Street Fighter 6 is the first in the series to get an open world with the World Tour Mode. But is this more than just a gimmick? Yes.
When the Open World of Street Fighter 6 was announced, I rolled my eyes. Yet another fighting game with some gimmick designed to fool people into thinking that fighting games usually have little to offer beyond the hardcore competitive online scene. And then Street Fighter?
What do I care about some NBA 2K-like run as a nobody through the hood and earn respect mode in Street Fighter 6 of all things? I don”t mind UFC 4 or a boxing game that is really about simulations and martial arts careers, but not some crazy anime brawler where people shoot fireballs or – even more unrealistic – enjoy such a stable hairstyle like Guile.
However, Capcom”s math isn”t that ill-advised. While I, as a fighting game fan, am primarily looking at the character selection, new maneuvers, and detail improvements of Street Fighter 6, what I”m hearing from my more non-specialist teammates is primarily Oh, that”s cool with the open world.
And I take that seriously because a) I don”t want to be an elitist fighting game snob (I”m way too bad for that, too) and b) I really want more people to be interested in this fantastic genre. In addition, c) I”m naturally curious to see if there”s more to this open-world mode than just a gimmick.
And after Capcom leaked a playable version to me, I can say: Yup, this mode is so awesome that I”m looking forward to it much more eagerly than I would have thought possible.
Moment, this mode tells a story?
The open world of Street Fighter 6 is actually quickly explained. You create your own fighter (m/f/d) in an extensive editor and land in Metro City (raise your hand if you remember it from Final Fight), a fantasy version of New York City. All sorts of gangs are up to mischief there, but luckily there are young martial arts talents like you who are really up for massaging people”s jaws.
Street Fighter 6 tells a story that sometimes takes itself a bit seriously and sometimes not at all. For example, my fighter enrolls with Street Fighter character Luke at the beginning and must go through character development along with his rival … only this rival is named, of all things, Luke. only this rival is called Bosch, of all people, although he neither resembles Titus Welliver nor looks like a drill.
And my training takes place outside on the street, where I can punch just about any passerby who walks by. Because Metro City had such a high gang crime rate in the 80s, all the residents are martial artists – from street performers to old grannies. Yep.
But as I said, the open-world mode actually tells a story with cutscenes, characters, and so on. You work your way from one iconic Street Fighter character to the next, doing quests for Chun-Li to learn her fighting skills and so on, for example. But that”s where we get to the gameplay.
What am I doing in the open world?
In the Open World, you move freely with your character through the streets of Metro City, gradually unlocking new districts like Chinatown and looking for fights. As soon as you give a passerby one, a classic Street Fighter fight begins. All NPCs are proficient in a mix of maneuvers from the original fighters, so Ken, Ryu, Guile and so on.
Win the fight and you”ll hail experience points, level up your character, unlock new buffs, clothes and maneuvers. Classic upgrade spirals like in an action role-playing game. By the way, you can also use your maneuvers to search for secrets in the open world: Just like in real life, you can, for example, overcome urban canyons with a spirited whirling kick.
On a rooftop, I met a superhero who was 20 levels above me. If I manage a fight like that, I get even more experience points. And of course, I won. No, really. Word of honor. No, those are crossed fingers.
Now, of course, you may rightly ask:
What”s so special about it?
Street Fighter 6”s World Tour Mode has a very, very engaging flow. You slide from one fight to the next, learning new maneuvers and thus getting to know the toolboxes of the familiar Street Fighter characters in a different way than through dry competitive grind in multiplayer.
After three hours of play session, I didn”t want to stop fighting my way to Ken, Guile and Co. to learn their skills, level up and, and, and.
After Street Fighter 5 came out years ago in an absolutely skeletal minimal state, I”m very happy that the successor will in all likelihood learn from its mistakes: I”ll get a proper arcade mode, multiplayer, training options and a genuine open-world mode that feels like more than mere occupational therapy to be able to write open world on the box.
The demo for Street Fighter 6 is now available on Steam, so give it a shot and post what you think in the comments
