Street Fighter V Review

Street Fighter V Review Screenshot 1

Growing up near the seafront arcades of Margate I remember games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat drawing in the crowds, everyone trying to either play or watch. My first real experience of Street Fighter was its second incarnation (The World Warrior) on the SNES round my friend house as he repeatedly beat me as I wasn’t and still am not great at fighting games. I try my best but enter into that category of “button masher” in a vague hope I defeat my opponent with a wild, impressive looking blow caused by sheer luck. I know a few moves but that is sadly it, now Street Fighter V has landed and I find myself sitting there about to beat up my first digital victim. Well, after the near seven gigabyte day one patch has finally downloaded which is becoming increasingly common these days.

The first thing that hits me isn’t a kick or punch it’s the fact that the game won’t connect to the server properly and that the game really isn’t ready for release in my opinion. The first issue will no doubt sort itself out after a few days but when it does drop out, it kicks you out of single player / story mode which is really unacceptable to be honest.

Street Fighter V Review Screenshot 2

The second slightly more infuriating issues is a few features like the shop and challenge modes say “will be available in March” which is a few weeks after release, as well as some of the original characters not being available or included. They are being released as downloadable content in the future to buy with real cash or earned through the in-game currency which will no doubt take ages.

Other than those sad points that just seem to be the way a game is released these days the game is actually pretty good the combat is simple and flows well. I’ve played through all sixteen characters story modes, fought my way through half a dozen fighters on survival mode and that seven shades of hell kicked out of me in online mode. I can just about beat my girlfriend although we both just sit there mashing away together, she is more of a tekken fan to be honest and can’t wait for the new one.

It’s a game all about practice, practice and probably more of the mentioned practice. I think the art is to pick a character you really like playing with and learn their moves. I prefer a fast character like Cammy as she backflips around and causes a pretty hefty amount of damage.

Street Fighter V Review Screenshot 3

A lot of older games are being remade and polished for the modern gamer, some hang onto their previous incarnations for grim death in the hope their reputation alone will be enough to sell a new version. Some do it really well like Mortal Kombat X which I did really love playing, others sadly don’t like Duke Nukem which was dreadful and I believe Street Fighter V has just survived, it’s an iconic old school fighting game that still works.

The story modes are quite short however at about ten minutes for each character and you can’t smash a car to bits like you used to. I score this game 7/10 for bringing back memory’s, being an enjoyable fighting game with hours of online potential, just a shame I couldn’t play as some of the original characters on release.

Rating 7

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.

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