Something definitely brought the boom when that classic THQ logo came up. It was the boom of Yuke’s and THQ making a wrestling game like they used to. This time around it is a different THQ and a different wrestling company, AEW: Fight Forever has taken what feels like forever to fight its way into our hands. With Hideyuki Iwashita helming the ship, the very same Hideyuki Iwashita behind the acclaimed N64 title that internet wrestling darling Kenny Omega professes Fight Forever is aimed to be a successor of, it is no wonder that Fight Forever is hyped so much.

Aimed to be more arcadey than the other wrestling title this year, it is like night and day in both graphics and feel. If you’ve read what I’ve said about wrestling before, you’ll know I’m happy to criticize a wrestling company at the drop of a hat, though certain aspects of Fight Forever’s art direction are a welcome change to the mix. When the art direction is right it creates nice caricatures of Kris Statlander, Jungle Boy, or Darby Allin. However, the uncanny valley smacked Andrade El Idolo, Brian Cage, and (to an extent) Sammy Guevara on every branch down from the tree.

That said, the gameplay is (of course) the focus, with many game modes in tow. Those familiar with No Mercy of 2000 might find it easier to hop back into the controls of Fight Forever, as taunts and specials (finishers) are mapped to your right analog stick unlike Yuke’s other titles with the former THQ and later 2K. Of course, being sensible and not using whatever Nintendo forms to absolutely not fit in human hands, there have been a few changes to your Xbox and PlayStation controls. I might be insane, but not criminally insane enough to play with keyboard controls either.

The roster is a little smaller than Tony Khan’s bag of toys he’s bought in the wrestling transfer window. I’ll always be the first to point out the bloated nature of those sitting in catering at wrestling shows. The roster totals about 50 wrestlers both from the company’s recent and somewhat distant past, as well as a legend that never got the chance to see wrestling return to TNT and TBS following the demise of WCW. The additions of Cody, Punk, Owen, Sting, and Paul Wight, who’ve recently either wrestled sparingly or not at all in the company feel like strange additions though. Sting is far less so, as he’s Darby’s foster parent.

Yuke’s and THQ Nordic have already stated that there will be a lot of post-launch support, with further wrestlers being added as DLC, akin to Payday 2’s model. There is a benefit to the restricted roster though, as it allows for a more focused gameplay style to those that are available. As a somewhat polarizing figure within wrestling seemingly, especially those that listen to old men and their podcasts to shout about these young people, Orange Cassidy has two separate move-sets. For the benefit of my editor and those vaguely interested, he puts his hands in his pockets and could wrestle some men out of their boots.

Even in a button-mashing fight with a second player, there is an overall difference between every fighter. Mox is heavier and harder hitting, while the Bucks or even Cassidy are lighter, quicker, and generally more agile. It is strange because personally, I want to bounce between everyone and play lots of different styles.

There is a benefit to that here, though there is also a benefit in playing one style. This is where we talk about the shop and the challenges. One system feeds into the other and playing matches or doing specific things (like creating your own wrestlers) is what gets you rewards from the available challenges.

Split up into three separate brackets. You have daily challenges, weekly challenges, and normal challenges, with the latter being more long-term things like playing 900 matches. The daily ones are more specific, such as playing as Abadon and winning or playing as Mox and winning 5 times.

Weekly challenges are similarly focused on things like specific wrestlers or creating X amount of wrestlers. Playing matches normally gets you in-game cash, though completing them rewards X amount more. With the first match, I raked in something like 45K. In the store, you’ll find you can buy additions to the roster, moves, pieces for the arena creation mode, and more.

The creation modes are older in their style, though unlike the developer’s classic Here Comes The Pain, you can’t make a 7-foot 3-inch green alien with feet larger than some wrestlers. Those familiar with the complexity of early Yuke’s games might find the simplicity here lacking in their ability to, for example, create Tetsuya Naito, Hikuleo, Tiger Mask, Satoshi Kojima, and so on. Moreover, in the pre-release build (for review), there isn’t a sharing mode to allow you to easily download wrestlers made by people that make the very evil Danhausen when I play the games from the other side.

You can create reasonably deep wrestlers, though creating wrestlers isn’t as in-depth and layered as some might desire. For stages, it is mostly 2019-22 era Dynamite. That said, if you’re hunting for the BCC in the tag division, you have to create them yourself. Although there isn’t really an entrance preset for them, you can have their video package on standby. This is what confuses me about Fight Forever. There are lots and lots of disconnected pieces here for specific people, but sometimes they aren’t all connected. Ruby Soho doesn’t have her Rancid theme despite having the orange hair, and Mox doesn’t have “Wild Thing,” but Cody has “Kingdom.”

Road to Elite is the main campaign for Fight Forever, being named after the trio that helped found the company and has its branding all over the company. Starting as far back as May 2019, you’ll go on to fight your way through the calendar of AEW’s PPVs and weekly shows in that formative year: Even if there are some cut corners. Running in four-week blocks, your selected wrestler will try to make their way to the top of the company and become, quite obviously, the elite in the house of The Elite. As each week passes by, you have four turns before every show to do something.

This consists of weight lifting, eating, sightseeing, wrestling on AEW: Dark, or going on press tours of the local area to promote the show. I’d hate to say it is a full RPG akin to the MyCareer modes of the other wrestling title in prior or current years, but it is all in the name of numbers and stats that seemingly have a moderate effect on gameplay. Working out and traveling too much can have mental and physical disadvantages to them, while sightseeing, doing press junkets, and eating out at the local restaurants regain or maintain your body and mind.

The story, however, is where I’m a little more ambivalent about the mode. It once again tries to hold up the thin veil of a green curtain, as a very wet man who can’t control a press conference he’s hosting tries to play god. Have I possibly just annoyed someone with a Wizard of Oz and fallout from All Out reference, possibly. Nonetheless, wrestling games do enjoy pretending like fans of wrestling are particularly stupid enough to believe that some mild melodrama behind the scenes is all that needs to be done to create an engaging plot in a game.

There is a hint of self-awareness surrounding Road to Elite, but when the wrestling trope of “Can they co-exist” bleeds into those moments behind the in-game curtain, I’m left bored. I find it tiring to understand enough to know that unless you kick doors into dogs, throw chairs, and start biting people, this constant bickering and clashing between two wrestlers is an insult to your intelligence. That has been done way too many times to add drama. I’d like to see something that doesn’t try to play “Pat-a-Cake” with my brain as I watch grown men and women bleed like a stuffed pig.

As a gameplay mode to give you something more than straight matches in quick succession, it is interesting. Though I’m sure if you pick someone from the women’s roster, you have to pick Britt Baker because there was a good long stint where she was practically the only woman you’d see consecutively on Dynamite in a prominent position. That is a criticism I have of AEW and have had for a long time. The women’s division feels like an obligation being made more than anything. Though there are a few (13 before DLC), the women’s roster of Fight Forever could hardly organize a Casino Battle Royale (you need 21).

Tell me when I am telling lies here: The roster as a whole offers a reasonable starting point for what is being termed a live service model as DLC brings in 8 more wrestlers early on, only one of which is a woman. As I said at the start, some of them you might not even recognize as themselves. The Sammy Guevara model certainly tried to do something, but it feels like an odd way of turning him into a “babyface,” turning his face quite literally into that of a child. Others look a bit uncanny valley/cross-eyed compared to their real-life counterparts.

With a more stylized art direction, I can understand creative liberty. However, despite personally not caring that much for Kenny Omega or the Bucks, at a glance all three look off. Without the hair, Kenny looks generic, while both Matt and Nick look like they’ve been spread out with a rolling pin. Being nice about it, Cody even looks a little fuller in the face, while it seems Gerald Scarfe did the work on ref Aubrey Edwards (who’s also playable). Anyone with a mask or face paint looks quite good, but those without can look a little off or in Andrade’s case, very off.

Performance-wise, Fight Forever on the highest of settings has run smoothly at 60 for the majority of the experience, though in a couple of multi-man dances, I’ve noticed a hiccup or two. In a fight between Punk, Cassidy, and Cody, while the latter went for his signature of the Cody Cutter, he’d just stand there in front of whoever is against the ropes gyrating for a moment. It stands out, that’s for sure, but otherwise, I’ve yet to see too many other problems in terms of performance or bugs. There might be a minor drop for a tenth of a second here or there on a menu, but nothing in terms of gameplay.

Accessibility and difficulty are something I think could be expanded upon greatly here. In comparison to the other game that I dare not name (but mention carefully) due to the partisan nature of wrestling, Fight Forever is a little behind. There is a reduced screen shaking, blood can be turned off, player indicators can be turned on, entrance mini-game hud can be enabled, and there is a “casual” mode removing the need to point in a direction with the left stick to pull off certain things. Of course, there are also custom control schemes available, and haptic feedback too. That said there are only three options for difficulty: Easy, Medium, and Hard.

Some of these assists will help those that might find medium, hard, or even easy too much. However, in terms of refining the experience, there is more that could be done. The series that Yuke’s left to do this project and others (after that disastrous 2019 release) at least allowed you to change up the timing of AI reversals or otherwise to refine the overall experience. I’m not saying one wrestling company’s game is better than the other here. They are catering to different markets and different fandoms, but accessibility should be a focus as it allows more people to enjoy the games however they see fit.

Ultimately, AEW: Fight Forever is going to be something many people will be playing forever alongside their worn-out copies of No Mercy. As a wrestling title on its own, it has some legs to stand on. It may not be the widest and deepest puddle of wrestling you’ll find, but what is there is fantastic at what it does.

It also might not be the most expansive or up-to-date wrestling title (they never are) but when you look at it as its own thing and that many DLCs through the season pass and otherwise are to come, there is a lot to be excited for. Much like the AEW roster itself, Fight Forever continues to grow.

A PC review copy of AEW: Fight Forever was provided by THQ Nordic for this review.

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AEW: Fight Forever

$59.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Great arcadey gameplay that is very pick-up and play.
• A large number of gameplay modes are on offer.
• Road To Elite changes up enough about the between-matches section of career modes.
• A distinct feeling to a large number of those on the roster.
• Inter-gender matches.

Cons

• At launch, there is a dearth of depth to the overall roster.
• Despite the mini-games offering something different, they don't pose much depth in themselves.
• Difficulty and accessibility could use some depth.
• Some very Jimmy Hart-style of off-brand themes.