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REVIEW: STREET FIGHTER V (PS4, PC)

17/2/2016

16 Comments

 
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The Street Fighter series is one of the most contradictory in all of gaming.

While on the one hand it is responsible for some of the most well-recognised iconography this industry has ever produced, it's also the sort of franchise that can be debilitating and off-putting to newcomers and more casual gamers.

​I suppose I fall somewhere between the two: I've never been very good at Street Fighter. The button combinations were not considered for the likes of someone whose hands have all the manual dexterity of a bunch of 'furts sellotaped to a ham.

Fortunately, few of my mates were ever very good either. Its subtleties were lost on us, and that meant that we were always fairly evenly matched. Although I tended to be slightly better than most of them, which is the really important thing here.

In short: I've very much enjoyed the series, while never quite being able to escape the sense that I'm not entirely welcome at the party, or avoid the furtive glances which suggest I'm dancing a bit too close to the buffet. 

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Street Fighter V, then, might be right up my street (so to speak): it's Capcom's most overt attempt yet to please the polar opposites of the beat 'em up spectrum, from the hardcore to the clam-handers.

Suffice to say, if you're looking for an analysis of this game from a hardcore beat 'em up obsessive, I'm not your man.

IN FACT WHAT?

In fact, not being one of those hardcore beat 'em up obsessives - at one stage I thought it unlikely I'd even bother to review Street Fighter V - I failed to notice all that had been promised here. Consequently, I'm possibly less disappointed than some by the fact Capcom has failed to deliver on many of those promises at launch.

It's the first game in the series to launch as a console game before the arcades, and - as is the way now in an industry where full-price games regularly release half-finished - it's the first in the series to promise ongoing support and updates. All I can do, however, is review the game as it arrives. 

YOU KNOW
And, at its most fundamental, it's the Street Fighter you know. Here it offers 16 fighters - doubtlessly, more are yet to be unveiled - with the usual mix between slow-moving heavy-hitters, and zippier fighters with all the strength of a wrong-winged bird. 

​Series regulars like Ken, Ryu and Chun Li have been joined by the likes of F.A.N.G. and Rashid - and those of you who enjoy the series' casual racial stereotyping won't be disappointed (Coldstream Guards dancing around red phone boxes... twirling Indian women balancing jugs on their heads... Russian dancing bears - as is the way of the  series', it has all the authenticity of a tat shop-bought souvenir; a plastic Eiffel Tower with a bulb of cartoon, google-eyed, garlic stuck on the top).
 
Where it innovates is through cross-platform support between PS4 and PC players. A new attack system - activated when the player gets hit enough times, unlocking a new raft of skills (counter-attacks, damage boosts etc). As always, Street Fighter V is a balanced blend of overt button-mashing and subtle strategy, employing - at its most basic - the same sorts of controller combinations as ever.

It's rock-paper-scissors writ large, a pyrokinetic ballet of timing and counter-timing, a game model operating at the very pinnacle of its genre. 

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ODD THOUGH
What's odd about Street Fighter V is how - in trying to cater for both casual and hardcore gamers - it does little for the likes of me, who are somewhere in the middle.

The story mode is absurdly easy - more an opportunity to impart a bunch of Street Fighter lore than any sort of actual challenge - but venturing online to take on other players is insufferably intimidating.

There's no real way to hone skills before entering the online arena - an open-ended training room and a survival mode don't exactly prepare you for the inevitable gauntlet of face-mashing.

Old hands will be right at home, but the likes of myself, whose Street Fighter skills are more than a little musty, will find it hard going. There's scarcely anything there for those who want to play solo, and hone their skills in private. Matron.

Also, whether it's issues arising from pairing PC gamers with PS4 gamers or not, I found that matches could often be stutter-y, or drop out; playing online just wasn't always as smooth as it needed to be for what is essentially an online-only game. Given that SFV is all about precision timing, even the slightest lag can kill a match. Ultimately, this would be at its best when it's played with a bunch of mates of similar skill level sat around a TV. As the series always was.

ENJOY IT?
But... for all that I enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed the game overall much more than I expected to. When simply engaging in matches, you can tell that this is a game that has been wrought from the DNA of a long-running series; it's evolution in action, survival of the fittest. It's an incredibly appealing and charismatic game.

The characters are as well-balanced and beautifully designed as always, and though I found some of the graphic design choices a bit jarring - there's virtually no continuity between the opening cinematic, the static cut-scenes, and the chunky, stylised, in-game visuals - there's no deny it's a good-looking game, running at a slick 60fps. 

In conclusion, then... everything about the core of Street Fighter V has been considered - the gameplay is Best in Show good, but there's scarcely anything here for those of us who would've happily played through this as a single-player game. Venturing online can be unwelcoming for anyone who isn't already a skilled player. Supposedly more offline support is on its way, but why it wasn't there at launch is bewildering.

SUMMARY: As good as Street Fighter has ever been... but for anyone who isn't already brilliant enough to survive online - this might lack value.
​SCORE: 4.1212435999 out of 5.5111000

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: PUNCH CLUB (PC/MAC)
​
10 EXCITING ZANGIEF COSPLAYERS - WITH COMMENTS BY CHART CAT
MARCH OF THE CRAPSOLES: 10 CONSOLE KNOCK-OFFS

16 Comments
Kelvin Green link
17/2/2016 10:45:42 am

Yeah, I got left behind when Street Fighter went from "fun" to "competitive" somewhere around 1998.

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Voodoo76
17/2/2016 12:01:56 pm

tatsu maki sen pu kyaku, haduken, haduken, shoryuken KO end of!

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colincidence link
17/2/2016 12:22:30 pm

A proper Story Mode is promised for June or July, so that might be in place by November.

I'm similarly mediocre but addicted to Street Fighter, and I play to get all the Arcade Mode Endings, to unlock everything, and for local multiplayer... so I'm not buying until they put the intended single-player mode in, and I make some friends.
From this point-of-view, it's bizarre that they release a game with such a key component missing, but the timing seems to be optimized for tournaments.

The most online fun I've had with Street Fighter is the 3DS version of Super IV, not because of the touchscreen controls, but because the competition was more casual and you can continue playing the same opponent. From that, I'm a reasonably whipsmart Cammy against anyone who doesn't know combos and can sometimes bluff past those who do.

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John Kiely
17/2/2016 12:41:17 pm

I find the lack of a proper training mode unforgivable. I haven't got a clue how the new V system works, meaning I'm finishing all my fights with normal attacks.

Single player is a joke.

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Mentussss link
17/2/2016 12:46:52 pm

I'm sorry. I'm afraid I can't take the ramblings of an old fool who doesn't know the difference between an FADC and a red parry.

All seriousness though as a dyed in the wool SF player I've been very wary of this game ever since Capcom announced the game would be trickle-fed content in the form of DLC. Yes you can unlock it for free but we all know earning those points means playing online, with all the latancy and arseholery that entails. These games will always work better when your oppenent is in the same room, because you can punch them for real if they act like a dick.

So instead of paying silly moneys for a clearly unfinished game, I will be awaiting the inevitable updated "Super" release with all the DLC up to that date built in for half the price, because that's what Capcom ALWAYS DO.

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Alex link
17/2/2016 12:50:13 pm

I enjoyed it back in the SNES/MD heyday of Street Fighter II Turbo/Championship edition but got too confused when all those extra energy bars and options to select different styles popped up.

Felt like you needed to do a degree to play Zero 2 or Sudden Impact.

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Dirty Barry
17/2/2016 03:22:23 pm

I totally agree. Over the years Capcom beat em ups have evolved from a delightfully simple scissor, paper, stone game into a confusing scissor, paper, lampshade, spaghetti, quantum bumfluff, pythagorean combo breaker affair.

Playing the fourth one online you'd kick the arse of a few people who appeared to have no clue how to hold a controller, and then end up facing jimmy magicfingers and have your arse handed back to you forevermore! There was no middle ground whatsoever.

As for Capcom's "dlc" habits; I'm still annoyed about street fighter vs tekken. And regarding the endless editions, I will be putting a brown edition through their letterbox if this continues!

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Picston Shottle
17/2/2016 01:33:07 pm

Can't abide beat 'em ups because either. Like you, Biffo, the dexterity (and ability to be able to remember a massive chain of button presses to pull off combos) just isn't there. However, there was one beat 'em up on the original Xbox (can't remember the name of it) that we played and I discovered a move we named the Acid Knee (because it was discovered whilst under the influence...) which if timed right was a total game winner - you knees your opponent in the face again and again and there was no escape or blocking move. My mate worked in Manchester city center at the time and there was an Xbox marketing thing going on and this game - whatever it was called - was part of it. It was a take on the UK champion kind of thing. Anyway, my mate took him on and beat him using Acid Knee and UK Champion seen his arse and wouldn't shake hands after being kneed to death. Here ends my boring story.

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Doctor Stranger
17/2/2016 02:03:31 pm

F*&CKING love this story. I'd love to have been there. Take that uk 'champion'. He should have dropped a few black microdots the slag.

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Craig Grannelli link
17/2/2016 01:59:12 pm

4.1212435999 out of 5.5111000? (Does swift calculation.) Dangerously close to 73%, there.

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Stay
17/2/2016 02:50:04 pm

Well I haven't played Street Fighter since Tekken and similarly I have little skill or coordination - I can't even reliably pull of a dragon punch.

But I have bought myself an arcade stick, a RAP 4, I won for the bargain price of £90 on the eBay. It's mainly for MAME but after reading that SFV is going to be welcoming for new players I thought I would give it a go. I am sure I will be crap and my 42 year old hands will be to slow but you never know.

As I have been stingy paying for delivery the game won't be delivered until Sat or Monday but I won't be in the mood for it then as I am having my thyroid removed on Friday so by the time I can actually play it might have some SP content.

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Nin
17/2/2016 08:19:41 pm

What worked in II was everyone could play it, to differing degrees, the moves were accessible to anyone with basic skill. That is not true of these modern games with their ridiculous contortionist combos.
I'm 33, I don't have the time, obsessive nature, reflexes or 14 fingers to play this game on an even playing field. I found this out a few years ago when I entered a SFIV tournament in a well known cinema. What followed was 2 hours of getting destroyed by moves I'd never even seen before. It wasn't fun, and that's something Street Fighter should always be.

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Dirty Barry
17/2/2016 09:43:30 pm

We're all agreed then. Street fighter peaked at 2.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
18/2/2016 12:45:19 am

Beg to differ, because I love Street Fighter 3. The character designs might have mostly been rubbish or forgettable compared to SF2, but the parry is an absolute game-changer. I'll never be good enough to be competitive (or even go online), but I will be getting into SFV just so I can play with friends.

Also, I really recommend putting down the money for a stick (the official PS3/4 Venom one is good), even if you don't want to be hardcore. Playing a fighter with a pad is like playing Guitar Hero with a DDR mat you found in a skip. It seems like it might work, but it's cumbersome and uncomfortable, you can't do what you can with a dedicated controller, and you might get tetanus.

LeighDappa
18/2/2016 04:42:05 am

I think 'SFA3' got it down perfect; One Guard/Block Bar and one Super Move Bar.

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Thrills
19/2/2016 01:39:54 pm

I'm really enjoying SFV, but I'm a creepy auld fighting games guy. I'm liking how seemingly simple the characters are, but there's feeling that if you spend some time in practice mode, you'll be able to work out some real neat combos etc. It's kinda like Garou: Mark of the Wolves in that respect?

That said, the lack of a decent tutorial at this stage is rubbish. Wasn't really sure how the V-system worked so had to venture into fighting game websites, and they contain just the worst people in the world.

No idea how someone who hadn't been playing fighting games for years and years could even learn these games by now, though. I 'cut my teeth' on the mean arcade streets of Berwick upon Tweed holiday camp and glenrothes bowling alley, where anyone that could do a dragon punch was king. Don't think that pleasantly grimy aspect of culture's around anymore. It's all people my current age calling new players 'salty scrubs' and being unpleasant and off-putting.

I'm currently enjoying the illusion that capcom's letting us eventually earn DLC simply by playing the game, but suspect this'll be deliberately impractical so idiots like me have to pay for the stuff using real money. They really are pioneers of the "we hate our audience" kind of 'e-commerce'.





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