We are finally here: we can officially open the season of competitive fighting games on the new generation. It has finally arrived Street Fighter V, and today we are going to see if, indeed, it is the right sequel to a worthy saga.
Ever since Yoshinori Ono's announcement of the new chapter of the most famous fighters on the globe, theories about the game had begun to take over. A reckless hype immediately began to create around the title, fifth chapter (or V Chapter, it seems that the V is very fashionable lately) of a game now definable e-Sports. But let's analyze it well and see if Street Fighter V he will be able to keep his fans' Satsui No Hadou at bay.
If at first glance the game, technically, seems identical to its previous chapter, I urge you to take a closer look: the graphic style, now a must of the title, has been refined, improved and enhanced. The Next-Gen machine can handle animations properly, and if you had the chance to try Ultra Street Fighter IV on your PlayStation 4, you would understand what I'm talking about. The audio sector is, as always, well finished, with noteworthy dubbing. If on the technical side we have only small improvements (albeit fundamental on a game that requires the analysis of every single attack frame), on the artistic side we have the true evolution of the brand: each character, finally, has its own character, the its particularities and its precise style. Characters like Ryu and his clone Ken are now differentiated in many ways; to find out their differences on the gameplay side you will have to read a little longer, but at least from an artistic point of view, now they are two different and distinct characters. And together with them, many others, including the very welcome prodigal son Birdie, have a better characterization, probably inspired by the fashion of the moment, launched by the League of Legends itself, to make each character a kind of mini-brand.
But the real surprises, and especially his muscles, Street Fighter V shows them in the gameplay. Forget all those technicalities and the various setups included in the fourth chapter, which from the goal of having to make the game deep and reasoned, have instead created repetitive and deleterious mechanisms. Each character, in addition to the basic moves, special moves and Critical Arts (the final moves, usable with the loading of the Ex bar), will have a small loadable bar called V-Gauge. The V stands for variable, and in fact with that bar you will manage every single unique move of your character. The moves will be divided into 3 sets: the V-Trigger, a status that can be activated with a full bar that will showcase your character's style by changing its dynamics; V-Skills, your fighter's unique special abilities; V-Reversal, a parade that will counter-attack, if you are good with the times, your enemy.
Also particular is the choice to remove the Chip Damage, that is the very little damage that was done in the titles passed by the special moves, once parried: well now the damage will not be done in any way if the move is parried, taking away the thrill of those scenes. in which one of the two fighters, with his life bar practically empty, found himself dodging every special move launched by the opponent. All of these choices were thought of solely for one reason: to bring back to Street Fighter that mind-game that by now, due to absurd technicalities, was disappearing. Each match is unique, each reaction is unique, each match-up must be studied.
In the game you can, at least at launch, test some of the modes: from the small and short story, consisting of about 4 fights per fighter, which will show you roughly what happens in the life of the Street Fighters, to the classic 1vs1 modes. The latter can be managed both locally (against a player or against the AI, both as a challenge and as a training), and online, through the Capcom Fighters Network, platform that will allow you to challenge the strongest fighters in the world in a fast and practical way. The mode features both ranked and casual challenges, just in case.
If these modes make the gaming experience valid, it is necessary to analyze however that many content, not present at launch, will be made available in the future. If this sounds bad to you, you have to take one thing into consideration: any future item (except for special costumes) can be bought with in-game currency (a bit like we saw in Guitar Hero Live). And it starts as early as March with the arrival of Alex and the opening of the Store, while we already know that a new character will be released every month. Furthermore, in June, the Cinematic Story will also arrive, or for the first time we will have a story of Street Fighter kinematics!
