AEW Fight Forever has been one of my most anticipated games for quite some time and I'm glad to say that it was worth the wait. I don't know where all of these graphics dorks came from over the past few years that prioritise graphics over gameplay but ignore them and try this for yourself. For me this is the best wrestling gameplay since Fire Pro World released in 2017 and has been an absolute blast for the first 30 or so hours that I've put into this game. The art style also looks really cool in game and makes some of the not so good models look solid. What Yuke's really nailed is making each wrestler feel different from one another, something most wrestling games fail to do. There aren't that many match types to choose from here but the ones that are there are an absolute blast, with the Lights Out and Barbed Wire Deathmatch being the standouts. The amount of weapons available in the Lights Out match is utterly insane and I love that they gave this aspect of gameplay a lot of attention, I mean we finally got thumbtacks in a wrestling game for the first time in god knows how long. There are some weird omissions when it comes to match types, mainly the Steel Cage, which I'd hope is first priority for new match types in the future updates. There is also a lot of minigames to be found here which I didn't know I needed until I played them and I'm surprisingly looking forward to playing more as they are released in the DLC packs.
As for game modes there's just the one here, Road To Elite. This story mode is pretty fun, with 4 chapters each containing 3 different storylines with the outcomes depending on weather you win or lose. It's a pretty short mode that you can finish in about 2 hours which is fine but I'm hoping they release new variations of this mode with new storylines similar to Fire Pro with their Championship Road to keep the mode fresh. Jumping to my first negative and it's to do with winning championships as it's never mentioned again and doesn't play any role in the story going forward which is disappointing and was something I also complained about in WWE 2K22. There's also one particular match in here against Death Triangle that is one of the worst matches in the history of wrestling games, I seriously don’t know who thought that would be fun.
The Creation suite has been a big talking point since the games release and despite not expecting much from this area of the game, I was still let down by just how limited it is. This is something that is easily updateable and I would hope that's a main area of focus as there's really not a lot to go on. Despite CAW lacking, I actually think they did a good job with Arena and Entrance. Not having the ability to add logos is the real bummer but the stuff that is present does a decent enough job and I honestly don't know if there's anything wrong with create an entrance, it seems perfect to me with a plethora of music, titantrons, stage props, pyro, effects, even hand gestures, this aspect of the creation suite is stacked.
Overall this game is a big ball of potential and it all comes down to how Yuke's handle this game going forward. Here's a quick list of things I'd like to see through updates and DLC;
- Match Types (Steel Cage, Coffin Match, Dog Collar etc.)
- Port the Match Types from RTE to Exhibition (Multi Man variations,
Handicap, Gauntlet)
- Creation Suite (Hairstyles, Face and Body types, Body morphing, Clothing etc.)
- New Game Modes and RTE storylines
- Tweak pinfalls slightly
- NJPW & ROH DLC with Arenas, Wrestlers, Titles and RTE storylines
- Update the Young Bucks Theme
- New Titles (International, Updated Women's)
- New Attires weekly in the shop
Currently this game is really good and the gameplay is top tier, with a few updates and DLC of wrestlers to beef up this roster and we could be looking at an all-time great but again, this all comes down to Yuke's. We already know of the Stadium Stampede match coming to multiplayer which will add a lot of shelf life to the game and potentially attract a whole new audience. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this game is at in a few months' time so my rating will likely change depending on if this game gets the love it deserves or not.
Sidenote: I managed to be the 13th player in the world to get the platinum trophy and the 7th fastest achiever which is a huge accomplishment for me as a trophy hunter.
As for game modes there's just the one here, Road To Elite. This story mode is pretty fun, with 4 chapters each containing 3 different storylines with the outcomes depending on weather you win or lose. It's a pretty short mode that you can finish in about 2 hours which is fine but I'm hoping they release new variations of this mode with new storylines similar to Fire Pro with their Championship Road to keep the mode fresh. Jumping to my first negative and it's to do with winning championships as it's never mentioned again and doesn't play any role in the story going forward which is disappointing and was something I also complained about in WWE 2K22. There's also one particular match in here against Death Triangle that is one of the worst matches in the history of wrestling games, I seriously don’t know who thought that would be fun.
The Creation suite has been a big talking point since the games release and despite not expecting much from this area of the game, I was still let down by just how limited it is. This is something that is easily updateable and I would hope that's a main area of focus as there's really not a lot to go on. Despite CAW lacking, I actually think they did a good job with Arena and Entrance. Not having the ability to add logos is the real bummer but the stuff that is present does a decent enough job and I honestly don't know if there's anything wrong with create an entrance, it seems perfect to me with a plethora of music, titantrons, stage props, pyro, effects, even hand gestures, this aspect of the creation suite is stacked.
Overall this game is a big ball of potential and it all comes down to how Yuke's handle this game going forward. Here's a quick list of things I'd like to see through updates and DLC;
- Match Types (Steel Cage, Coffin Match, Dog Collar etc.)
- Port the Match Types from RTE to Exhibition (Multi Man variations,
Handicap, Gauntlet)
- Creation Suite (Hairstyles, Face and Body types, Body morphing, Clothing etc.)
- New Game Modes and RTE storylines
- Tweak pinfalls slightly
- NJPW & ROH DLC with Arenas, Wrestlers, Titles and RTE storylines
- Update the Young Bucks Theme
- New Titles (International, Updated Women's)
- New Attires weekly in the shop
Currently this game is really good and the gameplay is top tier, with a few updates and DLC of wrestlers to beef up this roster and we could be looking at an all-time great but again, this all comes down to Yuke's. We already know of the Stadium Stampede match coming to multiplayer which will add a lot of shelf life to the game and potentially attract a whole new audience. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this game is at in a few months' time so my rating will likely change depending on if this game gets the love it deserves or not.
Sidenote: I managed to be the 13th player in the world to get the platinum trophy and the 7th fastest achiever which is a huge accomplishment for me as a trophy hunter.