When All Elite Wrestling hit the scene with a super kick in 2019, it shook the business by giving wrestling fans the first truly viable competition to the WWE in terms of financial funding and leadership since WCW closed in 2001 TV presence bot. Similar to how AEW differentiated itself from the competition With its more mature product and greater emphasis on in-ring action, Fight Forever aims to be the alternative to WWE’s simulation-based 2K series by bringing arcade-style action to the old school offers. Even if this key point is largely fulfilled, the overall package is anything but elite.
Fight Forever’s big selling point is that it’s modeled after AKI-developed wrestling games of yesteryear, such as B. WWF No Mercy and WCW/nWo Revenge. It’s been over two decades since I last played these titles, so my practical memory is too fuzzy to make an accurate comparison, but Fight Forever is indeed a faster, more learner-friendly experience. After years of navigating WWE 2K’s tight control system, it’s nice to be able to perform a move by simply pressing a button and a cardinal direction, and there’s no mini-game in sight. I enjoyed building on my signature and completing plays with the momentum-based offense that rewards you for staying on top and punishes you for being beaten. Nothing feels better than literally knocking an opponent down so much that they lose their finisher.
You also get various attack buffs for actions like performing attack combos, alternating your attack, or taunting, but they don’t feel useful enough to turn the tide meaningfully. In general, the action feels fluid and has a gratifyingly faster pace than WWE’s offerings, but it’s not without a headache. Opponent AI, especially tag team partners, can range from questionable to dumb. Picking up guns, a historical pain in the genre, remains one. The default automatic targeting is also a nightmare, so I recommend switching to manual targeting. The lack of a formal in-game tutorial (in a training room you can only train with a dummy without a guide) and sporadic tooltips are not ideal methods of familiarization. Expect to struggle through your first few matches trying to learn the basics, like targeting and positioning enemies.
Fight Forever features some of the expected match types (single, tag, multiplayer, and ranked) and adequately recreates AEW classics like Casino Battle Royale and Exploding Barbwire Deathmatch. But overall it’s a relatively flat package. Odd mini-games, such as a Simon Says-style rhythm exercise starring Penta, offer variety that didn’t inspire me to play them more than once. However you put it, everything is wrapped up in a disappointing presentation, from the dated graphics, the abbreviated entrances to the lack of game commentary or extensive voice acting. Fight Forever is a mid-card competitor with a main event price tag.
Showing some cobwebs reflecting the game’s long development, the roster offers a snapshot of AEW circa 2021/early 2022. Kris Statlander is still an alien, Anna Jay is in the Dark Order and Cody Rhodes will be in two wrestling matches this year appear. The squad consists of 36 men but only 13 women (including referee Aubrey Edwards). Both sexes can compete in any match, and while that’s a cool touch, I suspect it’s to compensate for the lesser match diversity among women.
It would be unfair to expect even the bulk of AEW’s massive roster to be included, and while the core stars are here – The Elite, Jericho, Moxley, Baker, Punk – some omissions are nonetheless disappointing. It’s a shame not to see bigger names like Jamie Hayter, Samoa Joe, Toni Storm or The Acclaimed, especially as this keeps many factions off the table, like Blackpool Combat Club, House of Black and JAS Jeff Hardy is present, but Matt is a stunning pre-order exclusive, meaning you won’t be able to unbox the Hardy Boyz right away. Overall, I like the stylized wrestler designs and proportions that give them the look of semi-cartoonish action figures, although the resemblances to the real-world versions are coincidental.
Fight Forever’s other big mode, the story-heavy Road to Elite, fails. Whether you’re an AEW star or a bespoke wrestler, you’re in for a pretty boring, at times bizarre, journey from new signer to world champion. Some of the few stories offer condensed retelling of old aspects, like Inner Circle vs. The Pinnacle and the debut of the FTW Championship (one of the few titles you can compete for). Between workouts, you’ll be encouraged to engage in activities such as B. Going to the gym to boost your stat points, eating at local restaurants to keep your energy up, and going on social outings like sightseeing. However, you cannot change AEW Stars’ stats, so no training is required. That’s fine; Food is the only really important value and the other things feel like boring nonsense. Aside from silly moments like taking selfies with wrestlers, I recommend skipping straight to the games.
The most frustrating and confusing aspect of Road to Elite is that playing as a female wrestler for the first month only features a story focused on the women’s divisions before repeating the male storyline for the rest of the mode. This means that instead of battling the likes of Hikaru Shida and Jade Cargill, you’ll just go up against the men down the same path, with no explanation whatsoever. It’s like Yuke started developing a separate storyline for women and then gave up, and it’s a disappointing and, frankly, offensive display of that division.
The creation suite is perhaps its biggest disappointment due to the lack of options. Create-a-Wrestler lacks face sculpting and offers a few preset face elements that severely limit the number of people you can create and their different looks. Wearing only a small amount of gear and clothing and no clothing designs, you can expect to come across as largely plain approximations of existing stars or yourself. There is also no way to share characters online. Custom arena building is slightly better, but still disappointing. Additional creation resources can be unlocked with in-game currency earned by completing daily challenges, but they are neither good nor numerous enough to inspire me to spend the same hours meticulously creating the wrestlers of my dreams create.
Last but not least, AEW: Fight Forever has potential. I’m glad to have a more arcade-style wrestling game, especially one based on a big promotion. The gameplay has a solid foundation and when it’s cranked up to the max the action exudes the simple fun of the 90’s and early 2000’s. The rest of the package simply needs to be caught up. Until then, even the most ardent AEW fanatic will find it difficult to stay tuned in to this main event.
