i've literally never been able to get into fighting games, but last year i picked up street fighter 6 for some reason thinking that it would be different. except it was. modern controls definitely got me started early on, but it was also just the fact that sf6 has such elegant, easy to comprehend mechanics that are still so endlessly dynamic and interesting. making "Drive" the main resource for basically everything works very well, and it's balanced out of by the looming threat of burnout. the tools you have at your disposal are both highly functional and impossibly stylish. "drive impact" is a star here, the flowing splash of character-specific colour paired with the sublime sound design make this one of the most exciting moves to successfully land in the game. and that's the other huge reason sf6 worked for me so well, the presentation. the detailed backgrounds, the way it blends multiple different rendering methods together, all without ever sacrificing visual clarity, the animations, the sound design, the phenomenal dynamic soundtrack. it's all so sick. and i love how the overall vibe of the game is kinda cute? like the way you and your opponent come out together in local matches, the pre match face off where you get to pull faces at each other, the funny announcers who commentate on your matches. none of these things needed to be in the game, but they add so much to the vibe just be being there, even if you dont use them.

i'm still in awe of how much dynamism there is in sf6's highly robust but conceptually simplistic mechanics. there always is, and always will be so much to learn. it's been incredibly fun climbing the ranks, learning to play on classic, memorizing combos and getting better at reading the opponent. and i hope it continues to be fun. capcom really have lightning in a bottle with this one, yet the post launch support has been quite poor for a "live service" game. only time will tell how it shakes out. but as of now i'll say that my 100 hours with street fighter 6 have been indescribably worthwhile. Five stars out of Five