Elite_Magazine__Issue_94_2018

Review by James Hall
Street Fighter V Arcade Edition
There’s no denying that Street Fighter V launched
in a bit of a sorry state. It’s original 2016 release
was missing basic game modes and content, and
whilst Capcom has added to the game modes and
character roster in the intervening time there have
remained some key omissions. With this Arcade
Edition re-release, which comes as a free update
to existing owners or as a standalone release
with the first two seasons of DLC characters
thrown in, it finally feels like a complete package.
The core gameplay is mostly classic Street Fighter,
with a few modern elements and twists thrown in. You
have the standard smorgasbord of special moves and
super abilities for each character, though you can use
parts of your Super meter to power up special attacks
as well. The biggest introduction is the V-Gauge,
which grants each character a unique V-skill
(commonly a parry or projectile reflecting ability)
and can be partially burned to perform V-Reversal
counterattacks, or consumed completely to activate a
(PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch)
character’s V-Trigger, which acts as a temporary buff
for your character. The other new(ish) feauture is that
the stun meter has now been made visible, so you
can see how close your opponent is to being dizzyed.
It has to be said, the fighting mechanics are
incredibly tight, and from a technical point of view
the game excels. Characters are balanced, movesets
are unique enough to make even relatively similar
characters feel very different to play, and attacks
and animations are clearly presented in a way that
makes each fighter’s moves telegraphed enough
to indicate what they are doing, but fast enough
that only a talented player will be able to counter.
“The fighting mechanics are incredibly
tight, and from a technical point of
view the game excels. Characters
are balanced, movesets are unique
enough to make even relatively similar
characters feel very different to play”
Outside of the core combat, thing start to fall down
a little. For single player, you get a “cinematic”
story mode (which is terrible), individual 2-3
fight Character Story modes (which are bad), a
survival mode (which is punishing, and fairly
bad), VS CPU and Training modes (which do
what you’d expect) and the additions that are new
to this edition, Arcade, Team, and Extra Battle.
186 www.eliteonlinemag.com