Street Fighter V

For a long time now, Capcom’s Street Fighter series has been the premier fighting game series. There are plenty of different franchises out there, but Capcom has always ruled the pack, much like how Call of Duty rules the online FPS multiplayer. And after much waiting and hype build-up, the fifth entry…

…Ok, so it’s not the FIFTH entry, but nonetheless, Street Fighter V has arrived.

Now the most important part of any fighting game is its mechanics, and thankfully the game shines here. Gone are the mechanics of SF4 that allowed to you to win easily despite being roundly thrashed by your opponent, as the Focus Attack and Ultra Moves have been outright removed. Instead, the game introduces a new gauge called the V-Gauge, which has different attack-enhancing properties depending on the character used. It also adds some unique moves to each character, such as running attacks for Ken, and parrying for Ryu. This game also is nowhere nearly as insanely tight with its timing as Street Fighter 4 was. Whereas I couldn't pull a decent combo to save my life back on that game, this game at least appears to make connecting moves much smoother than before.

The roster also feels fleshed out and varied. While some may feel disappointment at the low number of characters compared to what that last entry finished up with, players have a good selection to choose from when considering which character they prefer over another. Even Ken, usually a mirror of Ryu in all but stats, has gotten a fresh look and changeup in his moveset, with his style now very different from Ryu’s, without making him any less accessible to new players. Also, I must give credit to Capcom in deciding to make it possible to unlock the upcoming DLC characters without ever paying a penny of real money (if you so wish) by using the in-game Fight Money to unlock them. How often can you say that the Season Pass truly feels optional these days?

Sadly though, while the meat of the game itself is as refined as you’d expect, the game itself is very, very hollow. Outside of online multiplayer, this game has almost nothing to offer on the side. Story Mode is doable within an hour, all the matches being one-round affairs with no difficulty option and barely any actual ‘story’ to be told from the visual novel presentation. Survival Mode is more of the same one-round affairs, only with more matches and difficulty options, along with colour unlocks for the characters. And of course there is a Practice Mode, as is standard for these games. And… that’s it. Versus Mode is locked to real players only, so no AI. There isn’t even an Arcade Mode, another standard for fighting games!

In other words, there is no way to have a standard match of your creation against the AI, meaning that you’re ability to practice properly is severely hampered, and even more so due to the absolutely terrible tutorial for the game that fails to even teach you everything you need to know. The Command Lists contain no explanation of how the different characters, moves or V-Triggers work, only the button pressed to perform them, so you’re completely left in the dark. This game is not friendly to newcomers in the slightest, and as a full-price game I feel utterly ripped off at having paid £50 for an Early Access game at best.

By now plenty of people have repeated this, but this should not have been the game’s full release, and it certainly should not have been full price. One recommendation thrown around often is that it should have been called ‘Tournament Edition’ (as that is why it was released early in the first place) and sold at a much lower price, with the option to buy the rest of the content (bringing the purchase up to full price) when it was ready. As it stands, I feel ripped off, and without any way to fight the AI normally and get better, I feel little to no desire to play this game, and even less so when I fight against my friend, as he has a brother to practice against, and as a result I get utterly thrashed. And that isn’t any fun at all, being soundly beaten with no chance of getting better.

If you’re looking at this game, first wait for the price to drop, or the game to get finished. Then buy it. As it stands, don’t waste your time unless you are actually entering a tournament to play it. And even then, try and get a used copy to save yourself a few pounds. Don’t reward this tactic that Capcom has displayed.

+ Great core gameplay

- High entry barrier for newcomers
-- Early Access at £50 is a joke