Street Fighter 6 hands-on: The world warrior is relevant (and fun) again

Enlarge / The splashy color effects attached to successful "drive impact" attacks look even better in action, thanks to the game already being optimized for 60 fps action. (credit: Capcom)

LOS ANGELES—After spending two days smacking strangers around in the world's first playable version of Street Fighter 6, I'm convinced that this is the entry that will bring me, a casual fighting game player, back to the series.

Already, this "2023" fighting game is beautiful. It's accessible. Its combat has real impact. And its strategies and moment-to-moment gameplay come with clearer consequences and learning opportunities than I've ever seen in a Capcom fighter.

As the version I played was quite early, with only four playable characters, I'm left with the impression that Capcom still has some fine-tuning to do. I can already imagine where the devs will focus efforts like damage balancing, recovery windows, and other numerical tweaks. I'll do my best to share what I've learned so far about SF6's myriad of systems, particularly the "drive" abilities that gather prior games' coolest mechanics into a "greatest movement hits" gumbo. These all appear to be subject to change.