As a lifelong Street Fighter fan, I was super excited to get my hands on Street Fighter 6’s closed beta and boy do I have some stuff to share! Developed and published by Capcom, I had a hunch I would be enjoying myself but didn’t expect some of what I got. I went into this beta hoping to get a really good feel for the fighting mechanics and most importantly figure out what kinds of changes had been made from the previous installment, Street Fighter V which I very much enjoyed.
Gameplay
So, right off the bat, the fighting mechanics have changed more than you might initially think. Luckily, the core mechanics here are still super tight and will offer some incredible high-level play opportunities for those that put in the time.
Most Street Fighter installments have their own unique little addition to the fighting formula, making it it's own and more dynamic. Last time we had Critical Arts as the big thing and this time around we get a lot of new additions. With the lack of any tutorial, I can’t particularly name these moves accurately but I can describe them in detail.
So, the first big change is that combos, like the classic Hadouken, are no longer tied to a combo. Now you just press triangle on your controller, and bam, instant Hadouken. This makes stringing combos much easier for new players but can really mess up a long-time fan that knows all these combos already. I have a hunch they chose this direction because there are a number of new roster-wide moves that take up space on the button map. One of these new moves allows players to block incoming damage from an incoming move while also dishing out a bunch of damage and knocking down the opponent, which can really only be countered with a well-timed same attack of your own or by pulling off a grab/throw at just the right time. The other newest addition here is on R1 and acts as a general block without having to guess which direction the attacks coming from, it’s quite useful but can leave you open to a grab.
A couple of things were missing here that I was hoping to get my hands on, as mentioned previously there are no tutorials of any value here. What we do get is a very minor tutorial-style CPU dummy match setting which is not that useful until you learn the basics of each move type anyway and also acts as the betas only form of solo play. Leading into my next point, we didn’t get any kind of solo play which was a big shock to me. I love playing online but I mean, not all the time because I will most definitely get my ass kicked by elite players. Sure enough, that's what happened and led to many rage-fueled game-ending matches.
Lastly, the character creation options are an absolute blast and offer heaps of fun. Honestly, I didn't really like this feature going into the game, knowing it was going to be there. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way and left me wanting to play as an actual canon character from the roster. But with more exploration and the discovery of costumes and accessories, it really grew on me, and now I love my new character!
Expectations
Unfortunately, the biggest element that stood out to me was that while the returning characters on the roster have been masterfully and faithfully redesigned, the new additions just don’t hold up. This could simply be a case of not liking the change but I just felt zero connection with these characters, even with the ones I thought I would gel with. Luke was a new character I thought I was really going to enjoy playing as but he just lacks any kind of interesting character element so I couldn't get invested when playing him. Hopefully, this changes when I get to experience the story in its entirety but we will see.
The crowning missed expectation here was the connectivity with servers. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and have one of the fastest internet plans available in my city. I did not get past a yellow connectivity rating on any match throughout my entire time playing and it really showed. It was super disappointing that not all servers were catered for during this test and it wouldn't have bothered me as much if an offline solo game mode was available but it wasn't. I often found myself forced to get adjusted to a slightly delayed match or very very slowed-down motions due to connectivity which completely threw off my game and timing, resulting in a match full of sighs and complaints. I truly hope this was just for the beta and is not a foreshadowing of what we can expect when the game officially launches.
Verdict
Amongst it all, I still very much enjoyed this experience and am still playing it up until the last moments of the beta being live! Street Fighter 6 really leaves me wanting more and I can’t wait to get my hands on the final product. Hopefully, they iron out the kinks and tighten up their servers. Personally, I am particularly excited for the additions to the current roster, the redesigns of original characters look so damn cool, and I can't wait to see what my other favorites will look like!
