Game Review: AEW Fight Forever (PS5)

Description: Developed by acclaimed wrestling game developer Yuke’s, AEW: Fight Forever is the first video game officially licensed by All Elite Wrestling.

The Graphics

The graphics in AEW Fight Forever are okay. The wrestlers have a slightly more buffed arcade feel and look to them. This is what Yukes was going for in regards to trying to get the nostalgia of the old wrestling games of yesteryear. However, it does feel a bit limiting in the career mode when doing things like going to dinner or sightseeing and such. The actual graphics in the ring are pretty good and the blood when in a barbed wire style ring death match with the explosions is very fun and over the top.

But overall. The graphics don’t feel as polished as other games of this type.

Gameplay & Playability

Repetitive is a word that springs to mind. The controls are simple enough but even with ten different modes the game feels repetitive. The career mode is on the boring side when compared to the two-story modes players have recently seen in WWE 2K 23. And at times the buttons do not feel responsive. In the Casino Battle Royale mode, I found it difficult to switch from one opponent to the other which got really annoying after a while given that this particular mode is every person for themselves as it’s a last-man-standing type of deal. In singles and tag matches it’s not quite as much of a problem. But for fights when you are battling more than one opponent at a time. The controls are either none responsive or too slow to respond. This game feels rushed out, which is a joke given that it’s been in development for ages.

The main buttons are square to punch, triangle to kick, and X, and the direction buttons to grapple, which is fair enough and okay when it works. But it’s kind of inconsistent.

The game has 10 game modes which include:

Singles, Tag-Team, 3-Way, 4-Way, Ladder, Casino Battle Royale, Falls Count Anywhere, Unsanctioned Lights Out, Exploding Barbed Wire Death PLUS online modes! You also have a single-player career mode and much as in WWE you have a create-your-own wrestler option, but it is not as polished as in other games.

Voice Acting

Voice acting is next to none existent. The little you do have is badly recorded introductions from Jim Ross and some archive footage of matches. Other than that. Little else. This is sad because given some of the wrestlers on AEW’s roster. It’s a wasted opportunity.

Overall

As a casual fan. I’m not particularly impressed with this game and feel slightly ripped off given that I opted for the season pass and the game in one go and got it through PlayStation Store, which pretty much means zero refunds.

AEW is the second largest Wrestling Franchise in the USA and is second only to WWE. So as such, I think fans should be expecting much more from this game than they are actually getting. The career mode lacks any sense of purpose and story. It’s basically fighting, going to dinner, workout, doing sightseeing, and going to press conferences and fighting. The cut scenes are sort of meh. There is no voice acting from any of the wrestling talents on the roster. It all feels very rough and unfinished to me. The fun to be had is somewhat limited.

As far as wrestling talent goes on the game’s roster. Even that is out of date. Cody Rhodes is included and he has recently moved back over to WWE. Other than that you have most of the big names such as Orange Orange Cassidy, CM Punk, Jon Moxley, Jade Cargill, and Ruby Soho. It’s just a shame that the game’s career mode did not make more use of them.

Overall. This is a bit of a dud. Save your money or wait for it to be in the bargain bin. Am really bummed about this one as I really wanted to like it.