Street Fighter 6 Demo Gives Half of a Good First Impression
Street Fighter 6 has been in the news a lot lately, thanks in no small part to its recent showcase. While a lot was shown off, I was most drawn to the announcement of a free demo to give fans a taste of the game before it comes out. I don’t have a PS5 or a decent PC, so I couldn’t have played the closed beta even if I wanted to (assuming I would’ve even gotten a code in the first place). So, after finally getting my hands on the game, it’s really good. However, the demo isn’t. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its merits, but every time I get into the game, it boots me out.
Fantastic Tutorials
The demo starts in a promising way, with a basic tutorial. This not only gives you the absolute essentials but contextualizes them. Giving players scenarios and examples of how and when to use certain moves is something I really could’ve done with when I started playing fighting games. There are even character-specific tutorials detailing combo paths and the intricacies of each Special move. While the main tutorials are only in the beginner category, they do teach concepts such as cross-ups and when to wake up after being knocked down. While all of this information is great, problems arise when you try to apply it.
Very Limited Options
The Street Fighter 6 demo gives you access to Versus mode, one kind of Special Match, and the very beginning of the new World Tour story mode. I wasn’t expecting anything more than that, especially not an online mode of any kind. The lack of things to do wasn’t a problem (it is a demo after all). However, actual problems arose as I dug deeper. I jumped right into the World Tour mode and messed around with the pretty incredible character creator. despite all the options presented to me, I couldn’t resist making an abomination. My character was an intentional Akuma knockoff. He was as tall as a building and as thin as a stick but with an eerily large neck, shoulders, hands, and feet. He also looked ever so slightly confused at everything around him.
After being introduced to the game by the game’s poster boy, Luke, your character is set loose in Final Fight’s Metro City. After having a few fights around the main square and being introduced to the mode’s RPG mechanics, the game kicks you out. You don’t get to see much of Metro City or what the mode has to offer. While it was fun finding and challenging the strongest fighters in the tiny space you’re given, I could’ve done with another hour to get into customizing my character’s move-set or even having a full move-set, to begin with.
Stop Kicking Me Out!
Versus mode is a similar story. Being met with just two characters to play as, namely Luke and Ryu, is a little bit underwhelming. However, the sheer quality of the game made me willing to overlook that detail. The standard fights in Versus mode are fantastic. Every hit feels great to land and the new drive system is a fun twist on the classic formula. Everything just comes together in this amazing cocktail of fighting game greatness.
That is until you finish your third game. For whatever reason, the Street Fighter 6 demo kicks you out to the title screen after just three games. The worst part is that you can’t just go back to the character select screen before it does this. Street Fighter 6 remembers how many games you’ve played. This means that it will take you out of the game to ask you to buy the full version. This is incredibly annoying when you’re trying to get a feel for the game.
Not only does it kick you out, but it also resets the game that has been set up. What I mean by this is that you’ll have to manually change the settings every three games. This includes how many rounds you want, how long you want on the timer, and your control scheme. All this ends up doing is bloating the time between games exponentially. This would’ve been slightly more bearable if there was a training mode to help people understand the combo system and the drive gauge, but there isn’t. The most you get is the ability to try out moves in character-specific tutorials. This acts as a very stripped-back training mode where you can try learning the game, but it’s far from ideal.
Final Thoughts on the Street Fighter 6 Demo
The Street Fighter 6 demo should be amazing. I wanted it to be the kind of demo I’d be coming back to time and time again. Instead, I found it was oddly reminiscent of the demos you’d find in Super Smash Bros: Brawl. It’s less of a taste of the game and more of a glimpse. It’s like dropping a free sample on the floor. It looks good. You know you’d love it, but it gets dragged away from you before you can get the satisfaction of eating it.
Street Fighter 6 releases on June 2. You can find more details for the demo here