The Street Fighter series is responsible for laying down the foundation of the fighting game genre and its competitiveness among players. While it wasn’t the first video game series to do so, it was definitely the one that popularize the genre and made the fighting game community what it has become today. Now Capcom is ready to enter the next phase of the ongoing series with Street Fighter 6. New characters, fresh stories, and a ton of runbacks can be expected to happen when the game officially releases in June 2023. But before then, eager players and fans were able to try out the game in a Closed Beta Test for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
Is Street Fighter 6 a solid next step for Capcom after everything that happened with the previous entry of the series? Based off what one can experience in the online beta, the short answer is yes. But the closed beta isn’t the whole picture of Street Fighter 6, only giving us a glimpse at the core gameplay mechanics and overall presentation of the game, not the full package. For the closed beta, players can explore the online Battle Hub and play matches with each other, both ranked and unranked. It’s a different approach to what Capcom has done with online lobbies in Street Fighter 5, but also a very fresh experience overall.
There’s a total of eight fighters to play with in the online beta, each with an assortment of special moves and playstyle. There’s a nice selection of returning fighters and newcomers that give a good view of what to expect from the full release. Classic fighters like Ryu, Ken, Juri, Guile, and Chun-Li have both a familiar feel and an interesting new flair with their arsenal of attacks. Playing with Ryu feels right with special moves and inputs that are recurring from almost every previous Street Fighter entry, but the new Drive mechanics mix things up.
Drive Parry and Drive Reversal offer nice defensive options to counteract your opponent, while Drive Rush and Drive Impact can hurt them and close the distance between you. Combine all of this with everything you might already know with the classic characters, and you’ll find yourself on a good footing for taking battles online.
The newer characters on the roster will be interesting for everyone to try out. Whether you take a liking to them or not is entirely subjective, especially if you already have a set playstyle in mind to stay with. The beta allows players to use Luke, Kimberly, and Jamie online. Their attacks have recognizable inputs that may remind you of games like Street Fighter Third Strike or Street Fighter 4, but their personalities and strategies are original and clever. It will definitely take time to discover all of the nuances for each new character, but it’ll be worth it if you want to take on the world on or offline.
As far as other parts of Street Fighter 6 that are ambitious, the beta doesn’t give much to offer. Things like standard Arcade Mode and World Tour will have to remain a mystery until the game officially releases in 2023. But that doesn’t mean the beta is short-lived at all. Getting into matches online with other players is pretty fast and easy, especially since Street Fighter 6 has cross-play between platforms. Whether you’re on PlayStation 5 or PC, you’re going to be able to match up with someone and play a ton of rounds.
And if you’re worried about connection quality, then rest easy knowing Street Fighter 6 will have rollback netcode. Matches run smoothly and with little to no big issues, provided you have a decent to good internet connection to be online with. Everyone’s experience with online matches will be different because of that, but the majority of matches in Street Fighter 6 online will turn out very well for most.
For a second closed beta to the game, Street Fighter 6 has made a very good first impression. The gameplay at its core is very well designed and feels great to play. Characters you know and are unfamiliar with have a lot of neat aspects to them that will uncover more discoveries over time, leading to some very cool matchups and strategies that the fighting game community will love. If you were on the fence about Street Fighter 6 turning out well, then get ready to square up when the game finally comes out in 2023. You won’t want to back down from this challenge and miss out on all the fun.
Are you a big Street Fighter fan and going to pick up Street Fighter 6? Which character are you planning to main when the game is out? Post a comment about all of it below and let us know!
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