AEW Fight Forevermanages to provide its own distinct product, but it still needs to make some changes to keep from falling behind. The game has a lot of traits that can make it a standout in the genre. However, as one may expect from the video game debut of a new promotion, there are still a lot of kinks that need to be worked out. The game is still in the earliest stages of its lifespan, though. There is ample time forAEW Fight Foreverto fix its biggest issues and become a major player in the genre.
Ever sinceAEW Fight Foreverwas first revealed, hopes for what the game could achieve were high. Like All Elite Wrestling itself, it was intended to be a new flavor of high-quality wrestling entertainment. In particular, it is an alternative to the product created by WWE, which has been dominating the wrestling market both in real live as well as video games since the turn of the millennium. As the vast majority ofAEW Fight Forever’s roster has never appeared in a wrestling game before, it is certainly delivering on that front. In addition to new wrestlers, the game itself needs to be high quality, and it will need some changes to earn that label.
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AEW Fight Forever Still Needs to Make Some Adjustments
Like most wrestling games, thecreation suite inAEW Fight Foreveris an important aspect, and it unfortunately needs some work. For many players, created wrestlers see as much play as the game’s actual roster, if not more, and making wrestlers not in the game and even fictional characters is a time-honored tradition. At the moment, whileAEW Fight Forever’s creation suite is functional, it is hugely limited in terms of faces and outfit options, so a lot of player creations won’t look quite the way they intended. Improving the create-a-wrestler features should be a priority in the game’s early updates.
The game’s performance is another area that need some serious fine-tuning.AEW Fight Foreverhas been suffering from crashesearly on, with some users being hit worse than others. While not as infamous asWWE 2K20’s issues at launch, it is still not a great look for the game, and runs the risk of turning off potential players. Likewise, there have been complaints regarding the game’s online modes, with connection issues and overly-long wait times to find matches. Hopefully these are only growing pains that can be ironed out quickly, asAEW Fight Foreverneeds to reach a more stable state in order to thrive.
One more aspect ofAEW Fight Foreverthat needs tweaking may be the trickiest one, because it lies in the mechanics themselves.Escaping pins inAEW Fight Foreverrelies on button mashing, which is neither fun nor satisfying. An alternate method based on timing could be a good fix. For another example,AEW Fight Foreverhas a wide array of interesting weapons that suffer for the mechanics behind them. Weapons break after only 2 hits, making them feel rather pointless in the grand scheme of the match. For a game that emphasizes its arcade-style gameplay,AEW Fight Forever’s weapons should be able to last in a fight.
AEW Fight Forever’s time in the spotlight is far from over, and the developers have the opportunity to fix some of the game’s most egregious issues. WithAEW Fight Foreverset to add more content, the team behind the game can also use that time to smooth out the issues that have come to light in the game’s early days. The game’s hardware issues can be corrected, and the overall gameplay experience can be tweaked to be more fun. With a little work,AEW Fight Forevercould be the phenomenon that fans have dreamed of.
AEW Fight Foreveris available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
