AEW Fight Forever: No Mercy with Limits

A couple years ago, I interviewed Mat Dickie, the creator of Wrestling Empire, a wrestling video game he characterized as “No Mercy with No Limits.”

If Wrestling Empire is WWF No Mercy with no limits, then AEW Fight Forever, a game that borrows from other classic games of the same mold, is No Mercy with several limits.

Visuals

But first, I wanted to address the elephant in the room that everybody is going to notice immediately about this game: the graphics. Visually speaking, this game is unacceptable by today’s standards. Graphics were never going to be the major appeal of this game, however, as there seems to have been a constant emphasis on gameplay and fun factor (two arguably more important components to any great game, wrestling or otherwise). Even still, I don’t think Fight Forever met the bar graphically.

Judging by the visuals, Fight Forever seemingly had an opportunity to create a more cartoony world for the game to exist in. It’s not like something like that would be unprecedented. Older non-wrestling games such as Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker have both seen their graphics age well despite releasing on hardware three generations ago.

Bad Example? WWE All-Stars, an arcade-style game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 that became a sleeper hit amongst wrestling fans, pulled off an unrealistic, cartoony art style to a tee. Fire Pro Wrestling uses 2.5-D, and nobody complains about those visuals. Even Wrestling Empire makes use of a minimalistic, simple art style (though it hasn’t stopped people from ragging on it anyway, rightly or wrongly). The point is, the moment you announce you’re not releasing a simulation-style game, you’ve then obtained the license to make whatever kind of game you want with whatever style best suits it.

AEW Fight Forever didn’t go far enough with its visuals, and at the same time went too far. The wrestlers are neither lifelike or caricatures, and as a result, the graphics exist in this gray area that does the game no favors.

Gameplay

It’s extremely apparent that THQ Nordic and the folks at AEW wanted to prioritize making a fun game. How do I know this? It’s because AEW Fight Forever is a fun game, at least for a while. The controls are reminiscent not only of the Nintendo 64 Aki Engine series of wrestling games, but also of the Def Jam Vendetta series that proved to be a huge hit on the next generation hardware. Putting offense on your opponent feels good, and the action moves at a brisk pace befitting of an arcade-style fighter.

Just because Fight Forever is more arcade than sim doesn’t mean it’s totally void of “sim-style” elements. Lighter wrestlers will have a much tougher time lifting up opponents heavier than them and the momentum system from games like the WWE Day of Reckoning Series makes its return as a core gameplay element that can have a rubber-band effect on matches.

Contributing to the aforementioned “toon” style of graphics is that fact that this game did use motion capture technology like most WWE games do. Instead, every move in the game was animated by hand, and this can lend itself to a clunky feel while in the ring that is, at the same time, forgivable because of how fun the gameplay is. Nevertheless, wrestling fans will have a ball discovering each of their favorite wrestlers’ signature moves, some of which even introduce new move-specific gameplay mechanics that will undoubtedly turn the tables on your opponent.

Presentation

Including Pre-Order specials and season one DLC, there are currently 60 playable wrestlers in AEW: Fight Forever. The roster may feel a tad dated, as the game saw a few minor delays ahead of its late-June release date, but is otherwise deep enough for a first effort. It also seems that this game could be a living, breathing piece of media for the foreseeable future for AEW, as the company lacks the means to produce yearly games like its competitor does. This could work out to its advantage, though with that comes some disadvantages the game needed to overcome on launch.

Match-types include Singles, Tag-Team, 3-Way, 4-Way, Ladder, Casino Battle Royale, Falls Count Anywhere, Unsanctioned Lights Out and Exploding Barbed Wire Death. For context, there are 25 match types in WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth, a game that released 21 years ago this November. Because of this, the game feels a little light on content. There are also a small slew of non-wrestling mini-games to be played, but considering this is a wrestling game, mini-games do little elevate the title.

On the plus side, one thing Fight Forever does have in common with Shut Your Mouth is Jim Ross on the call, though this is merely to introduce and hype the match as there is no actual commentary in the game. The Create-a-Wrestler is also as bare bones as can be. Face morphing options are limited, and body-morphing is essentially non-existent, so gamers who planned on creating and sharing their favorite WWE wresters while performing their own “roster updates” may want to look elsewhere.

Speaking of roster updates, fans of the game will be able to download The Bunny and Keith Lee on July 25, while a free update is set to introduce the Stadium Stampede match type into the game.

Career Mode

The game’s career mode, “Road to Elite.” is downright bad. It didn’t have to be bad. The way it’s set up is primarily a way for you to level up your creative wrestlers. There is an element of randomness to the experience that makes each play through unique from the last. However, the randomness is just that 0 random. You have very little control over what happens and are largely at the mercy of whatever the CPU decides for you.

In many cases, this could mean not competing for the world title, or having intergender matches. In order to unlock everything the game has to offer, “Road to Elite” mode will need to be completed multiple times, and by doing so, players will get a first-hand look at how sparse the mode is. While there are elements of randomness that play well into the “No Mercy” style of career mode (or even the Wrestling Empire style of career mode), there is enough possibilities abound in each of those games to make it work. Here, the mode feels like a work in progress, and that’s simply not good enough for modern Triple-A titles.

Many are going to be willing to forgive this part of the game for its budgetary and time constraints (remember, there was a ton of pressure to get this game out into the open). I’m definitely not as willing, but that’s mostly because I play a lot of games single player these days and have always put a ton of stock in the career mode of wrestling games.

Compare this to Wrestling Empire though. Sure, MDickie rolls out updates seemingly once a month to improve that game. However, it was already a complete enough experience at the time release (v.1.0.0) that ensured there was enough going on with your character and around your character to a new experience every playthrough. You also have a little bit more say in your career (depending on your contractual status).

My critique is mostly over squandered potential. AEW had the opportunity to build out a career mode that became the new standard bearer for wrestling games of all budgets. Instead, it fell flat on his face and did little to add to the overall experience, at least within the first few weeks of release.

Final Thoughts

AEW Fight Forever gets some right, but also gets a lot wrong, much like the current AEW product. On one hand, it’s easy to see there was plenty of love and passion that went into making this game. Additionally, the originally vision for the game is pretty easy to see. The bottom line is, it just needs to be a better version of itself, and at least as far as launch goes, it’s not.

However, with DLC said to release at least through the end of the year, there is a good chance this becomes a game fans of all levels can pick up and enjoy before long.

You can follow The Wrestling Estate on Twitter @thewrestlingest and Jack Goodwillie @jackgoodwillie.