Developer: Yuke’s
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Release Date: 29th June 2023
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Switch & PC
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
▫️ code provided by the publisher ▫️
So, it’s finally here. The game old-school Nintendo 64 wrestling fans have been waiting over 22 years for. Does AEW Fight Forever bring back the joys of yesteryear? For the most part, yes it does.
Drawing huge inspiration from the AKI engine and signing up the director of WWF No Mercy and WCW nWo Revenge, as well as wrestling game veterans Yuke’s, this new era for wrestling games has been hugely anticipated since its formal announcement in 2020.
The game features 47 AEW stars right out of the gate, with a few more able to be purchased via the in-game shop once you have met certain criteria. These additional characters, as well as alternate attires, moves, clothes and objects for your created wrestlers and arenas are all bought via in-game money which is dished out generously for almost everything you do while playing.
There are also more stars announced as part of the Elite Edition. Purchasing this will get you Matt Hardy and his Broken counterpart along with FTR at launch. Then over the next two months, you’ll also receive The Bunny, Keith Lee, HOOK and Danhausen as well as the MJF Car Thrash and Sloth Sling minigames. These packs can also be purchased separately, but are pretty pricey.
In terms of match types, the game offers a pretty impressive list. Singles, tags, three ways, four ways, lights out, falls out anywhere, ladder matches, an exploding barbed wire deathmatch and the Casino Battle Royale all feature at launch, with rumours of another AEW stampe… I mean staple, possibly being added down the line.
Ladder matches play really well. All the usual carnage is present and accounted for, with the ladder being able to be used as a weapon and a platform to do dives. I really like the clever button input when going for the chip as well. You have to wear down four bars using the face buttons. Progress on this carries between different players too, so you could get an opponent to do the heavy lifting and then yank him down and nip up to grab the win.
Exploding Barbed Wire Death Matches are a cool addition and always end up in bloody affairs. When a wrestler hits the barbed wire blood appears immediately on their body and starts to smear all over the canvas. At the beginning of the match, a 120-second timer begins, counting down to when the ring explodes. When this happens those closest to the ropes will take the brunt of the impact.
Moving on to modes is where the content starts to thin out a bit. All the previously mentioned matches can be played in exhibition against the AI, or with friends either locally or online. Outside of that though, the only other option is Road to Elite. This is essentially the game’s story mode, where you can take a created wrestler, or AEW roster member, through a roughly 3-hour journey.
Road to Elite does have some cool footage of the company’s formation and how things have evolved since 2019 and it does have a different structure depending on whether you select a male or female wrestler, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for a more robust story with proper angles.
What it lacks in in-depth storylines though, it makes up for in sheer madness. Right from the setup screen, the mode shows its hand by letting you choose between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, all the while pointing out that this has absolutely zero impact on the story and is just a visual difference.
Between matches you’ll have four “turns” where you can do workouts to get upgrade points, eat to regain energy, pick up additional matches at Rampage or Dark and also some misc activities like playing minigames with Nick and Matt Jackson, appearing on talk shows or sightseeing. The latter can produce some hilarious visuals, as your in-game character wanders around while a video of a local landmark is shown in the background. You’ll regularly meet other AEW wrestlers on these excursions as well, which usually ends in you both taking a selfie… just because.
Some of the extras in between matches are pretty fun, but the main problem I found is that a core mechanic in all this is gaining skill points to upgrade your wrestler. This is only possible if you are playing the mode with a created wrestler, which many won’t want to do as the create-a-wrestler suite is very limited. AEW star stats cannot be changed, so if you want to play through the career with your favourite wrestler the upgrade points are simply converted into in-game cash at the end instead.
I mentioned minigames. These can be played during career mode or simply from the main menu. Four wrestlers running around the ring trying to collect as many coins as possible, a timed button press dance session with Penta and an AEW quiz are the base games, with more unlocked as you progress and others confirmed as part of upcoming DLC. While not as bad as I had expected from pre-release footage, I don’t see this being an area where people spend time outside of completing the odd challenge.
Graphically I think the team at Yukes has done an excellent job of straddling the line between realism and caricature. I actually prefer this aesthetic to what 2K are doing with the WWE series and it feels in keeping with the games this is so clearly trying to invoke. The static camera angle shows the entrance across from the hard camera, which most people are unlikely to even notice, but I appreciated it. The crowd also looks more detailed than I expected, however, you can only see the first five or six rows, with the rest of the arena in darkness.
Our review was carried out with the PlayStation 5 version, so this may age badly, but I suspect it was design decisions like this that allowed the game to run well on Nintendo Switch.
With Fight Forever being light on modes, the gameplay is even more key. For three years now you’d struggle to find an article where this game was mentioned without the words AKI, No Mercy or Nintendo 64. The main question coming in was, can they recreate the joy people felt playing those old games? The answer will be subjective. You absolutely get No Mercy vibes from the gameplay, but through necessity it has been updated and tweaked to run better and transition smoother.
Personally, I absolutely love how the game handles. Moves look great and land with impact. Controls are responsive and counter timings feel good. It is definitely worth accessing each wrestler’s skill list to see what action skills they have, as these are some of the most fun combat sequences in the game. Like power wrestlers having the anti-air defence to catch high-flyers in mid-air, gimmick infringement where you can perform your opponent’s finisher and ‘sloth style’ which lets Orange Cassidy be Orange Cassidy.
Each year I review the WWE 2K games, and they are great. They honestly don’t get the credit they deserve. What AEW has brought to the table is something different. Something raw. There’s no GM mode, no in-depth story mode, MyFaction mode and more. What is there though is the most fun I have had playing a wrestling game in years.
That said there is plenty to build on, both with updates and a potential sequel. Entrances last all of ten seconds, with wrestlers only posing at the top of the ramp. Jim Ross and Tony Shavany are present and accounted for, but just in bursts in between the action with no match commentary to speak of.
Those two stick around more than half a dozen hours will likely just be playing exhibition matches with friends or against the AI. If that doesn’t sound like enough, AEW Fight Forever may not be for you. However, if like me you are here for the gameplay then you will likely get many hours of grappling fun from a title that successfully pays tribute to the golden age of wrestling games.
One thing is for sure, I don’t think Dave Meltzer could have ever imagined how his comment about filling 10,000 seats would have evolved into this.
-Craig
