Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Review - Nothing But Hands (And Feet)

I was two years old when the last mainline Fatal Fury game came out. So, needless to say, I missed the train on that one altogether. When I heard that Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was coming out, I was extremely curious because I now had an excuse to dive into the series. Thankfully, the game doesn't disappoint, with a rich cast of fighters, a unique art style, and engaging music. There's something for everyone, no matter your skill level in the genre.  

Before getting into what the game does right, I want to highlight some of the game's weaker points. One of the first weak points lies within the campaign mode. Throughout recent years, many games that take place in space have created compelling stories that get you attached to the fighters in one way or another. But sadly, that wasn't the case for Episodes of South Town, which serves as the main story within Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. 

Roughly 90 percent of it consists of you moving a cursor through a map layout and clicking on who you want to fight next. This led to me feeling a lack of excitement for the gameplay and more like I was going through a checklist, hoping to come across something that would regain my interest. In addition to that, most of the cutscenes in it are pure text, and it can become extremely easy to skip all of the dialogue and move on to the next fight, which I've found myself doing most of the time. 

Since this is the game's story mode, there is somewhat of a progressive system, but often it falls flat. Throughout the story, you'll level up, and fighting other people is the only way to do this. As you level up, your character will unlock more HP, abilities, and more. But it does feel a bit odd because a lot of the features you unlock are basic core mechanics of the game, and the power-ups you do get are nothing less than slight buffs that can help you in the next fight.

Another key issue with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was the inclusion of its star guest fighter, Cristiano Ronaldo. In the past, Ronaldo has been the center of sexual assault allegations, and providing a platform for him to have a face in the gaming community incites unjust tolerance for the negative and harmful behavior that is tied to his name and reputation.

Even though City of the Wolves does shoot itself in the foot with some of its issues, the game still excels in other places that are worth highlighting. The first aspect of the game that caught my eye was its art style. Rather than taking a realist approach like other games in space, it leans heavily into the comic book and anime aesthetic. Whenever players are performing power moves, it's hard not to be impressed by how colorful they are and to see the drastic change in

On top of that, the music absolutely slaps. Right off the bat, players are greeted with smooth jazz on the main menu, and each battle arena is complemented by a fantastic score. It's hard not to get a little dance going in real life as you're watching your character throw hands with someone else. But in addition to having great music, it also serves as a nice centerpiece to the fights, too, because, at times, it'll add that level of intensity that's needed when you're on the verge of winning/losing a fight.

Another pleasant surprise was the customization that's possible with the Color Edit menu. Now, it's not like other games in the space that essentially allow you to turn someone into Goku or Leon from the Resident Evil series. But it was still enough to allow me to express myself uniquely. Even though the only things I was able to change were their clothes and items, it was still enough for me to make some of my mains pop out in a special way.

One of the ways Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves separates itself from its competitors is how it deals with its power-up system. In most fighting games, there's always some kind of X-Factor that players can enable, and once it's started, it'll give them some sort of buff for a brief moment. But oftentimes, it's enough to turn the tide of that battle. City of the Wolves is no different in that regard, but how it goes about it is what separates it from others. 

Here, that feature is called S.P.G. This allows players to perform stronger attacks and encourages them to be on the offensive. At the beginning of each game, players have the option to select where they want the S.P.G. to activate; this can range from starting right off the bat when they're at full, half, or a quarter of HP.

There's another twist to this. The S.P.G. will be active as long as your HP matches the bar, so theoretically, a player can have it the whole game from the beginning. This creates a fun dynamic on how aggressive one should be. On top of that, whenever the S.P.G., you'll have access to a hidden move that does significant damage.  So, knowing where to place the S.P.G. can make all the difference.

Fatal Fury's Rev system truly separates it from other fighting games because of how many layers there are to it. The power moves in City of the Wolves are called Rev actions, and these can be used as much as I want as long as I don't fill up the Rev Meter. Rev actions are beneficial because they allow you to perform power chain combos and make stronger moves overall. But if I allowed the meter to reach 100 percent, this would come back and bite me because I'll begin to overheat. This will prevent me from doing any Rev actions and reduce my blocking gauge.

Of course, I could prevent my character from overheating by performing successful blocks or landing hits on my opponent. This is just another added layer to the game's intricate combat system.

On the flip side, players are also rewarded for playing more defensively. Whenever a perfectly timed block is performed, not only does it cool down my Rev, but it also gives me just a little bit of lost health, which was nice because often, the HP was something that I desperately needed. This, paired with the sheer number of counterattacks I could do, really shook things up for each fight. Because I wasn't always going in with the mindset of sending a flurry of blows, sometimes I opted for being more conservative in the fight and waiting for an opening that I could use that would almost guarantee me the game.

Even if all of this sounds a bit complicated, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has a great tutorial system that explains a lot of the core mechanics. Although this isn't new, it's nice to see more games include a Smart control scheme that makes it significantly easier for players to perform various combos and attacks.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves | Final Thoughts

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves does many great things right. It's been a game that I was looking forward to. The combat system is a well-oiled machine with many layers. On top of that, it's gorgeous and has a fantastic soundtrack. But it does shoot itself in the foot with a story mode that isn't worth your time, and the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo handicaps it.

Fatal Fury: City of Wolves was reviewed on Xbox Series X with a code provided by the publisher. All screenshots were taken during the course of review over 10 hours of gameplay.