Street Fighter V: Champion Edition (PlayStation 4) Review

The biggest selling point for Street Fighter V: Champion Edition is that this package is near enough the game Capcom should have forged all along. All 40 characters (including the latest addition, Seth), 34 stages (when including the themed variants), and over 200 costumes come as standard in this pretty meaty title. Is absolutely every piece of DLC in there, though? Nope. Capcom's still got to try and squeeze some extra pennies out of even Champion Edition purchasers, of course!

There are indeed a few costumes and stages locked behind a paywall. No matter how hard they try, major fighting game developers rarely ever seem to create true ultimate editions anymore - DLC will forever trickle out following the latest bundle release, which becomes so frustrating as a fan and buyer of the latest game. That's no different here.

As mostly just an all-in-one release than anything else, Champion Edition doesn't introduce any new modes. It's been good to see individual character stories make their way into SFV with every newly added fighter, and Seth now has one of their own. Still, though, an extra mode would have been welcome, if only to keep the game itself fresh for those that have been playing longer than newcomers entering the arena at this point.

There isn't much more to say than it is an overall good range of content for anyone that enjoys fighting games. Every character has two fighting styles, plenty of special moves, lots of costumes, and mini stories to clear. Online netcode still needs work, but that has been a never-ending complaint. Load times are still poor, and it seems like the game installs a new update every time it is booted up, so actually reaching the main menu can be a chore. It would have been nice to see more than one new character at the very least, but Capcom hasn't exactly pushed the boat out for this very safe bundle release. It's Street Fighter, and that's probably good enough.