Two olds and a young explain our experiences with AEW: Fight Forever

This week the SB Nation team has been playing a lot of AEW: Fight Forever, and we’ve had some pretty different experiences with it. It’s far from perfect, and you should read the full review of the game over on Polygon.

We’re here today to discuss how it’s been playing Fight Forever for the past few days as wrestling fans, and more importantly fans from much different generations of gaming. Two of us cut our teeth on the Yukes/AKI N64 games of the past, one of us is new to this whole breed of wrestling games.

James (38-year-old OLD)

Next to a horrific addiction to World of Warcraft in college (which we don’t speak about in my house), I’ve never put more hours into a game than WWF No Mercy on the N64. Unquestionably one of my favorite games of all time, I used to spend endless HOURS with my high school best friend creating wrestlers, setting up matches, and it never ever got old to us.

23-years-later than same addiction is back in a big way. Every bit of muscle memory returned immediately and playing Fight Forever. Hits every nostalgia center of my brain in just the right way. I’ve played every wrestling game, every year since No Mercy’s release and nothing has come close to hitting that same feeling until now.

This is arcade wrestling in it’s purest form. It also makes me realize just how much I dislike simulation wrestling in video games. The WWE 2K series is still fun, and unquestionably has polish that AEW: Fight Forever lacks, but so much of the 2K experience feels like a chore. Endlessly checking a list of match requirements to match objectives and replicate moments.

Fight Forever wants you to have fun. It’s often incredibly dumb in the best ways... and I cherish that. I can pick up and play a couple of games while my daughter is in the bath, and have a ton of fun doing it.

The game leaves so much unexplained, just like the old N64 games did. I’m constantly finding more gameplay easter eggs, and I’m totally obsessed with staying off the internet and learning what I can. That said, here are a few great ones I’ve discovered to get you started:

• Clicking on the right stick with Orange Cassidy causes him to go “Sloth Style,” with his hands in pockets.
• Clicking on the right stick with Adam Cole causes him to remove his kneepad, making “The Boom” finisher do more damage.
• Using the football helmet as a weapon, holding down the attack button makes you put the helmet on your opponent’s head backwards — causing them to stumble around aimlessly.

Yes, AEW: Fight Forever can be janky — but fighting through the jank is part of the fun. Sure, I can’t set up a table perfectly and execute a Swanton through it with cinematic perfection, but when I pull it off the feeling is utter accomplishment.

I have a feeling AEW: Fight Forever won’t be for everyone, but it’s absolutely for me — and I’ll be playing it for a long, long time.

J.P. ( 22-year-old YOUNG)

So as the resident youth, I gotta say up front: I haven’t really played a style of wrestling game such as AEW: Fight Forever. You notice two things when you first open the game: the characters look kinda doughy, but you also notice the care and time that was put into getting all of the mannerisms for each character and how they wrestle. The taunts that each fighter does feels special and unique to each character, and just like James said, being able to do Sloth Style with Orange Cassidy is one of the best parts of playing the game.

I started with Road to All Elite, and created a custom character (now that I’m a pro wrestler I just made myself). The creation suite is still kind of limited, but you have access to literally every move in the game and most of the attire to put on your wrestler. You can also play as current wrestlers in Road to All Elite, which gives us the greatest cutscene photos of all time:

You play through the first year of AEW’s existence, wrestling on Dynamite, Dark and Rampage if you want, while being on all of the PPVs. The story was really fun to play through, although quick, and I wish there was more of that.

Like I said at the beginning, I’m new to this type of game. That being said, the gameplay at first was VERY tough to get a handle on. The tutorial suite doesn’t really help at all, and the movements can be kinda wonky. But, you learn as you play, and as I kept playing, I started to get a handle on it.

That would really be my only critique of the game, because overall, I thought it was super fun.

Jared (42-year-old OLD OLD)

My last wrestling video game came on the Wii. To say that it was forgettable would be an understatement. Prior to that, PlayStation 2 was my last gaming console but PC gaming did fill my needs in the space for years.

My first wrestling games were played long before JP was born so the general control of AEW:FF were pretty easy to pickup. For the oldest of the old, in this discussion, not having to quickly push too many different buttons in specific succession or at the same time was really helpful. However, again as the old guy, figuring out how to use the moves or finishers I wanted was frustrating at times.

As James describes, the game does a great job of just being fun and, sometimes, carnival (or carny in wrestling speak) like. In a lot of ways, it is the antithesis of the Fortnite/PUBG-style games that are all the rage right now. The game isn’t face paced, even inside the ring it is less mortal combat and more arcade-style Wrestlefest (still one of my favorite arcade games ever) speed.

The game was not created to get a dopamine spike every so often so you play the game more and more. Instead, it is a game that I just want to come back to for the gameplay. I didn’t miss trying to get on to complete daily, weekly and season-long quests.

Like JP, I started on “The Road” but used Jeff Hardy as my character. Showing off my age and experience, I won the Casino Battle Royale in my first match by eliminating 10 wrestlers over the top. After that, my road to the AEW World Championship was laid out in front of me. After learning how often I could/should eat versus train versus sightsee, I found myself in the main event against “Le Champion” (even though he technically hadn’t earned that moniker yet in the game’s timeline... see, carny-ish) Chris Jericho.

The result:

Somehow, the best part of the game was not the game itself, it is the video packages. Highlighting the beginning of AEW, having wrestlers voicing over sweet cut scenes between real life and the game and many other things that you would normally skip in games are just sweet to watch.

Getting to play as wrestlers that I have never played with in a video game before or, like Sting, where it has been awhile, added to the game greatly for a lifelong wrestling fan. Having started my gaming life on the original Atari and working my way up until the PS2 and Wii days, it was great to have a game I was actually excited to play and I could just enjoy playing without all the other pressures of modern gaming.

AEW has a hit on its hands for those of us with disposable income and a desire to just enjoy gaming like it used to be. It will be interesting how the usual, modern gaming crowd reacts to the slower pace, less exacting and more relaxing nature of the game.