REVIEW: ‘Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ Come Spend Some Enjoyable Time In South Town

The latest Fatal Fury game, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, releases after a 26-year hiatus for the franchise. Despite players seeing many of its characters in SNK Corporation’s other self-developed and published series, such as The King of Fighters, fans have been eagerly anticipating the return of one of the oldest fighting game franchises in the gaming industry. Not only does it return with a fan-favorite cast and great action, but it may also be one of the best fighting games for those new to the genre.

The core of every fighting game is a deep and enjoyable gameplay experience. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves meets this requirement with ease. The standard plethora of kicks, punches, grabs, block types, and arts (special moves) come in the hoped-for variety, setting each of the initial roster’s 17 characters apart and ensuring there will be a character to fit any play style. This game’s two twists to its classic fighting gameplay build on this great foundation. The first is the REV system.

The REV meter functions in two ways. First, it allows for powerful, enhanced versions of standard moves. The way REV Arts differ from their standard counterparts varies with each move, forcing experimentation with each fighter to learn all the ins and outs of their gameplay. While enhanced versions of techniques are nothing new, how the REV meter forces management of these attacks makes for a more thoughtful experience (More on that in a moment).

The other ability REV provides is REV Blows. These moves can only be used while the character’s S.P. gauge is active. These moves are powerful because they provide both built-in defense and offense. Once the attack begins, the character can brush off enemy attacks, making it a safe way to try to score hits on your opponent.

Your character can overheat when the REV meter gets too full.

Now, all of the amped up power and versatility that comes with REV Arts and Blows is excellent, but players must use it in moderation. With each use of REV, the REV meter fills. If it ever reaches max, the character enters the overheat state. When this occurs, REV abilities will no longer be accessible. Also, the ability to guard will become limited, resulting in a guard crush if too much blocking happens during the cooldown period.

REV doesn’t just build up throughout a round, though. Gradually, and by performing non-REV attacks, the meter will drain. This creates a natural ebb and flow that combat encourages, promoting a balanced approach rather than relying too heavily on a character’s most potent attacks.

While the REV system adds complexity to decision-making, it happily doesn’t overcomplicate the game’s controls. The added options work wonderfully with both the standard arcade-style controls and the innovative streamlined controller inputs. This keeps the added complexities from becoming a barrier to entry for more casual players.

I mentioned the other new element to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves‘ gameplay: the S.P. Gauge. This gauge is overlaid on one-third of a character’s health bar. Along with giving access to REV blows, the gauge increases the character’s attack power across the board.

There is a lot of customization in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

The most remarkable thing about the gauge is that its placement is up to the player. Before a match, the player decides where the gauge will be located on the health bar: at the beginning, middle, or end. The placement adds another layer of customization, as it shifts when the player plans to deal the most damage.

One last major gameplay element must be mentioned, though it isn’t fully utilized in the initial release. That is two-lane combat. In old Fatal Fury games, combat played out on two lanes instead of the more common single lane. Certain moves and attacks would cause characters to shift lanes, either themselves or their opponents, adding a layer of depth, both literal and figurative, to the gameplay.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves standard matches don’t allow for this feature, but its presence in the tutorial ensures that the gameplay style will be introduced at some point. If it proves fun and compelling in the modern fighting game environment, this could give the game its specialty, making it stand out.

Along with streamlined control schemes, there is another element to fighting games that players have come to expect since the franchise’s last entry. That is a well-crafted single-player mode. Happily, the developers didn’t overlook this recent expectation, as Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves brings a beefy single-player offering via the Episodes of South Town (EOTS).

EOTS delivers a hybrid fighting game and RPG experience.

Characters begin their journey at level one, gaining experience with each battle. Leveling up increases health, attack, and defense and unlocks skill slots. These slots can be used to equip customizations to characters like attack buffs, resistance to certain attacks, and more.

EOTS plays out from an overhead map of South Town. Scattered across the maps are potential fights for the player to participate in. Each challenger is designated with a difficulty code, indicating the recommended level for the player’s fighter before they engage in battle. There are always numerous fights available, so less confident fighters can train until they have a sizable advantage. Conversely, more confident fighters can opt straight for narrative matches, facing the greater challenge with a disadvantage. This structure makes the mode great for both seasoned veterans and novices.

As the story progresses, three regions of South Town become unlocked, each bringing a greater degree of challenge. Some fights feature special rules that add further wrinkles to the combat. Survival challenges or matches with full power gauges that automatically recharge, bringing variety into the mode’s many battles. There is only one spot where this variety falls flat: the secret challenges.

Each region of South Town holds a secret challenge. This is found by dragging the cursor over the map until it passes over the hidden challenge. Once revealed, players can fight the single opponent therein. This foe will possess the Robust Roulette skill.

Some fights in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves can be frustrating.

This skill makes it so whenever the player lands a strike on the opponent, there is a 1/66 chance that they will do 9999 damage to them. However, at any other time, they do nothing. So, these fights become frustrating luck fests where the player hopes to manage beating the odds before they die or time runs out.

The desire to provide something unique in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves‘ story mode is admirable, but this isn’t it. It takes the fun out and marries an otherwise enjoyable experience with frustrating battles that spark no joy. The only good thing about it is that you can just ignore them.

Once players complete a character’s story, they unlock Story+ for that character. This allows them to return to South Town with stronger opponents, giving them more opportunities to battle, level up, and unlock new skills. And since all skills are universal, meaning every character gains access to them once they are unlocked, gathering as many skills as possible creates more kit combinations for every character in the game.

As the title indicates, EOST comes with a story for each character. These stories range from searching for assassins to being haunted by ghosts. Even when the concept is serious, the approach is generally quite playful, with lots of goofy elements that keep the interactions light. This keeps the focus of EOST’s narratives on fun at the cost of engagement. You never feel invested in these stories, even when they make you chuckle.

The story mode’s visual presentation does not help the story’s ability to pull players in. There are no cutscenes, still shots, or otherwise. Rather, conversations occur in a format reminiscent of a DM screen. An avatar picture for each involved character is set next to dialogue balloons that appear one below the other, allowing the conversations to unfold.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves struggles with many cosmetic elements.

This lacking presentation isn’t limited to EOST. This area feels like the one place where the developers failed to adapt to today’s standards and what modern fighting games are delivering. The visuals throughout the game are good but lack flash. The character models have a plastic feeling that often distracts from close-ups and big moments. The visual effects for attacks also don’t pop like they should, further hindering the excitement.

The other element of the presentation that falls short is the voice work. Many characters sound flat, often appearing uninterested in what is happening. Fighting games are built on excitement and larger-than-life characters, and their voices need to match.

One aspect of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ visual presentation that works is the arcade mode cutscenes. Still images deliver story beats during this mode. The choice of shots, poses, and even the implementation of comic book-inspired onomatopoeia bring a strong dose of energy to these sequences.

A solid color editor also allows for some creative, fun new color schemes. Each element of the characters has several points of colorization, allowing for lots of variety. This combines with a jukebox for listening to music from across the franchise and a small bottle-breaking mini-game, providing some non-combat entertainment options.

Despite some hiccups on the presentation side, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves delivers in all the ways that matter most. A deep and enjoyable gameplay experience invites both new players and old veterans to master the intricacies of its systems, offering plenty of reasons to spend time in South Town and hinting at more to come.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is available on April 24th for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC.