Credit given where credit’s due, after the barebones release of Street Fighter V left a sour taste in many a player’s mouth, Capcom are going above and beyond with Street Fighter 6 to include everything that could and should be needed this time around. Sure, Street Fighter V grew into a more complete game over time, but it’s obviously far, far better to have a complete package on day one.
One of the cornerstones to the new game is the World Tour, which is going to great lengths to give players something fun to do instead of constant online matches. It’s a smart bridge where casual players can cross into the online modes over time once they’ve gained some experience and fancy seeing how they can compare to players that aren’t their friends.
If anyone remembers Mortal Kombat Deception’s Konquest Mode, then you’ll be immediately familiar with what’s on offer here. Street Fighter 6 World Tour gives you the opportunity to create your own avatar and explore the streets and well… fight!
You travel the world and learn from Masters, becoming their students and unlocking more of their moves as you level up their style. Creating your character, you pick a base style which will have all their walk animations and normal attacks, then add moves on top of this using a points based system. For instance, you can have Luke as your Master, you can use his Rising Uppercut, but then add Chun Li’s Kikoken once you’ve met her later on.
This ‘build your own fighter’ concept is fascinating to me and I’m really curious to see the massively broken combinations people are going to come up with. As it will be a nightmare to try and balance, Capcom’s sensibly limiting your avatar so that they can’t be taken into online ranked matches, but you can still face off against other people’s avatars in the Battle Hub.
Otherwise, your avatar is used to roam Metro City and other places around the world, levelling up through play, challenging random NPCs to fights, and unlocking various secrets as you explore the story that’s on offer.
In the preview I played, I started off under Luke’s tutelage, facing off against my Pokémon-esque rival, Bosch. Having already made a name for himself as a fridge and washing machine magnate, Bosch is now looking to dominate as a fighter, and he does not like the competition you pose. After facing off against him in battle, you are left to explore Metro City in all its glory.
You unlock Master Actions when you gain a new Master, letting you perform a signature move of theirs when you are out and about exploring. Luke’s Rising Uppercut can be used to destroy various objects in the environment giving you access to new areas, while Chun-Li’s famed Spinning Bird Kick is a good traversal tool for crossing large gaps to otherwise inaccessible areas. It would seem there is a ton to explore and I was only able to explore one zone. As seen in the recent showcase, there’s at least seven zones to explore, so World Tour could take a good long while to fully explore.
The best part about these master actions, however, is the ability to use them to start fights. I laughed so hard the first few times when I walked up to a random punter on the street and used a Rising Uppercut to send them flying, triggering a battle in the process – I was howling! And you are never short on people to challenge, so you can do this as much as you want.
Some NPCs will also try to start fights with you, becoming aggressive as you walk by them. It reminds me a lot of walking the streets in a Yakuza game, always having to be on the lookout for nasty guys trying to take you down.
Certain enemies will be at a higher level than you, and while that won’t make them impossible to defeat, they’ll be extremely tough to take down. A little grinding to level up your personal level and style level will be key to taking down some of the tougher enemies. Combat also has side objectives you can complete in order to earn yourself some extra experience on the side, so these are definitely worth trying to complete. If all that isn’t enough, you can also acquire skill points which you can use to increase things like the damage of your attacks or your maximum vitality.
And then, of course, there’s the cosmetics, with the World Tour featuring various shops that offer plenty of options for customising you avatar further. Just pop in and buy some new threads with any Zenny you’ve picked up on your travels.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg of what World Tour has to offer and it feels like another solid reason for people to get involved with Street Fighter 6, acting as a possible gateway into more online fighting shenanigans. There are billboards everywhere in Metro City, presumably with a view to advertise things that are going on in other modes – a clever way of dangling the carrot to try and hook people in and I’m all for it.
As someone who is primarily focused on online battles, I will definitely be diving deeper into World Tour upon release. The mode itself is a lot of fun and already adds a hundred times more value to Street Fighter 6’s release considering what we got with Street Fighter V. There’s something that can appeal to everyone here, so if you’re just getting Street Fighter 6 for online only, then cool, you can completely ignore this mode. I do think, however, you’ll be missing out.
