The Long Game

Progress reports on the games we just can’t quit, featuring a finally full-grown Street Fighter V

Developer/publisher Capcom Format PC, PS4 Release 2016

Do we really need to rake over the coals of Street

Fighter V’s awful launch again? Features not working or missing entirely, promises either half-delivered or flat-out broken – you’ve heard it all before, if not about this then some other game.

Capcom has, to its credit, worked carefully to mend first the game, and then its own reputation. A planned premium currency, Zenny, was postponed while the publisher got its house in order, and later dropped entirely. The Capcom Fighters Network, an in-house matchmaking tool that would power crossplatform play between PC and PS4, was kept in beta and quietly rebuilt behind the scenes.

Yet Capcom’s good work has been undermined somewhat by its insistence on sticking to its business plan – and the lingering suspicion that abandoning the real-money Zenny has made it more avaricious elsewhere. Costumes and stages arrive at a clip, and are outrageously priced, the cost of owning it all running well into triple figures. That Capcom has escaped too much public censure is more a measure of the game’s lack of popularity outside the fighting-game scene than anything else. No one really seems to care.

A reboot was required, then, which is a bit awkward when you’ve spent most of your PR campaign loudly trumpeting that this is the only version of SFV you’ll ever need to buy. To sidestep that, SFV: Arcade Edition is free to existing owners, with a paid version bundling the first two seasons’ worth of DLC characters, and giving players in every group new things to do.

Heading the list is Arcade mode, that most basic of fighting-game features. It’s split into multiple submodes, each tied in to an old version of Street Fighter – pick the Alpha path, say, and you’ll only face AI opponents who hail from that game. Solo players can also enter Extra Battle, which costs in-game Fight Money to enter, and pays out cosmetic items. You can invite some friends round for a three-on-three Team Battle – though, infuriatingly, it can’t be played online.

For the hardcore, the most crucial addition is a thorough rebalancing of the battle system (that also gives every character a second V-Trigger). Whether the finer tweaks will redress the balance of a game that has overwhelmingly favoured constant, thoughtless attacking play remains to be seen; the coming season of Capcom Cup – the only aspect of Street Fighter V that has worked as intended since the start – will be telling, and will define, more than any new modes, moves or features, whether Street Fighter V will become the game we were originally promised.