10 days after launch, Street Fighter 5 online play is much improved
But rage quitters are ruining my day.
10 days after Street Fighter 5 launched, the fighting game's online portion is much improved.
I've put time into the PlayStation 4 version of the game this week and can report online play works well, although there is still much work to be done.
Street Fighter 5 launched with a raft of problems, among them spotty online that prevented a lot of people from playing.
Now, I get a steady stream of ranked and casual matches, the majority of which run with minimal lag. That's not to say the odd match isn't ruined by characters teleporting all over the place, but it's maybe one in six or seven.
It feels like matchmaking time is where it should be. It can take longer to find a match in the morning, when fewer people are playing, than the evening, but that's to be expected. Overall, though, the wait for online matches is manageable.
The Battle Lounge, too, is improved after a shaky start. But it still suffers from the fact each lounge can house just two players. Capcom's said this number will increase soon.
With ranked, casual and Battle Lounge working okay, Street Fighter 5's biggest problem right now - when it comes to online play at least - is rage quitting.
I covered this issue last week, and Capcom has said it's on the case. But my feeling is Street Fighter 5's rage quitting problem is getting worse, that is, it's happening to me more often.
You can tell, too. When you're up against someone with a ridiculously high win streak, you get the feeling they'll rage quit if you win, just to prevent a loss of League Points. I hope Capcom releases a solution for Street Fighter 5's rage quit problem sooner rather than later. I'm amazed Street Fighter 5 shipped without a punishment system in place to combat those who quit matches early. Shocking, really!
Of course, Street Fighter 5 still has a number of problems associated with a lack of content and stuff for single-player fans to do, which I covered in my review. An update due out in March promises to add missing modes such as Challenge, and open the in-game shop. Perhaps an Arcade Mode is in the works, too.
