In the 1980s, 16-time world champion Ric Flair popularized the expression, “To be The Man, you gotta beat The Man.” In professional wrestling games, “The Man” has been the WWE 2K franchise, existing completely unchallenged for the better part of a decade. Newcomer AEW Fight Forever’s challenge does not change the balance of power, but its audacity to try by leaning into arcadey design ideas from yesteryear and embracing a pick-up-and-play philosophy should be praised. It’s the noticeable lack of genre-standard features, an underwhelming single-player campaign, and a smattering of mechanical bugaboos that take the legs out from under it. This fighter isn’t ready for the main event just yet.
Energetic and Cartoonish Style
In the style department, Fight Forever comes out swinging with cartoony character models and energetic animations. Most of the 52 available competitors have well-rendered caricatures, with Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley’s among my favorites. Even the ones that seem off, like an air fryer-shaped Chris Jericho, get the benefit of not needing to be “realistic” to get the appropriate vibe across.[citation]
Note: Insert Youtube embed of Fight Forever gameplay
Exaggerated Explosiveness in the Ring
When they get busy in the ring, there’s an almost Def Jam Vendetta-like exaggerated explosiveness to every bump, kick, and punch that ramps up the over-the-top nature of the aerials and acrobatics of wrestling the way that comic books do for superhero violence. Outside of the lively animations, there’s a small number of occasions where some moves can actually affect the way you play in cool ways I haven’t seen before in a game like this. For example, grumpy Dutch goth kickboxer Malakai Black can spray black mist into opponents’ eyes when he gets desperate. If you’re on the receiving end, your controls will scramble for a brief few moments.[citation]
Lackluster Style Outside the Ring
“I wish the style outside of the ring was as evocative. Most menus are clean but not at all interesting. The music, some of which is performed by AEW wrestlers like Swerve Strickland and Max Caster, has a lot of energy but is still pretty forgettable. The very few voiceovers in Fight Forever are hit and miss, with the introduction to the big single-player campaign, Road to Elite, being a hit and everything else being misses. Legendary wrestling announcer Jim Ross’s delivery is so especially bad that if I didn’t know better and you told me he was one of the most recognized and beloved voices in wrestling history, I’d assume you’d been hit in the head with a steel chair too many times.[citation]
Barebones Create a Wrestler and Arena Modes
If you’re like me and like tooling around with the creative tools in wrestling games, you might find the Create a Wrestler and Arena modes to be a bit barebones. There’s a jarring lack of facial diversity, and barring some gems like a silly bear costume fans of the webshow BTE may recognize, very slim pickings in the cosmetics department. Which feels ironic because there’s plenty of assets in the creative suite, from voiced entrance calls to poses and moves from wrestlers who didn’t make it in-game, but with the tools available, you’d have a very hard time making them yourself without heavy modding (for those with a PC and bottomless motivation). It also lacks in many of the quality-of-life features like being able to sort moves by type, which means sorting through the Fight Forever’s menu of techniques to find the perfect coup de grace for your combatant can feel like a chore.[citation]
Similar to Popular Wrestling Games, but Lacks Polish and Responsiveness
Though it’s very similar to current popular wrestling games, it lacks their polish and responsiveness. Sometimes a strike combo or grapple sequence goes off without a hitch. Occasionally, though, attacks just kind of miss inexplicably, or worse yet will temporarily bug out to the point that I’ll press buttons and nothing will happen. Running, springboarding off of the ropes, dragging opponents around the ring, or whipping them into ropes are actions I particularly felt a constant disconnect with. Adding to that list of gripes is the frequently dimwitted AI which, at least on Normal difficulty, pretty regularly does baffling things like standing completely still or walking aimlessly into opponents or corners. All of these problems are exacerbated when playing online against friends, where you can add frequent clipping and rubberbanding at a rate that’s frankly unacceptable.[citation]
Momentum System for Exciting Gameplay
Where Fight Forever deviates from contemporary wrestling games and borrows from past genre heavyweights like WWF No Mercy is in the momentum system, which rewards varied offense and solid defense by getting you closer and closer to using your finishing moves. Once your momentum meter is full, you’re free to let loose your character’s four signatures and special moves. These feel like true match-ending abilities, even when used pretty early, and if you’re properly exploiting each wrestler’s unique set of passive skills (which reward using their strengths to gain bonus momentum by doing things like diving off of turnbuckles or attacking first in a match) you can find yourself with your big guns ready very quickly. It’s frustrating that there’s nothing telling you exactly where you stand at all times. Having low momentum, on the other hand, puts you in greater danger of losing matches through pin and submission, but this is separate from the opaque health and limb damage systems, which are also big factors in your chances of victory. Though it may seem intuitive that taking large amounts of damage over time will make you worse for wear, it’s frustrating that there’s nothing telling you exactly where you stand at all times. This frustration carries over to submissions and general recovery systems. When being stretched by opponents, a prompt will show up telling you to mash buttons to break free, but there’s no indication of how much mashing you need to do to break free. When you’re knocked down, the inclination is to mash buttons or move the stick to speed up your recovery, but there’s really no telling if any of that actually works. Things like this don’t have to be a mystery to keep the accessibility bar low.