Street Fighter 5: Alex Review

Back in late February, we gave Street Fighter 5 an 8 out of 10, stating that Capcom made a definitive case for quality over quantity in the fighting game genre. But this was before they had implemented their first DLC update. A first for Capcom, Street Figher 5’s downloadable content is free to play, instead of being locked behind a paywall. Simply hearing this sentence could make some gamers glee, while others lock themselves for disappointment. It’s a divisive territory! But if Capcom did knock it out of the park with the base game, can they do it again? Let’s see.

Gameplay:

A past Street Fighter mainstay, Alex made his debut in Street Fighter III: New Generation and continued to 2nd Impact and 3rd Strike. Street Fighter 5 continues his streak of playable abrasiveness from the other games, while adding a bit more bulkiness to the character. While Alex may not be as free flowing as Ken or Ryu, he does have a couple tricks up his sleeve, including an impressive V trigger and heavy inspiration from 3rd Strike especially.

Story/Design:

When characters can be put back into the limelight, it can be particularly hard to innovate from what’s already been done. Capcom’s had a bit of trouble with this for Alex, but it’s mostly the big features that were put in this game that change the character up instead of a complete redesign. A big focus has been put on countering and parrying, and while this does add a lot more variety to some of the other characters in the roster, it can sometimes feel like it’s the only thing Alex has up his sleeve.

There’s also an added story mode, and while short it does the job well. It includes such characters as F.A.N.G. (being the antagonist) Patricia, Ryu, and more. The story is a bit convoluted, but it manages to wrap itself off carefully and completely with an appropriate battle, that’s unfortunately set in a not so great stage.

Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:

As usual, Alex continues Street Fighter 5’s track record for visual fidelity and crispness. Alex is a particularly colorful character, and this is ever so present in fighting and unleashing moves. Voice acting is also subtly present and much like everything else in the package, there isn’t much to complain about. I do wish the alternate costumes were a lot more creative, but they do the job in terms of more replay value to the player, if anything.

Conclusion:

Alex isn’t a huge step forward for what Street Fighter 5’s downloadable content needs, but it’s certainly not a step back either. It’s slightly flawed but mostly competent, and introduces a series icon in a way that doesn’t feel poor or unnecessary. And, once all the other characters are out, Alex will likely grow on players. It’s just a matter of waiting.

Street Fighter 5’s Alex gets a 7 /10 (Average)

We’d like to thank Capcom PR for sending us a code!

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