Game Review: Street Fighter 6 – Fun, Modern and almost Accessible
This article has originally been featured on my Patreon page.
Hello, dear friends. Street Fighter 6 was released yesterday, June 2, 2023, and as Capcom says, represents the next evolution of the Street Fighter series with a combination of unique fighting game innovations and content brimming across three brand-new game modes. Players can duke it out in Fighting Ground, World Tour, and Battle Hub.
Street Fighter 6 launched with an 18-character roster including all eight of the original Street Fighter World Warriors, four returning franchise favorites, and six brand-new faces.
Today I am going to provide you with a hands-on experience of Street Fighter 6 as I have recorded almost 1 hour of footage in which I will show you how I play the latest fighting game from Capcom as a totally blind gamer. The video should be in 4K and has been captured on PS5.
I can sincerely say that I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that they even considered accessibility for blind players, and the way in which they have made this possible is quite interesting. You will need to watch the video to better understand what I’m talking about here.
The idea is that during the fights, we have different sound cues, and even one that gets higher and lower in pitch as we move closer or further from our opponent.
Excellent sound design tells you how far away you are from the opponent, the height level of attacks, whether an attack is a cross-up, how much Drive Gauge remains, and more.
Of course, the game is not fully accessible for blind players; only part of the Battle Ground section gets narrated after some settings are enabled. Battle Ground brings together the core fighting modes from previous titles – including Arcade Mode, online matches, Training Mode, local versus battles, and more. Also, be advised that blind individuals will need sighted assistance when they must connect the PSN ID to the Capcom account, as the Capcom website uses a captcha that is not accessible via a screen reader.
I spent a few hours today and yesterday in SF6 fighting against the computer and against Alina, and I can definitely appreciate everything that has been done to make Street Fighter 6 as accessible as it is.
Sadly, for now I am not able to experience World Tour, the single-player story mode with RPG elements set in the Street Fighter universe that promises to allow players to leave their own legacy with their own created player avatar. I understand that World Tour kicks off in Metro City, the same location as Final Fight. From there, you’ll travel to various places around the world and become a student of your favorite Masters.
Last, but not least, the Battle Hub is a destination that provides players with new and unique ways to engage, communicate and interact with players from around the world or just play some good old fashion arcade games.
We also have three control schemes that should satisfy all types of gamers, from those who prefer the Classic layout to intermediate players who can take advantage of the Modern scheme, all the way to newcomers who can try out the Dynamic scheme for one button press devastating attacks.
Street Fighter 6 also comes with a really interesting live commentary system that describes matches in real-time. But for now, I have that one turned off because I need to concentrate on the combat sound cues.
Capcom has managed to deliver the most fun, modern, and accessible Street Fighter to date, but there are still many things that can be improved from an accessibility perspective. Hopefully, with time, the other two sections of the game will be unlocked for blind players with new accessibility features, and I would definitely like to see haptics and adaptive triggers implemented in a better manner.
If you are a fan of Street Fighter, you will love Street Fighter 6, and for those with different impairments, this will prove to be the most accessible yet!
Street Fighter 6 is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
Review copy provided by Capcom
Victor Dima
