Street Fighter V Game Modes Revealed, Final Beta Begins
By Rory Young 26 January 2016
The final beta for Street Fighter V is starting today and to celebrate Capcom released a trailer showcasing the fighting game’s modes – from story to multiplayer.
Just over two weeks remain until Street Fighter V reaches its launch date and fighters on both PlayStation 4 and PC are anxious. Capitalizing on the hype, Capcom is delivering two gifts to fans today. The first is a trailer showcasing the six different game modes to be found the fighting game, from story to multiplayer, along with some previously unannounced details. Second is, of course, the start of the final Street Fighter V beta, which includes 15 of the 16 launch combatants.
Revealed live on-stage at the Taipei Game Show, the trailer covers all six of the major game modes in Street Fighter V. Several of the modes are a direct response to previous criticisms of the Street Fighter franchise, for instance no introduction for new players, limited story, and a lack of tutorial options. Add in some extra game modes that improve overall single-player or multiplayer experiences and Capcom is clearly planning to deliver a more robust Street Fighter title than ever before.
Here are the six game modes that Capcom will be including with Street Fighter V at launch:
- Tutorial
- Character Story Mode
- Survival Mode
- Training Mode
- Network Battle
- Capcom Fighters Network
While not promising any additional modes beyond the six specifically, Capcom did note that it has plans for several free content updates for Street Fighter V after the game launches. That includes the free Story Mode Expansion announced earlier this week. Hopefully they’re not just referring to characters and skins, but don’t be surprised if that first content updated includes some sort of marketplace.
Both the addition of the Tutorial mode and the expanded Training Mode should be of huge benefit to new players. A criticism of Street Fighter, and of fighting games in general, for a long time has been how they make no effort to create a smooth learning curve for new players. A tutorial at the very least will introduce players to the core mechanics of the game. And one would hope there are advanced tutorials introducing more complicated concepts. After that, the Training Mode and playing matches should do the rest of the work.
Single-player focused purchasers of Street Fighter V have plenty to be excited about, too. The Character Story Mode will offer reintroductions for every single member of the roster with illustrations from Japanese artist Bengus. It’s a bit disappointing that the full story mode with rendered cinematics won’t arrive until June, but it’s also worth being excited about. Add in the new Survival Mode, which also offers a progression system of rewards, and the offline audience will have hours and hours of content to consume.
On the other hand, there’s no telling whether the multiplayer audience for Street Fighter V will be content until the game is live. The betas up to this point have had several issues, but that’s what betas are for. However, reports are still coming out of the new final beta regarding rollback issues and extended dead time between matches. As far as modes alone, Capcom has done a rather solid job with ranked matchmaking, casual matchmaking, and online services with tons of data on individual players as well as replays.
Speaking of the beta, as mentioned the final one before launch is now live. Running from today through January 31 at 7pm PT, this short weekend beta is everyone’s last chance to try the game pre-launch. Unfortunately the beta is pre-order exclusive, so not everyone will be able to get in. This beta includes 15/16 characters, all except F.A.N.G., and has a handful of changes: limit opponents by connection speed; better skill level matchmaking; and balance changes across the board.
Street Fighter V is scheduled for launch on PlayStation 4 and PC starting February 16, 2016.
