\n
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) took the wrestling world by storm upon its inception in 2019 and in the years that followed, quickly established themselves as a viable alternative to WWE. With top drawer entertainment, often targeting the most ardent fans, AEW has risen to unimaginable heights. Now though, they\u2019re branching out into the gaming realm in the hopes of competing in the wrestling game market where, in recent times, very few have succeeded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
AEW: Fight Forever<\/strong> has been developed by Yuke\u2019s, a company synonymous with the Smackdown vs. Raw and WWE 2K series\u2019 until 2019. Instead of going down the more simulation style route, like WWE 2K23<\/strong>, they\u2019ve gone all in on creating an arcade-y wrestling game inspired by the acclaimed Nintendo 64 era offerings. In an attempt to recreate the enjoyment of classics such as WWF No Mercy and WCW\/nWo Revenge, even the director responsible for overseeing those, Hideyuki \u201cGeta\u201d Iwashita, is on-board for AEW: Fight Forever.<\/p>\nCan AEW: Fight Forever recapture the magic of the highly lauded wrestling games of yesteryear, while ensuring it\u2019s not a dated experience that modern gamers can\u2019t relate to?<\/p>\n
\n
One Winged Angel in a exploding barbed wire death match<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nUpon launching AEW: Fight Forever, you\u2019re immediately met with a well put together introductory video package showcasing what AEW is all about. It immediately gets you pumped to fight, before letting you loose without a whole lot of guidance. Learning the ropes comes courtesy of sporadic mid-match pop-ups featuring William Regal, where a feature or aspect is briefly explained. It\u2019s not great. Thankfully there\u2019s not anything too complex to get to grips with, hence you\u2019re likely to work out the mechanics swiftly on your own anyway.<\/p>\n
\n
Trending<\/span><\/p>\nWant to win a 12 month Xbox Live Gold subscription? Enter now!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Once you step between the ropes and enter the squared circle, momentum is at the crux of everything. Beat down the opposition to increase the momentum bar, while simultaneously depleting theirs to dangerous levels and potentially cause damage to different body parts. Eventually you\u2019ll be able to perform signature moves, before activating a special status to pull off finishers. By then, the opponent is likely to be worn down enough to pin for a three-count or make them give up via submission.<\/p>\n
Every wrestler has a vast arsenal of ways to inflict pain, with grapples from various positions offering a multitude of options alongside regular strikes. You can run the ropes, climb turnbuckles, and take the fight outside the ring if you wish to. There are some modern touches that add to the enjoyment, including springboard attacks, tope suicidas, diving off the guardrails and wrestling with your hands in your pockets \u2013 yes, seriously. On top of that, there shall be blood with weapons ranging from tables and chairs to American football helmets and thumb tacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
A broken back, courtesy of \u2018Hangman\u2019 Adam Page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nDue to the animation of wrestlers and their presentation style, the fighting is quite over-the-top and hard-hitting, which makes a simple suplex seem just as punishing as the tiger driver. It\u2019s also easy to obtain a special move via the momentum meter, so matches are ideal for short doses of entertainment. The gameplay isn\u2019t perfect however, and a few aspects could do with improvements.<\/p>\n
Collision detection is occasionally iffy, with actions not quite going as planned. It gets slightly worse when weapons are added to the mix. The countering system is confusing to the point where it\u2019s difficult to know whether the timing is off or if there are unknown variables in-play. Kicking out of pinning predicaments and escaping submissions are perhaps the most erratic aspects though. It\u2019s a button-mashing affair, but success or failure doesn\u2019t always make sense and losing after barely taking a scratch is annoying.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, it\u2019s still very enjoyable and you\u2019ll be looking for ways to prolong the excitement. The first port of call are the exhibition matches, featuring the usual staples like 1v1, tag team, three-ways, and four-ways. Gimmick types are the most enticing options, with AEW\u2019s exploding barbed wire death match and casino battle royale standing out. While the exploding ropes are thrilling initially, it\u2019s a gimmick that wears thin, and the battle royale is a let down as only four wrestlers can be in the ring at once.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m surprised at the omission of certain match types in AEW: Fight Forever, such as tables, steel cage, and trios. Leaving out the Blood and Guts match is crazy, but given the limitations on the number of character models in the same ring, I guess it can\u2019t be helped.<\/p>\n
\n
Tay Melo enters the Casino Battle Royale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nAs for the online side of proceedings, well, you\u2019re able to enjoy all of the included match types in either a Ranked, Casual, or Private setting. Once battle commences, it\u2019s pretty fun, with a decent back and forth generally occurring. However, getting an opponent and preventing them from quitting is a sticking point, which will become a tad irritating. The gameplay issues already highlighted are accentuated too sadly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And so it\u2019s left to the Road to Elite career mode to pick up the slack. Now a word of warning here, there\u2019s not really any point in playing through this using a current AEW star as many of the features become pointless. Instead, Road to Elite is the place to put a created wrestler through their paces and improve their skills.<\/p>\n
Road to Elite covers sixteen weeks of the AEW calendar, with four blocks of four weeks building towards the big four PPVs \u2013 All Out, Full Gear, Revolution, and Double or Nothing. Every week you\u2019re able to perform four actions before a match occurs that\u2019s a part of a storyline. Sending your custom character for workouts is an action that can earn skill points, but uses up energy that is rejuvenated by going out and eating at restaurants. It\u2019s all very simple stuff in terms of ideas and the visuals aren\u2019t great during the visits to eateries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The skill points are useful for increasing the rate at which momentum is earned, the amount of different finishers you can have, and the effectiveness of such manoeuvres. They\u2019re also great for purchasing passive skills like buffs for the way you fight, or more obvious action skills that enable you to perform springboard dives and do kip-ups. Come the end of the career, the custom wrestler will be more overpowered than anyone else on the roster, which is cool.<\/p>\n
\n
The fiery Thunder Rosa makes use of a fire extinguisher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nYou will be underwhelmed by Road to Elite overall though, as it\u2019s done in just a few hours. Credit where it\u2019s due, there\u2019s some nostalgia with video packages featuring the Pinnacle and the infamous Moxley versus Omega death match. It\u2019s got a few different storylines to partake in too, but these seem to be chosen at random and on the whole aren\u2019t great to be honest. I don\u2019t fancy doing it multiple times in the hopes of seeing a new narrative, nor do I want to hear good ol\u2019 JR phoning in his voiceovers. And I certainly don\u2019t wish to play the mini-games.<\/p>\n
Yes, AEW: Fight Forever has a cavalcade of mini-games. Penta Says is a rhythm and memory game hybrid; Bomb Hurl sees you chucking explosives into the ring, Chip Gather has running around picking up chips; and in Path Tracer, you must reach the other side of a football field by following the safe route and avoiding the hazardous spots. There are more, but I\u2019ve wasted enough time actually trying them and cannot fathom why resources were used here when other areas needed extra attention.<\/p>\n
Moving on to the roster itself, and the fact there are over fifty wrestlers available at launch is pretty good. Fans of the top stars like the Elite, CM Punk, Dr. Britt Baker, and Hikaru Shida will be pleased for sure. There are notable omissions though on both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s roster, with people who have been on AEW TV for a long time left out in the cold. It happens in every wrestling game however, leading to situations where you just end up creating your faves or downloading someone else\u2019s hard work.<\/p>\n
\n
Kenny Omega goes for the pin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nSadly, the customisation suite leaves a lot to be desired, making it difficult to add the missing stars yourself. On a positive note there are a shed load of moves to equip, and it\u2019s full of music as well as videos for their entrances. On the flip side, in terms of character aesthetics, there\u2019s a serious lack of choice and depth to what\u2019s on offer. The inability to share creations is another blow to those wanting to enhance the roster.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, AEW: Fight Forever possesses the foundations for it to be an excellent blast from the past, but fails in building upon them. It\u2019s not a bad game, I just feel as though there are too many areas in which it\u2019s lacking substance and so longevity is an issue. Despite the aforementioned flaws, the gameplay is still a ton of fun and there\u2019s a real novelty factor in performing the vast amount of awesome looking manoeuvres present here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s some optimism that AEW: Fight Forever could be improved with future updates, however I wouldn\u2019t rush to pick it up just yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Elite Wrestling (AEW) took the wrestling world by storm upon its inception in 2019 and in the years that followed, quickly established themselves as a viable alternative to WWE. With top drawer entertainment, often targeting the most ardent fans, AEW has risen to unimaginable heights. Now though, they\u2019re branching out into the gaming realm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":68494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-xbox"],"yoast_head":"\n
AEW: Fight Forever Review | TheXboxHub - Gaming News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AEW: Fight Forever Review | TheXboxHub - Gaming News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All Elite Wrestling (AEW) took the wrestling world by storm upon its inception in 2019 and in the years that followed, quickly established themselves as a viable alternative to WWE. With top drawer entertainment, often targeting the most ardent fans, AEW has risen to unimaginable heights. Now though, they\u2019re branching out into the gaming realm […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gaming News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-08T17:01:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"pley2win\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"pley2win\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AEW: Fight Forever Review | TheXboxHub - Gaming News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AEW: Fight Forever Review | TheXboxHub - Gaming News","og_description":"All Elite Wrestling (AEW) took the wrestling world by storm upon its inception in 2019 and in the years that followed, quickly established themselves as a viable alternative to WWE. With top drawer entertainment, often targeting the most ardent fans, AEW has risen to unimaginable heights. Now though, they\u2019re branching out into the gaming realm […]","og_url":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493","og_site_name":"Gaming News","article_published_time":"2023-07-08T17:01:19+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"pley2win","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"pley2win","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493"},"author":{"name":"pley2win","@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abf11620d7b4805f5f298fb9c0a56d0d"},"headline":"AEW: Fight Forever Review | TheXboxHub","datePublished":"2023-07-08T17:01:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493"},"wordCount":1607,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abf11620d7b4805f5f298fb9c0a56d0d"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png","articleSection":["Xbox"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493","url":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493","name":"AEW: Fight Forever Review | TheXboxHub - Gaming News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png","datePublished":"2023-07-08T17:01:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=68493#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AEW: Fight Forever Review | TheXboxHub"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/","name":"Gaming News","description":"Video Gaming News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abf11620d7b4805f5f298fb9c0a56d0d"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/#\/schema\/person\/abf11620d7b4805f5f298fb9c0a56d0d","name":"pley2win","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Main-logo-.png","url":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Main-logo-.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Main-logo-.png","width":700,"height":250,"caption":"pley2win"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Main-logo-.png"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.pley2win.com"],"url":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"AEW:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic.png?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")
![\"Want](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/xbox-12-month-sub.jpg?fit=203%2C200&ssl=1\")
![\"AEW:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic-2.png?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")
![\"AEW:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic-3.png?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")
![\"AEW:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic-4.png?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")
![\"AEW:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thexboxhub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/aew-fight-forever-review-pic-5.png?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1\")