Back in the mid to late 90’s, the Nintendo 64 was running the show with its ability to endure 4 players at once. Usually after school we would pile into the house of whoever was willing to share the love of Nintendo 64 and we would play games like Goldeneye or Perfect Dark. Other titles would come and go, but then THQ, Asmik Ace, and AKI created a series of wrestling games that would become a staple in the gaming community unlike many that were already in the market or that had came before.
They had found something that appealed to wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans alike with its utilization of N64’s multiple player option, the ability to create your custom characters and entrances, and it’s over the top move set. In 2000 after the swan song that was “WWF: No Mercy” Asmik Ace and AKI departed the wrestling franchise much to the disappointment of many fans of the series.
Now I won’t go deep into details about wrestling because I could talk about it all day, but if you didn’t already know, the WWF would go on to become the WWE and then acquire WCW to become the largest professional wrestling company in the world. They would of course continue to make video games for every platform with multiple vendors moving forward. They continued to work with THQ and Yukes until 2012 for THQ and 2018 with Yukes. The WWE 2K series has become to wrestling games what Madden is to Football. This is why in 2020, when the newly formed All Elite Wrestling announced they would be releasing a game with THQ and Yukes, people paid attention.
AEW was formed by then independent wrestlers Matt and Nick Jackson, Kenny Omega, and former WWE star Cody Rhodes. This was done with the backing of Tony Khan and his father, billionaire Shahid Khan. While many things have changed since the start of AEW, the creation of a new wrestling video game has been there since the beginning. The idea was to bring back the game style that THQ, Asmik Ace, and AKI pioneered over two decades ago with the creationof AEW: Fight Forever…Let’s check it out!
Gamplay
Interface
First off, we playing this on the Xbox Series X and the load times are pretty realistic; nothing over the top. We are greeted with standard credits and then a really cool opening video that I think lays out a lot of what All Elite Wrestling is about. After the intro and pop ups with helpful tips, you are greeted by the menu screen, which to me is about on par with other wrestling games. I feel like it’s easy to navigate the main menu, but I also feel my eye is drawn all over the place to random other menus at the top and bottom. Again, this feels standard, so no real points deducted here.
The game modes are easy to navigate with options for 1-1, 2-2 (Tag), 3 Way, 4 Way, Casino Battle Royale, Ladder Match, Exploding Barbed Wired Death Match, Mini Games and Training. I feel each mode is pretty self-explanatory and we will get into those modes shortly, but the absence of a trios option is a bit confusing as they were doing those matches in AEW before the trios belts were created.
I won’t go into extreme detail of each option outside of the big ones, but I do like the Jukebox option which is in settings. You can go in there and create your own playlist to listen to while you cruise around the main menus and as background music during the game itself. It’s not a huge detail, but a nice little addition if you ask me, and this just moves us straight to customization.
Gameplay/Controls
Now a big draw to this game is its customization, but first let’s talk about default wrestlers and modes. As we mentioned earlier you have plenty of modes to choose from and online play allows for those same head-to-head modes with the exception of the mini games.
Let’s say you get started with a simple 1 on 1 exhibition match. You of course are presented with a roster of wrestlers such as Kenny Omega and Bryan Danielson that are already at your disposal (Cody Rhodes is available for purchase with the in-game AEW Cash), all with unique entrances and move sets. You will go through the normal paces of selecting a wrestler, a computer opponent, venue, etc. Once all that is selected, you will begin your match and that’s when the nostalgia kicks. The controls are very similar to what you may remember in the games from the 64 days such as short press for light grapple, and long press for strong grapple, and so on.
It did take a bit time to get my bearings, but the system is pretty easy to catch on to quickly with a few quirks here and there. Of course, one of the staples is the easy to preform signature/finishing moves by building up your bar at the bottom accomplished by beating down your opponent. However, after a while of playing I was easily winning matches quickly; so much so I wanted to bump up the difficulty just for a bit more of a challenge.
Tag matches can be a bit frustrating at times as the AI kind of likes to go into business for itself, and thinks it’s Brock Lesner or something of that caliber, and tries to win the match by itself. That said, I guess it brings a “realism” to it as you stress out watching your tag partner get beat down.
The more unique modes are the Casino Battle Royale and Exploding Barbed Wire matches. The Battle Royale is fun to play. I wish it was more than 4 people in the ring at a time, but I get it from a mechanical stand point. The Exploding Barbed Wire is also a fun mode, but truth be told I am a fan of the standard modes a bit more as this one feels a bit over the top. There is also the mini-games which are pretty fun to varying degrees. I played the “AEW trivia”, “Penta Says”, and “Chip drop”. “Chip drop” was the least fun of the bunch with “Penta says” being the most enjoyable. While I enjoyed the mini-games and understand they were just trying to add a fun little element, it could have been left out as far as I am concerned. There many other elements I would have loved to have seen in their place.
So we mentioned the standard modes and online modes, but let’s talk about quickly about the challenges and shop functions before we jump into the other larger portions. Challenges are exactly that; you complete challenges to earn AEW cash which can in turn be used in the shop to unlock new characters, ring attire, arena customization, taunts, and moves. So far, I don’t see any pay to play options which is awesome and I assume they will continue to update the shop with more items after the launch; at least that’s the hope because at the time of this writing, it’s pretty limited.
Road to Elite mode is the story/career mode. Having played various versions of these modes over the years, it’s pretty much what you think it is. You can select a pre-made wrestler or your custom-made wrestler and take them through the beginning of AEW that progresses through blocks as you attempt to be the best in the world! The mode is repetitive, but I did find the little activities you do in between pretty fun like working out and sightseeing. These activities allow you to build your stamina, energy, and hype levels in between matches which is part of the system.
There was the eating out option where you would find hilarious dialogue between you and your server or even other AEW roster members. I think my favorite was the Anime trope conversation I had with Riho about Japanese girls running out of the house with toast in their mouth. The culinary “facts” are also funny with the made-up restaurant names such as “Long Dough” in Washington DC (Yes, I looked it up, and sadly it didn’t exist). One issue to mention was during my journey I won the AEW Tag belts with Malikai Black only for me to super kick him for stealing my ring gear, after which we didn’t have the belts. No explanation as to why, as I assume super kicking him didn’t lose us the belts. In fact, two matches later I was tagging with Hangman Page against Black.
Customization
The bread and butter of these type of games to me are the customization options and creating your own custom wrestler. That is where we spend a lot of time in games like No Mercy or even in today’s 2K series. If you’re like me this is one of the first things you start working on, so let’s talk about a couple of the options you have for creating a wrestler.
Of course, you can copy a whole existing wrestler and then just give them a different look, but that’s only for people that like taking shortcuts, right? You don’t’ wanna do that, DO YA?
First you will build out the easy stuff like a wrestler name, profile, etc. Then this game presents a bit of an unexpected weakness with its templates and the wrestlers cosmetic builds. The face and body templates are limited to a certain number with very little custom options for changing appearance. Don’t get me wrong, you can change hair color, eye colors, facial hair, and so on, but you can’t get those little details that we have come to expect from modern games. The body options are very similar and my guy’s head looked huge on any body type I would chose so that was a bit of an issue too.
Once I got to in ring attire, street clothes, etc, I once again was underwhelmed. I am hoping they
just add more as time goes on, though I am not sure I am willing to pay DLC prices for
something that probably should have been in the game to start. It’s also worth mentioning that
you can also create a custom arena which is cool and pretty simple, but also felt a bit lacking in areas.
On the other end of that spectrum is the game’s heavy focus on your move set, which I am huge fan of and I think it’s brightest spot. The list seems endless from the Fujiwara armbar to the Blue Thunder Bomb (my choice of finisher). I easily spent an hour putting together move sets for my custom wrestler and turned him into a light heavyweight machine!
I put the final touches on, which was to customize his ring entrance with some pyro that you can turn on the option to control in your settings during the entrance. Speaking of entrances, I was a bit sad to see that they were not full entrances and really only last a hand full of seconds. I get this function was like the games these were based on, but again, not everything has to be like those games, and this was one of those items. Another miss was the opportunity to include more play by play. I assumed the final product would have more play by play commentary from Excalibur, Taz, and Tony or JR. This felt like something the fans would have really dug on especially hearing Tony Schiavone say “It’s Stiiiiing” or a classic JR “Bah Gawd”. Even some fun banter between Excalibur and Taz would have been a welcome addition.
Another miss was the opportunity to include more play by play. I assumed the final product would have more play by play commentary from Excalibur, Taz, and Tony or JR. This felt like something the fans would have really dug on especially hearing Tony Schiavone say “It’s Stiiiiing” or a classic JR “Bah Gawd”. Even some fun banter between Excalibur and Taz would have been a welcome addition.
Visuals
The visuals of the game take a bit more of an “animated” approach versus the more realistic wrestling games of the past decade. I did enjoy this aspect as I watched more cut scenes. The facial scans are actually pretty spot on for some of the wrestlers, though Brian Cage looked a bit like Zangief, while Sammy Guevara looked really young; but those were more funny than off putting.
The actual in ring animations are pretty good given what they are attempting to do. However, I will say it has some moments where the moves are pretty choppy. For example; the “Cody Cutter” feels off, and while that’s not the only example, it’s not something I would expect out of a finished product.
I did enjoy the inclusion of cut scenes from specific moments in AEW history as I played through Road to Elite. My favorite was the CM Punk introduction video which took place moments after I beat him on his Rampage debut…Needless to say, things between CM Punk and myself are kind of awkward right now. Sorry Phil…
Final Thoughts
There was a lot to like: from little items like the inclusion of the Jukebox, to the highly technical parts like the inclusion of every wrestling move on the planet (or at least what seemed like it). The Road to Elite mode is fun enough: though the eating out, sightseeing options, and photos with AEW stars (with snapshots) were fun little bridges between matches, it could feel repetitive at times. The standard match modes are fun and hopefully, after launch we can dig into the online mode a bit more to see what playing with friends is like.
There were things that were missing or not fully fleshed out which includes deeper cosmetic customization options, limited entrance time and options and the lack of play by play. I feel in the end these are things that could be patched, but I doubt that happens this time around.
AEW: Fight Forever – 8/10
At the end of the day, I had fun playing the game and enjoyed the matches a lot, which at its core is the point of the game. This is why it received the score it did, and I am sure the online side will be super fun. Sure, it missed a few marks, but I did come in expecting that on some levels. It’s not a classic, but is certainly on the right track if they will do more learning from the past instead of relying on it.
