Reviewed on Xbox Series X and Xbox One X.
The announcement of a brand new promotion, AEW, really caught my eye. Major WWE superstars joined AEW from the very first day, including Chris Jericho, Jake Hagger (aka Jack Swagger), and Jon Moxley (aka Dean Ambrose). Also, getting to see some popular superstars from non-WWE brands was pretty cool. If it wasn't for AEW, I would have never known who Kenny Omega and Adam Hangman Page were. They both are excellent wrestlers and I got to watch them along with other exciting wrestlers almost on a weekly basis for like two years. I really like the action in AEW and I definitely prefer it over what WWE has been putting out on their shows for the past ten years or so.
In November 2020, we got to see the very first teaser trailer for the AEW game, and I just couldn't wait for it to come out. AEW: Fight Forever mostly received negative reviews, but I still bought it day one. I bought it day one because the game was giving me vibes of the older WWE games like Shut Your Mouth and Here Comes The Pain, two of the very best wrestling games of all time. Other wrestling fans were comparing AEW: Fight Forever with WWF: No Mercy, which is another classic wrestling game. This game does look a lot like those classic games but to be honest, it is not that good.
I am just going to compare AEW: Fight Forever with Here Comes The Pain since that's the game I have played the most and that's the game everyone else is mostly comparing it to. Also, I'm just strictly focusing on the gameplay mechanics, how the characters move and fight, how the game looks, what kind of matches you can play in it, and a few more things. There is nothing I could say about the story mode as I have not played it yet. I might not play the story mode at all since I bought this game just to play it casually and with friends. There are lots of story-driven games for me to play this year and next.
So first things first, the roster. AEW: Fight Forever is loaded with a solid roster. You have Kenny Omega, CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Adam Hangman Page, Adam Cole, Jeff Hardy, Britt Baker, Jade Cargill, MJF, Sting, and more. You can also unlock Aubrey Edwards as a playable character (winks). I was a bit worried that the roster might only have a few playable characters, but fortunately for us, that's not the case. There are a few wrestlers who are missing from the roster but most notably (for me) is Saraya (aka Paige). Not sure why she is not part of the roster as she did her AEW debut last year in September. I hope they add her as part of a DLC sometime down the road.
As for the presentation and visuals, I just don't know how this is a 2023 game. Character models don't look good enough for today's games and consoles. Some say it looks like a PS2 game and I can't disagree. Okay, it might not be that bad but if you compare it to Here Comes The Pain, it doesn't look that different in my opinion. Some character models look fine but a few of them look really bad, especially Sammy Guevara. It is not that Sammy's character doesn't resemble himself, but it looks like an action-figure toy.
For the entrances, you don't get to see them from start to finish for any wrestler. Yes, I know a lot of us (maybe all of us) skip the entrances anyways, but why not have the option to see the full entrance? You can only see the characters walk up to the front of the ramp and they will just pose and that would be it. For some wrestlers, the game would skip their walk on the ramp and have them magically appear in the ring during their entrance. It is not a major issue or anything, but I just find it very weird that this game can't offer a full entrance. I really wanted to see Chris Jericho's and Britt Baker's full entrances.
Gameplay-wise, AEW: Fight Forever is really fun but it has flaws. Compared to the wrestling games of today (WWE 2K), it is much faster and just non-stop action. The pace of this wrestling game does remind you of Here Comes The Pain, but it doesn't feel revolutionary at all. You can do a lot of cool moves with wrestlers like Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy, but almost all of them have the same basic moves. Like when you are doing a combo on your Xbox controller and if you press A and then X while facing your opponent, almost all the wrestlers will do a chop attack in the same style. If you press A and Y, most wrestlers will hit the opponent with two knees to the face. Also, for some weird reason, when you are trying to do a strike combo by pressing the X button three to four times, almost every other wrestler (face or heel) will start with a slap to the face. Like why?
Obviously, AEW is still a relatively young wrestling company and therefore it hasn't offered that many different types of matches. So in the game, you get a limited amount of match types. I have enjoyed two types of matches in the game so far and they are casino battle royal (with a team), and of course, exploding barbed wire death match. You can do lots of crazy and funny things in the wire death match, and of course, it will be even more epic if you get to play it with your friends. Also, I don't know if this is a positive or a negative thing for most of you, but you can win your ladder and battle royal matches really quick. In a ladder match, you don't have to fight with the belt or a briefcase forever to pull it down, and in a battle royal, you can eliminate your opponents with just one or two quick strikes while they are hanging or standing by the ropes. I really wish there was a special referee match in AEW: Fight Forever. Special referee matches in Here Comes The Pain were just so much fun!
Overall, AEW: Fight Forever is a decent game that I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy at full price. Yes, the roster is loaded, the gameplay is fun and fast, and exploding barbed-wire death match with your friends can be a hell of a time. However, the gameplay and graphics are not that revolutionary, and the game can get really boring really fast if you are just going to play it on your own. I'm probably going to play it for maybe another week or so and then move on to playing Street Fighter 6 and The King of Fighters VX along with my action-adventure games. If you only play fighting/wrestling games and if you are tired of WWE 2K games, I would still recommend you to wait for a sale. Unless you really wanna play it.
My final score for AEW: Fight Forever is 6.2/10.
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