street fighter 6 ken the trend continues. It’s normal for characters in any fighting game series to change each new installment, and Ken is one of the most frequently reviewed characters in the Street Fighter series roster. In recent games, he has gone from being a confident clone of Ryu who wears his trademark red gi to a more athletic appearance. His special abilities also change between games: he adds fire to his Shoryuken and forgets about moves that didn’t work too well, like the heavy Tatsumaki from Street Fighter 5, which allowed him to learn powerful new moves instead of him. . .
Perhaps Ken’s most notable change in Street Fighter 6 is his dirty themes. He wears Timberland-inspired boots, red sweatpants, and a black vest, while a rugged brown jacket completes what I call “royal chic.” I asked Capcom PR if there was a story behind the new look, but didn’t get a clear answer. On the inside, though, he’s still the same optimistic, if somewhat arrogant, Ken, despite what his appearance and some internet theories might suggest. And as sloppy as it is, it’s the best Ken has seen in a 3D Street Fighter game; His hair is significantly better than the bunch of bananas stuck to his head in Street Fighter 5.
Capcom didn’t just change the look, so given that, how does Ken play Street Fighter 6? He still has his Fireball, Dragon Strike, and Whirling Strike, but the rest of his normals and specials now light up his reworked fighting style.
The closest comparison I can give Ken to Street Fighter 6 is Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, in which Ken shines as one of the best characters in the game. He moves like Shippu-Jinraikyaku, a critical art move with several hits that deal decently. damage, he defined his playstyle from his tackle after the first move. He also gets new targeting combos that you can use to repeatedly hit your opponent, making him much less predictable than ever.
I got to play as Ken the Tramp and the other revealed Street Fighter 6 characters and had fun experimenting with combo links after learning how to use the new travel gauge effectively. This new indicator is displayed as a segmented green bar below each fighter’s health bar. Some of the techniques that use Drive Gauge are familiar, like Overdrives, which is just a new name for EX moves from previous games.
What excites me the most is the new Drive Gauge tricks when I press the buttons on the arcade stick. While all characters can easily parry an attack, a perfectly timed parry slows down the action for a short time and opens your opponent up for a counter combo. You also have Drive Impact, which absorbs incoming punches and kicks when your character lands a powerful blow to knock the enemy back a decent distance. This is a particularly effective option if you’re currently blocking a series of attacks or want to slam your opponent into the wall in the corner to create a juggling combo.
Additionally, there is a new Drive Rush that allows characters to interrupt a normal attack with a short dash. You can start a new combo with this board without technically abandoning the previous combo to deal massive damage. With Ken’s target combos in mind, using Drive Rush to build them into a new combo followed by one of his three Critical Art attacks that use a separate sensor at the bottom of the screen is devastatingly powerful.
To balance all of these options, reckless use of the driving indicator is risky. Different moves come at a cost, so while parrying is relatively cheap, doing a Drive Rush costs half full scale. Also, if the player bar runs out of songs, it will take a long time to reload, and until then, you won’t have access to any of these techniques. Trying to defend against an opponent in such a weakened state is terrifying, especially if he has a full training bar that he can use at will. Ken is more vulnerable here, as he relies heavily on parry access to change course or overdrive to enhance his special abilities.
With every new character I try out, and stay tuned for upcoming preview guides from PCGamesN, I see new ways Street Fighter 6 can shine. But above all, the potential of Drive Gauge shows the good of Ken. It’s immediately clear why parrying attacks is so convenient, but playing as Ken shows me how versatile other moves are and how they can help me win.
Of course, it also helps that he now has perhaps the most versatile move in his 35 years as a Street Fighter mainstay. So even though it seems like he’s having a rough time, he’s now officially my favorite version of Ken.
A release date for Street Fighter 6 hasn’t been set yet, but it should be sometime next year. Check out our Street Fighter 6 rosters guide for a full rundown on every confirmed character, rumor, and leak.
Source : PC Gamesn
