Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves review

While Street Fighter II was the prevailing fighting game franchise of the ‘90s, Fatal Fury’s place in history shouldn’t be overlooked. The franchise’s 1991 debut, Fatal Fury: King of Fighters served as the inaugural fighter for their Neo Geo, a system that had 50 different genre entries across its 148-title library. Eleven mainline titles later, Garou: Mark of the Wolves bid farewell to the decade, by delivering one of SNK’s best efforts.

But like a combatant who finally accepted their fate of never becoming a reigning champion, Fatal Fury quietly disappeared and SNK subsequently sank into bankruptcy.

A Legacy Forgotten

But since this is the ‘recycle’ decade, where reboots, remasters, remakes, and reinvigorations of lapsed properties run rampant, Terry and Andy Bogard are back, alongside incongruous inclusions like Cristiano Ronaldo and Salvatore Ganacci. Of course, the goal of enticing new audiences is expected with a franchise that’s been dormant for a quarter of a century. But anyone who is more familiar with contemporary offerings like Street Fighter 6 or Tekken 8 might be wondering why Fatal Fury is still relevant.

That’s not to say that Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ pugnacious isn’t absorbing. The curiously named Special Edition (which is the base edition) bundles the first season pass, providing access to a respectable sized 22-character roster. As such, you’ll be able to reunite with franchise favorites like Terry Bogard, Mai Shiranui, and Billy Kane. However, you’ll have to wait until summer to spar as Andy Bogard or Joe Higashi and notables like Kim Jae Hoon and Grant are still in limbo. And it’s possible that serial killer Freeman won’t get a second chance after a disastrous outing in Mark of the Wolves.

A Substitute for Experience?

Largely, City of the Wolves offers a commendable balance between complexity and accessibility. Traditionalists can opt for the Arcade Style control scheme, while Smart Style gives access to an abridged set of attacks and combos that can be summoned with simple button taps, providing novices with a friendly invitation. On top of that, there’s a fairly comprehensive tutorial that will walk you through most of the game’s systems.

But even with Arcade Style, Command Moves and Combos require little more than a simultaneous push of the directional pad along with a button press. Expectedly, Specials raise the stakes requiring fighting game fundamentals like quarter-circles and Z-moves. And while you’ll need to invest a bit of time to master each character’s moveset, proficiency stems from understanding the feints, walk and strike speeds, as well as the reach of each playable.

New Names, Familiar Methods

On the other side of the equation, Wolves rewards cautious play with the inclusion of the Perfect Defend mechanic, where well-time guards allowing for a trickle of health regeneration and a hard-hitting counter. But by far the biggest change is the inclusion of Rev System, which is like Street Fighter 6’s Drive Guage, except you’re tasked with filling the meter rather than having it at capacity from the beginning of a match.

The Rev System provides access to amplified attacks and defensive capacities like the Rev Blow which can deliver an intense assault while negating an enemy attack. But like a heavyweight mech, you need to use Rev actions and blocking in moderation or else you’ll overheat and compromise your Guard Gauge. There’s even a bit of strategy rooted in the Selective Potential Gear (or S.P.G) system. Here, you can opt for a tide-turning boost when your health is full, at a mid-point, or nearly empty.

Slumming It in South Town

City of the Wolves’ pugilism is fast and flashy, but the rest of the game seems coded by a different team. Episodes of South Town is the game’s version of Street Fighter 6’s World Tour Mode. But it’s a disappointingly no-frills affair as your selected character selects matches situated on a basic map. You’ll level up over time but since enemies scale up without you, there’s little sense of progress. Even worse, you’ll face off against a succession of augmented adversaries with only a modicum of health recovery between rounds.

Similarly, the game’s menus lack the energy of Wolves’ fluidly animated fighters, detailed backdrops, and Special Move pyrotechnics. Instead, they’re bland, frustrating to navigate, and a bit unresponsive. On the upside, the game’s rollback netcode seems solid, allowing moderately high (150ms+) ping connections to deliver responsive action.

Conclusion

Whereas contemporaries like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 feel essential, City of the Wolves is a second-string contender. In matches, the title excels, with systems that spawn tense showdowns. But outside of the ring, Fatal Fury struggles, with everything from a story mode to menus that feel like a work-in-progress.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.