I wanted to hold off on reviewing Street Fighter V until more content was released, since Capcom themselves admitted that the game was incomplete at launch. Nonetheless, I immediately bought the game as soon as it came out because I wanted to jump straight into the online multiplayer mode. Since then, I have been regularly playing it every now and then, and it still hasn't gotten old yet to this day. Furthermore, there are still plans to release additional content in the future. Now that the story mode has been released, I feel like I can give the game a fair review at this point.

The biggest attraction of Street Fighter V remains the online multiplayer mode. The battle system has more depth to it than any previous iteration of Street Fighter, and there are plenty of opportunities to make a comeback against an opponent who is overwhelming you. Your character's V-gauge will fill up as you take damage, allowing you to perform special techniques that could potentially reverse the direction the match is heading in. At the same time, your character's special gauge will also be filling up both as you give and receive damage, so it is still rewarding to go on the offensive. The developers also did a great job at ensuring that the characters in this game are all balanced (well, maybe except for Zangief), and that the play style for each character is a unique challenge to tackle and become accustomed to. Personally, I was satisfied by this game's multiplayer mode alone, but I understand that this might not be the case for everyone else.

Thankfully, Capcom has added enough single player content to keep many players satisfied by this point. Sure, they still haven't added Arcade Mode yet, but the amount of single-player content currently available was enough to satiate my needs of fighting against the game's AIs. This is just my personal taste, but I found that I didn't need Arcade Mode considering everything else the game had to offer. Survival Mode helped test any foolproof strategies I'd thought up against hordes of AI opponents, and Challenge Mode helped me practice vital combos for the characters I wanted to become familiar with. The long-anticipated Story Mode was well worth the wait (in my opinion) and definitely has the most fully fleshed-out plot in any Street Fighter game to date. It also pays homage to many of the earlier Street Fighter games in ways that might surprise some people.

The only real complaint I have about this game is that there still aren't too many characters on the roster just yet, although I am aware that this will change in future updates. Plus, the amount of variance between the playstyles of the different characters is enough to keep me entertained for now. Despite a difficult launch, I still have very high hopes for Street Fighter V, and I believe the amount of depth the game possesses is enough to keep most hardcore players hooked - therefore, I would certainly recommend it to fans of the series.

I wanted to hold off on reviewing Street Fighter V until more content was released, since Capcom themselves admitted that the game was incomplete at launch. Nonetheless, I immediately bought the game as soon as it came out because I wanted to jump straight into the online multiplayer mode. Since then, I have been regularly playing it every now and then, and it still hasn't gotten old yet to this day. Furthermore, there are still plans to release additional content in the future. Now that the story mode has been released, I feel like I can give the game a fair review at this point. The biggest attraction of Street Fighter V remains the online multiplayer mode. The battle system has more depth to it than any previous iteration of Street Fighter, and there are plenty of opportunities to make a comeback against an opponent who is overwhelming you. Your character's V-gauge will fill up as you take damage, allowing you to perform special techniques that could potentially reverse the direction the match is heading in. At the same time, your character's special gauge will also be filling up both as you give and receive damage, so it is still rewarding to go on the offensive. The developers also did a great job at ensuring that the characters in this game are all balanced (well, maybe except for Zangief), and that the play style for each character is a unique challenge to tackle and become accustomed to. Personally, I was satisfied by this game's multiplayer mode alone, but I understand that this might not be the case for everyone else. Thankfully, Capcom has added enough single player content to keep many players satisfied by this point. Sure, they still haven't added Arcade Mode yet, but the amount of single-player content currently available was enough to satiate my needs of fighting against the game's AIs. This is just my personal taste, but I found that I didn't need Arcade Mode considering everything else the game had to offer. Survival Mode helped test any foolproof strategies I'd thought up against hordes of AI opponents, and Challenge Mode helped me practice vital combos for the characters I wanted to become familiar with. The long-anticipated Story Mode was well worth the wait (in my opinion) and definitely has the most fully fleshed-out plot in any Street Fighter game to date. It also pays homage to many of the earlier Street Fighter games in ways that might surprise some people. The only real complaint I have about this game is that there still aren't too many characters on the roster just yet, although I am aware that this will change in future updates. Plus, the amount of variance between the playstyles of the different characters is enough to keep me entertained for now. Despite a difficult launch, I still have very high hopes for Street Fighter V, and I believe the amount of depth the game possesses is enough to keep most hardcore players hooked - therefore, I would certainly recommend it to fans of the series.