Are fighting games worth full price?

I would not class myself as a hardcore fan of the fighting genre, along with racing games it's the type of game I play and experiment with the least. But when I look back at all the years that I've been a gamer, unlike racers there are small pockets of fighters from each console generation that I spent plenty of hours with. From the top of my head I can think of Mortal Kombat 2, Super Smash Bros, Soul Calibur, Tekken Tag Tournament and the more recently released For Honor.

Despite its many flaws I've had a lot of fun with For Honor, it's a rare fighting game that requires you to think rather than just react. There's plenty of content, and the online modes are real fun even if the community is toxic. But if I'm being honest, if it weren't for my online friends I play with I probably would've checked out of it some time ago.

Last year I bought Tekken 7 and I was bitterly disappointed, not only was there an unsatisfactory amount of content but I nigh on got thrashed in every online match that I competed in. And that was when it actually worked without lagging of course. I quickly got rid of it, but I was still excited for the recently released Soul Calibur 6, I loved the Dreamcast version but I'd not played any of the others since. Soul Calibur's big selling point is that it's a full on three dimensional fighter that focuses on weapons combat, and the path to victory is more about timing and movement compared to its competitors.

But the same thing has happened once again, after only three days of playing the game I regretted my purchase, and I can't get rid of it because I bought a digital copy. It's not because the game's bad, quite the contrary, its core gameplay is stellar and just as good as I remembered, and it has a decent amount of content for what it is. I would go along with the critical praise its received, and if I reviewed it I would score it around the seven or eight mark. If I could criticise anything it would be the dull menus, the rather limited online matchmaking, and the paid DLC for new characters on day one. There is also a huge problem with the difficulty, on hard it's just a bit too easy, while on very hard it's way too difficult.

Like Tekken 7, I just can't win in an online match, this is most likely due to me playing against people who are far more experienced with the genre than myself. And I just don't like these kind of fighting games enough to put in the dedication to become competitive, there's only so much of getting hit with an uninterrupted combo chain that I can take.

But it brings me onto my question, are fighting games worth full price? And from my own personal perspective I don't think they are. But from an objective point of view it all depends on how much you care about content, dedication, and how accessible the online modes are.

Soul Calibur 6 has two story modes, neither of which I have tried yet, and I'm unlikely to do so. I buy fighting games for the standard arcade mode where you go from one fighter to the next, until you reach the final boss. I do this with every character so that I'm up to the point where I can play competitively online with each one. After completing the arcade mode with every character, fighting games become my casual go to game when I just want a quick half an hour or an hour of entertainment when I'm bored. Similar to the way I play Call of Duty games, but those games have a lower skill ceiling, and far more forgiving for casual players.


I return back to For Honor, although it belongs in the fighting genre it's vastly different to Soul Calibur 6 and Tekken 7, to the point that you can't compare them whatsoever. But it's online functionality and variety is quite solid, which you can't say about most other fighting games. Soul Calibur 6s online mode is quite bad, I don't understand why they never copied the way Tekken 7 functions.

I am far less forgiving now than I was fifteen years ago when it comes to the amount of content I can squeeze from a game, and I think I speak for a lot of other gamers when I say that. There are a couple of reasons for this, one, games are no longer bought for me, I buy them myself. Two, games have advanced in so many ways, and not just in terms of gameplay but the content they give you. For the amount of money I spent on Soul Calibut 6 and Tekken 7 I could have got a lengthy single player game with a hefty amount of online play attached to it. It all boils down to me getting the right amount of value from the time I spend with a game, which is important for me. Others might be different, I understand.

Going forward I can't see myself ever buying a traditional fighting game on day one again. I just don't have the patience or dedication to master every character to compete in an online mode that is more than likely going to be bare bones, and empty after a short amount of time. As a casual fighting fan I think I'm going wait for a deep sale when I buy Dead or Alive 6.