Note: I'm going to review both World Tour mode and the actual versus content of Street Fighter 6 here, but for the record I'll use the star rating to denote how I feel about the latter since it'll be the bulk of my time playing this game.
World Tour Mode - 15ish hours - 2/5 Stars
World Tour is a super cool concept marred by poor decisions. Something a lot of fighting games lack to draw in more casual audiences are the types of single player content available. Arcade mode isn't enough, what else does it offer? World Tour is fun open world gig that I found super enjoyable... up until the last third or so of the campaign. Enemies have way too much health and do too much damage compared to you. The scaling is terrible. I ended up just spamming 5 medal manon throw to end most of my fights and it still felt like chip damage. The scaling NEEDS to be fixed, if not now than for any future types of game modes like this. As a concept though, it's a great thing. Having story mode and side missions teach you mechanics of the game can make it that much easier to jump into the competitive side of things. Just wish it was better executed.
Versus/Ranked/Multiplayer - 40+ Hours - 4.5/5 Stars
This is just about baby's first street fighter for me. I've dabbled in some competitive fighting games but haven't stuck to any hardcore. SF6 might be the one I do that for. The game feels fantastic, the mechanics are all engaging but not inherently overwhelming, and the netcode means that its easy to jump in and find a casual or ranked match. As of the time of this review, I'm only in Plat (Dee Jay main btw), but I intend to keep climbing either to Diamond or Masters and make my way to my FGC local to play in a tournament. This is a game I can see myself getting into because everything from the style to the visuals to the soundtrack to the visceral reward of nailing a crazy combo are so enjoyable. The learning process is difficult but feels like a drug. The first time I connected a huge combo and used my level 3 to win a set? What a feeling! I hope to play this for another few hundreds hours. The journey has just begun.
World Tour Mode - 15ish hours - 2/5 Stars
World Tour is a super cool concept marred by poor decisions. Something a lot of fighting games lack to draw in more casual audiences are the types of single player content available. Arcade mode isn't enough, what else does it offer? World Tour is fun open world gig that I found super enjoyable... up until the last third or so of the campaign. Enemies have way too much health and do too much damage compared to you. The scaling is terrible. I ended up just spamming 5 medal manon throw to end most of my fights and it still felt like chip damage. The scaling NEEDS to be fixed, if not now than for any future types of game modes like this. As a concept though, it's a great thing. Having story mode and side missions teach you mechanics of the game can make it that much easier to jump into the competitive side of things. Just wish it was better executed.
Versus/Ranked/Multiplayer - 40+ Hours - 4.5/5 Stars
This is just about baby's first street fighter for me. I've dabbled in some competitive fighting games but haven't stuck to any hardcore. SF6 might be the one I do that for. The game feels fantastic, the mechanics are all engaging but not inherently overwhelming, and the netcode means that its easy to jump in and find a casual or ranked match. As of the time of this review, I'm only in Plat (Dee Jay main btw), but I intend to keep climbing either to Diamond or Masters and make my way to my FGC local to play in a tournament. This is a game I can see myself getting into because everything from the style to the visuals to the soundtrack to the visceral reward of nailing a crazy combo are so enjoyable. The learning process is difficult but feels like a drug. The first time I connected a huge combo and used my level 3 to win a set? What a feeling! I hope to play this for another few hundreds hours. The journey has just begun.