AEW: Fight Forever – Review

Any gaming fan will have heard all the talk about acquisitions and monopolies, but AEW is evidence that a monopoly can still be overcome. I was a Wrestling fan in my younger years, following the likes of the Ultimate Warrior, Mr Perfect, Randy Savage and Dusty Rhodes, oblivious to the behind-the-scenes saga which evolved the soap opera in spandex into the behemoth of sports entertainment we know today.

The ever-present World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly World Wrestling Federation) didn’t just have the monopoly, it obliterated and engulfed any competition, such as NWO / WCW in the late 90’s.
Just like with Wrestling games and the popular WWE2K franchise, there’s not been any competition for years, but in 2019 all that changed when AEW (All elite Wrestling) was launched with some major financial backing.

Over the last 4 years, AEW has gone from strength to strength and is easily mentioned in the same sentence as the mighty WWE, a strong repertoire of both male and female wrestlers and enough pyrotechnics to make Guy Fawkes jealous. Regardless of which franchise you’re watching, there’s plenty of Wrestling action, insane “how does that not hurt” moves, and ever-changing storylines to keep fans intruiged.

Moving onto the games, AEW: Fight Forever is the first game from All Elite Wrestling and it’s clear they wanted to do things in a certain way, enlisting Yuke’s entertainment who are easily one of, if not the best known developers of Wrestling games, working on titles as recent as WWE2K19 (before Take-Two pushed development over to Visual Concepts), dating way back to the fantastic WWE Smackdown games at the turn of the century, and the New Japan Pro Wrestling games in the mid-late 90’s.

On top of the experience of Yuke’s, Hideyuki “Geta” Iwashita was also brought on board as the director after also directing both WWE No Mercy and WCW/NWO Revenge.

Just like the actual show from AEW it’s obvious they’re not settling for second place, sure it might be known as “that other Wrestling show”, but with such a talented, experienced development team which reads as a who’s who of the best Wrestling games, it’s clear AEW: Fight Forever is aiming for that championship belt. I should point out though, my knowledge of AEW is sketchy at best, so I only know the popular names, and haven’t watched more than a few shows.

It’s also worth noting that Yuke’s specifically name-checked WWE No Mercy as a key influence, for its play-style and fan popularity also distancing Fight Forever from 2K’s Wrestling titles, citing it more as an alternative than a competitor, so let’s head to the squared circle and find out a little more.

Once you get into the main menu you’re given a choice between Exhibition, Online, Custom, Road to Elite, Challenges and finally Shop.
Exhibition lets you quickly set-up a match for up to 4 local players, with 1-on-1, a tag match, 3-way, 4-way and Battle Royale modes joining the ladder match and the devilish exploding barbed wire death match, there’s also a selection of minigames to sink your teeth into as well as training.

Online gives you the option between ranked, casual or private matches, again with the full selection of game modes available and while cross-generation play is available at launch, we’ll supposedly be getting full cross-platform support in the near future, and there’s even rumours of a massive online battle royale mode, which exceeds the 4 at a time Casino Royale.

Next up is the Custom tab, which is always a popular addition as gamers love to throw themselves (or completely random and hilarious creations) into the ring against the best fighters, while there’s not quite the customisation options you’ll find in the WWE games, there’s still more than enough to sink your teeth into whether you’re creating or editing a wrestler, their team or the entire arena, which has an impressive set of options to make your ring look as modern or basic as you wish.

We’ll come to the “Road to Elite” soon, but the remaining tabs are Challenges, which offer an ever-changing selection of daily and weekly challenges, such as winning a match or ten with certain fighters or long term “normal” challenges, such as playing a set number of match types.
All challenges award you AEW Cash, which can be spent in the Shop to unlock new moves, entrance animations, and props to place around your arena, which will no doubt be further expanded as the game continues to release content post launch.

Back to the “Road to Elite” mode, this is the main campaign of AEW: Fight Forever, you’ll take a pre-defined star or your own custom wrestler through a year in AEW as you train and work your way towards the 4 main events. progress carries over to other game-modes, so the better you do, the more useful any custom character will be in other modes.

It’s not quite the fleshed out “Career” I’d been hoping for, but it fits with the theme that Fight Forever never really feels like a game you’ll invest dozens of hours into every single week, its shorter term, a few hours here and there, and enough depth for a longer session without requiring months of dedication.

But even though the cut-scenes leave a little to be desired, there’s enough to keep the mode interesting and the snippets of background on how the AEW was born and the way it’s developed is worth playing through the mode alone.

Onto the actual gameplay and as mentioned earlier, Fight Forever has taken plenty of inspiration from older titles like No Mercy, but that works both ways as there’s good old-fashioned gameplay, mixed with some dated floors.

At times it feels like I’m playing a game from the 90’s again, struggling to focus on the fighter I want, trying to string together moves, and watching some dodgy AI repeat the same move 3-4 times in a row, but at the same time, Fight Forever seems to have captured that charm that made those older titles so enjoyable in the first place, it feels like a true successor to titles like No Mercy, and while it could be “better” in many areas, I can’t imagine it getting any better in core gameplay because it really is fun to play.
There are no countless levels of defeat as you slowly work away at your opponent, you could be getting a heavy beating and a few well-timed reversals or counters, mixed with a well-placed taunt, and you might be ready to unleash your signature move and go for the pin. I’ve even watched AI only matches finish unexpectedly or quicker than I imagined and I might have been a little too confident and then lost a title match because the tides turned quickly and I wasn’t paying attention.

Graphically it’s a little disappointing in places, with, some poor facial animation, characters are recognizable without being very realistic, some animations are a little too choppy, and there’s not the fluency between moves that we see in 2K’s WWE franchise, however everything about Fight Forever is a reminder that it’s not trying to fill the boots of WWE, it’s quite happy to stamp on the toes and go off doing its own thing, and it’s all the better for it.
I’ve spent the last 3-4 years thinking how mundane and repetitive the WWE 2K games have become, and AEW: Fight Forever is a breath of fresh air.
Sure it could look better, sound isn’t bad, but it could always sound better, and there could be more modes, more wrestlers, and more options…
But Fight Forever never feels like it’s trying too hard, it’s just doing what’s important and that’s providing a fun, action packed Wrestling game on par with those greats of the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

I’m sure some will be scrolling through reviews asking “is it as good as the WWE 2K games” the vague answer is no, however I’ve enjoyed playing AEW: Fight Forever more than any other Wrestling game in well over a decade.
Finally it’s worth mentioning price, at £49.99 it does feel a little steep, but when compared to WWE 2K23 at £65 I’d choose Fight Forever every time, it might not be as deep and complex, or packed with as many options, but it’s infinitely more fun and a refreshing brawl compared to the over-complicated soap opera of recent WWE games.

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