My, my, my how Cwpcom has grown up! I remember when Capcom was stuck making Disney games, and being barely relevant to anyone who was respected in the video game industry. Then they created a franchise called Street Fighter, arguably one of the most popular fighting games on the planet. Capcom had such a knack for being really the first real fighting game, and although that position could be argued, it was the first to break the mainstream. Still, it always left me asking one simple question: who the hell is Shen Long?
Fast-forward to nearly thirty years from the first game, and we are now at Street Fighter V, releasing sometime in 2015. Street Fighter V is the sequel in a roomful of prequels, spin offs, and games that even I can't remember. It looks to improve quite a bit on IV, but from what I've seen, it's going to be a different play experience, but not as different as say, Final Fantasy XV is going to be to XIV. Still, SFV is kind of iffy for my taste. So far, I've seen very little of the game. I've seen more of Dragonball Z Xenoverse than I've seen of Street Fighter V. Personally, I'm more excited to see if they add more characters that are like Street Fighter III Alpha, that are so outlandish and unique. Although I'm not sure I can take another boss that looks like Seth. So-far, the only characters I've seen confirmed are Chun-Li, and Ryu, which is no surprise, but I was expecting to see something along the lines of brand-new characters, and was sadly disappointed.
The gameplay from the demo I caught looks incredibly better than most I've seen on past games. It seems both Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter are taking pages out of one-another's books, where Mortal Kombat X is going to incorporate the background into the fight, and now Street Fighter is going to have it so you can kick your opponent through to other areas within a level. Like how the uppercut in past MK titles brought you to a different level, Street Fighter has it so a good, critical hit will lengthen the level, rather than stick you in a corner barrier. This makes the game look far more realistic,and expands upon a the nonstop action that one expects from Street Fighter.
The characters have a very comic book/anime look still, and it's still more 2.5 D than actually 3D as a game, but is sure the game will feel more like a classic arcade fighter, as that tends to be the gold standard in these kind of games, not counting the Power Stone concept of full range fighting style, which hasn't been reproduced well enough since the demise of Dreamcast. Still, I find the fighting genre will have a nice duel in 2015, as Street Fighter V is apt to be more compelling a title than it's predecessor, and all the spin-offs of that game.
Personally, my favorite character to play as, other than the carbon copy sextuplets ( Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Akuma, Dan, and Gokusen) is Vega, who is perhaps the most difficult to master, and also the most useful in tournament play. I do love Balrog as well, mostly because I respect just what kind of damage the character can do, but mostly because I'm a boxing fan. Still, I hope Vega makes a return, as well as Balrog, and I'm sure many will want to see Akuma back, but I can do without playing the same moves off the same damn characters. Still, from the glimpses I've seen of the game, I think there's a serious contender here to be a very pro tournament layout, and I'll personally love to see those go into affect come launch. I'll be playing as Vega naturally, but I'll switch it up to Balrog, or Ryu, if he's not ridiculously unfair. Lately all the characters seemed to be balanced in the arcade version, but I wasn't intrigued by the inclusion of "Evil Ryu".
SFV does look sound as a fighter, but I'm hoping the story, heh, "story" and Street Fighter were never synonymous, but I would like to see a story, because you need one to keep your game relevant these days. Even Tekken cannot get away with looks anymore, although I secretly routing for another Virtua Fighter, because im one of the two people who bought the last one. Still, I think the fans want another Bloody a roar, and that really doesn't look like it's going to happen, yet Killer Instincts got Xbox One exclusive....so far.
Despite the number of fighting games that are coming out, are out, or have been postponed, but promised to be out next week, the top two are Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter, with Tekken a slight contender for third, even though it should be first. Yes, to me Tekken is the superior fighter, but the storied histories lay on the shoulders of both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, the great-grand daddies of the fighting genre. Still, Street Fighter V gives signs of promising to be a leap forward in the genre, but I think it may just be a leap forward in the series, and either would be welcome addition.
Also, they've hinted at Charlie returning to the game, so maybe the story will be very, very interesting, and not just Seth = goal!
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