I never really got into Street Fighter; 2 and 3 were well before I really got interested in fighting games, and I really did not care for the visual style of 4 and 5. However, between World Tour, the crazy character creator, and overall just general aesthetic of the game I felt like this was finally the one I wanted to jump in with.
First and foremost, the story in World Tour mode is by no means great. The plot is fairly cut and dry, your created character is on a journey to find out WHAT IS STRENGTH and meet the cast of the actual fighters along the way. As you meet each new "master", you can change your normal moveset to match theirs, and as you rank up the style/develop your social link with them, you can learn more of their specials and supers as well. Running around the world itself feels almost like a Yakuza game where random goons will run up and start STREET FIGHTS with you, and how easily you can kick their ass depends on how close you are to them in level. Beyond that, there's also a clothing/equipment system to upgrade your stats (and a glamour setting you unlock fairly early to ensure you can separate your desired look from your best stat gear), as well as a selection of fun minigames that teach you some fundamentals like motion inputs, charge inputs, and parrying. The highlight really is being able to give gifts to the masters, rank up your bond and style with them, and even their text messages to you get pretty entertaining. They even made it so maxing out their bond unlocks the second costume for each character in online/versus modes. It took me about 25 hours to beat while I was scraping all the side quests I could, so the content is certainly there and it's one of the most impressive story modes I've seen for a 2D fighter.
Another big driving factor behind my SF6 rating here is the option for Modern controls. Admittedly, as a gamepad/anime fighting game player, I really never thought 6 button fighters felt good. The modern control options reduce your available buttons down from 6 to 4 and trade a higher selection of normals and higher damage for some easier inputs. It certainly makes the game more accessible for less hardcore fighting game fans, and it makes trying out new characters a lot more fun.
Beyond that, there is the standard fighting game fare. A battle hub where you can run around with your highly detailed (or highly monstrous) created character and sit down at arcade cabinets for unranked matches, a selection of built in Capcom classic arcade games that rotate in and out, the traditional arcade and training modes, tutorials, character, guides, everything you can think of. The menu-ing is a LITTLE bit too cumbersome, but most things you need to change are easy to set and forget.
SF6 really does have it all. Good netcode, lots of content, and is just in general really fun to pick up and play. I really hope Capcom does a good job supporting it, because I could see this being one I stick with for awhile.
First and foremost, the story in World Tour mode is by no means great. The plot is fairly cut and dry, your created character is on a journey to find out WHAT IS STRENGTH and meet the cast of the actual fighters along the way. As you meet each new "master", you can change your normal moveset to match theirs, and as you rank up the style/develop your social link with them, you can learn more of their specials and supers as well. Running around the world itself feels almost like a Yakuza game where random goons will run up and start STREET FIGHTS with you, and how easily you can kick their ass depends on how close you are to them in level. Beyond that, there's also a clothing/equipment system to upgrade your stats (and a glamour setting you unlock fairly early to ensure you can separate your desired look from your best stat gear), as well as a selection of fun minigames that teach you some fundamentals like motion inputs, charge inputs, and parrying. The highlight really is being able to give gifts to the masters, rank up your bond and style with them, and even their text messages to you get pretty entertaining. They even made it so maxing out their bond unlocks the second costume for each character in online/versus modes. It took me about 25 hours to beat while I was scraping all the side quests I could, so the content is certainly there and it's one of the most impressive story modes I've seen for a 2D fighter.
Another big driving factor behind my SF6 rating here is the option for Modern controls. Admittedly, as a gamepad/anime fighting game player, I really never thought 6 button fighters felt good. The modern control options reduce your available buttons down from 6 to 4 and trade a higher selection of normals and higher damage for some easier inputs. It certainly makes the game more accessible for less hardcore fighting game fans, and it makes trying out new characters a lot more fun.
Beyond that, there is the standard fighting game fare. A battle hub where you can run around with your highly detailed (or highly monstrous) created character and sit down at arcade cabinets for unranked matches, a selection of built in Capcom classic arcade games that rotate in and out, the traditional arcade and training modes, tutorials, character, guides, everything you can think of. The menu-ing is a LITTLE bit too cumbersome, but most things you need to change are easy to set and forget.
SF6 really does have it all. Good netcode, lots of content, and is just in general really fun to pick up and play. I really hope Capcom does a good job supporting it, because I could see this being one I stick with for awhile.