The long-awaited next installment of the Street Fighter franchise is finally here, and it continues the story of the world’s greatest fighters as they try and thwart the plans of M. Bison. But after more than a year since its announcement, did Capcom successfully evolve its fighting game franchise?
Yes and no.
The new battle system features are a much welcome addition to Street Fighter V but the content released on launch date leaves a lot to be desired.
But let’s go deeper into what Street Fighter V got right and wrong beginning with the battle system.
GAMEPLAY/BATTLING
Street Fighter V brings the unique art style from Street Fighter IV back in this installment but with obviously more polished visuals.
As you’ve probably seen from the many trailers and gameplay footage, the fighting visuals are great and the fighters themselves look very hi-def and detailed, more so than other fighting games.
The impacts and movements are fluid.. It’s a very sharp looking game.
As for the fighting itself, the controls are simple. Veteran Street Fighter players will recognize the many different commands you can use -- Ryu’s Hadouken is the same in every Street Fighter game -- but the commands are easy enough for new fighters to jump right in once they understand the six-button system.
The fighting and command list in Street Fighter V lies somewhere in between Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 and Mortal Kombat X. It’s not too simple like Ultimate Ninja Storm but not as complex as the combinations and juggles you can make with MKX.
This by no means makes Street Fighter V inferior or superior to the others, but Capcom has decided to keep the feel and battle style true to the franchise and it’s worth noting. But what the company did implement into SFV is the V-System.
The V-System may seem complicated at first, but once you understand the commands it’s rather easy. It’s just an added command input that you’ll need to be aware of and actually gives the gameplay of SFV some depth.
In fact, Street Fighter V’s biggest pro is the addition of the V-System. The fact that every fighter has a different version of the V-System makes this even better. Every fighter will have different techniques that help them augment their abilities or even cover up their flaws.
Some fighters can deflect projectiles, others can teleport it’s all a diverse mix of abilities that gives players a buffet of fighters and styles of fighting to choose from. And if there’s one thing a fighting game should have, is a diverse cast of fighters.
Speaking of the fighters, SFV does a great job of having a nice mix of characters to choose from. From old favorites, to returning favorites and even brand new fighters, no one character feels the same, even Ken and Ryu who are innately similar move and attack differently.
And with the character-specific V-Systems, players will want to try out each and every fighter.
GAME MODES
Here’s where Street Fighter V and Capcom stumbles. It’s no secret that Street Fighter V will have a major update in March that will include Daily Challenges, DLC Characters and a fully fledged Story Mode.
However, if you’re someone who chose to buy Street Fighter V on its release date you’ll be the owner of a game that seems incomplete.
First off, Versus Mode does not allow you to face a CPU. It’s only between two local players, so any hope of you practicing against a high-level CPU is gone.
Sure, you can go into the Training Mode to do that but it’s just not the same. You’ll want to recreate battles you’ll face in online and local matches with the least amount of work. It’s baffling how a fighting game doesn’t allow you to face a CPU in a friendly best-of-three round match.
And then we have the Story Mode. Yes, Capcom will have a Story update in March that tells the tale of Street Fighter V but in the meantime, you’re treated to the events leading into SFV.
This is great for those who want a refresher of who the characters are and how the newer characters fit into this world. The storytelling tool, like past Street Fighter games, uses hand-drawn stills with dialogue attached to it.
While the art is unique and befitting of the game, it could get a tad boring at times to just read lines of text to a single still.
But the battles in the Story Mode for each character are the biggest offense with the difficulty being too easy and the story -- or the pre-story? -- being too short. You’ll have three matches and they are all one round each. No best of three.
Players will easily complete each character’s story in no time. And when that’s done, you’ll have one more game mode outside of any online fighting you do.
Survival Mode is a nifty little mode that lets you fight an unlimited amount of characters until you are defeated. Your health is never recovered but at the end of every battle you have a choice to recover some health, upgrade your attacking power or other boosts before the next fight at the cost of some of your total score.
It’s an interesting choice and one that will have players thinking if they can squeak out another victory with a quarter life before having to sacrifice their overall score. It’s a cool little mechanic in this mode.
VERDICT
Street Fighter V has an amazingly deep fighting system thanks to the addition of the V-System. However, the content on launch date keeps this game from being a top fighting game.
No “true” story mode for Street Fighter V comes out until March, as well as the Daily Challenges mode. What players are left with are a quick pre-story mode for each character, online battling and a Survivor Mode that is neat but doesn’t make up for the lack of a proper Versus mode where you can fight a CPU.
When the promised updates in March come around, maybe Street Fighter V will live up to its potential but right now it feels incomplete.
