fuss over. All this on top of a world class combat system and fighting feel. It's a fantastic package - perhaps the best Street Fighter's ever had.

From the main menu three pillars present themselves: World Tour, Battle Hub and Fighting Ground. World Tour is a 25-hour ish single-player campaign in which you create an avatar and embark upon an adventure to find out the true meaning of strength. This plays out as a third-person, Yakuza-lite experience, which is something I never thought I'd say about a Street Fighter game. Metro City from Final Fight (Capcom has fused the Street Fighter and Final Fight universes into one) is the initial explorable area. Here, there are characters to talk to, "masters" (Street Fighter characters such as Luke, Chun-Li and Ken) to learn moves from, and quests to complete. There are nooks and crannies to explore (some only found after performing a gravity-defying special move such as E. Honda's flying headbutt), secrets to uncover and side jobs to complete for cash, which you can spend at shops on things like vitality-restoring food, new clothes and gifts. As you play you earn experience and level up. There is a rudimentary skill tree and gear with its own set of stats to equip. You can even switch between day and night time and the world and its NPCs change accordingly.

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