Street Fighter 6 Review (Kranto)
Maybe it is still a honeymoon phase (which happens to pretty any fresh fighting game), but it is definitely very fun Street Fighter with a potential to shine and evolve as a fantastic one.
Footsies, which SF is well known for, feels amazing, every poke seems convenient to use. Solid emphasis on punish game, interesting mechanics, which give a lot of variety and sometimes it feels overwhelming in a good way. You rarely have a feeling that there is no way to outplay your opponent. Drive gauge gives unexpected layers of complexity and interesting resource management, which I've never seen in any SF game. Drive tools are strong at first, but usually have various counterplays to them (e.g. Drive Impact can be countered by Drive Impact on reaction, parry, throws or three fast hits). Roster is also robust with matchups which do not feel the same (especially it is the case with JP and Marisa). Newcomers give a lot of sauce to the game, and the old characters have been mostly reworked with new tools (Dee Jay is one of the most impressive legacy character rework I've ever seen in the genre). The only gameplay related thing which did not impress me that much - Drive Reversal seems limited to a few situations. Although there is a possibility, that I did not just get used to how it can be used properly.
Capcom learnt by their mistakes and they made full package for a release. SF6 is not restricted to the core game, training game, arcade and online, it also has party game-ish extreme battle mode and lengthy single player campaign. There are also a lot of great QOL features, such as instant rematch, good in-game character guides, tons of options in practice mode and frame meter (it is so good that it's been even used outside of SF6 before its release).
There are some aspects of the game, which are not all that great though. World Tour is the worst mode of the game - great idea with really weak implementation. It is intriguing at first, but it gets really tedious and grindy sometimes. I would enjoy this mode way more with less "bullet sponges", grind and unnecessary extra steps in quests. Music is also a controversial aspect of the game - I personally enjoy it more than not (Fete Foraine and Jamie's themes are wonderful), but there are also a lot of bland themes too unfortunately. Also, there are hiccups with matchmaking and its restrictions to the region, but it is addressed by devs. It is still not a problem with playing online sets via battle hub and regular lobby, especially with such good netcode (I've rarely seen noticeable rollbacks and it was pretty convenient to play with 180 ms ping).
Denuvo (which is expected for a new Capcom game) and Battle Pass can be understandable turn off for some players, but it is not the end of the world. I feel that the flaws are not that crucial, and SF6 is mostly done right. It feels that devs do care for the game. There was no such feeling with the former instalment on launch.
Amazing game, without any doubt. If you waited for an opportunity to play Street Fighter, good ground based game or you want a well crafted mainstream fighting game (finally) - Street Fighter 6 is a great opportunity!