Source: Pexels
The World Warrior Tournament has never been this global.
Following a successful seven year run with Street Fighter V, Capcom is looking to breathe fresh life into their beloved Street Fighter franchise with Street Fighter VI.
The developers at Capcom have been taking notes from the fighting game community, as it appears that Street Fighter VI as all but blown away expectations for the latest iteration of the World Warrior Tournament.
Features and gameplay modes
On June 2nd, the company released their latest gameplay trailer, offering fans insight into the new characters, stages, game modes and a tasteful return of the hip hop visual art style.
The trailer is a hype inducing affair for fighting game fans for sure. It cleverly draws on the worlds, themes and art styles from Capcom’s previous works; the Final Fight and Street Fighter series. As well as showcasing promising new visuals, game modes and gameplay elements that will attract both new and returning players to Street Fighter VI.
In addition to the World Tour mode, where players can explore the beautifully designed Metro City as an open world map, teeming with references to the Mad Gear Gang, Mike Haggar and many more characters from previous entries.
This clever amalgamation of franchises has birthed a whole new direction in narrative for the series, which will be a welcome departure from the exhausted and prolonged drama with Shadaloo and the World Warrior Tournament.
Another new mode is the Battle Hub, which offers a small glimpse into a revamped multiplayer online experience.
Playability
It is no secret among fighting game enthusiasts that online play for fighting games, with Street Fighter in particular, has been problematic for years. A strong reliance on waiting for enabling fights online has produced a lag in innovations throughout it’s history. With long hours waiting for opponents, ‘rage quitting’ and deficiencies in stable connections in certain continental regions, these difficulties have often hindered the experience of players worldwide.
Also the open world approach to the Battle Hub in the trailer leaves much to the imagination for fighting game fans, as I for one have long waited for a refreshing and more player friendly online experience.
The aesthetic of the game seems to be a throwback to the Street Fighter III era, with the eclectic graffiti art style commonly seen in video games of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, with the visuals in gameplay retaining previous Street Fighter hallmarks. The colour splashes of Street Fighter V returns, albeit neon against the dark backdrops during Critical Arts as well as the reintroduction of the Focus Attack. This gameplay mechanic first appearing in Street Fighter IV which was a hit amongst fans.
A notable departure from previous Street Fighter entries is the realistic portrayals of the characters. Whereas previous games in the series have always leaned towards a more anime appeal in character design, with large appendages and eccentric costumes. The attention to detail is immaculate, with characters having life-like skin in their renders too, a series first.
Final thoughts
With Capcom promising to deliver Street Fighter VI at an unspecified date in 2023, the internet has been abuzz with speculations, predictions, character leaks and hundreds of blogs speculating what Capcom has in store for the fighting game community.