Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a smooth and sharp fighting game that brings the Fatal Fury franchise back to the forefront of the genre. The Episodes of South Town mode can be a little repetitive, but the breadth of content and core mechanics are plenty of fun for both newcomers and veterans.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Developer: KOF Studio
Price: $60
Platform: PS5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
MonsterVine was supplied with a PS5 code for review.
Few fighters have the distinct style that the Fatal Fury franchise does, thanks to its worldly feel and roster of badass characters. The newest entry, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, brings that style to the modern age with satisfying gameplay and stellar presentation, making for a fighting game revival worth getting excited about.
The tutorials are comprehensive and fun to play through, giving you a firm foundation to build upon through the other modes. Everything you need to know to enjoy the game is taught to you both quickly and properly, allowing even the newest of fighting game players to get a handle on the fundamentals before taking on others.
Fighting feels great in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, with the new REV System and classic S.P.G. system making for a truly unique fighter. The REV mechanic lets you use a number of REV techniques against your opponent, which can do anything from providing you attacks with armor to allowing you to whip out a powerful special blow. It overheats as you use it, however, making for a pleasantly risky system that is a blast to learn and utilize.
“It can be a bit repetitive to fight dozens of basic fighters to bolster your strength, but when played in bursts, it’s a neat enough mode.“
S.P.G., on the other hand, is an adjustable mechanic that lets you choose a portion of your health bar in which you’re more powerful. It’s neat to be able to pick what period of your health you’ll be strongest in, encouraging those with different playstyles to decide whether they want to be strong from the get-go or mount a potentially epic comeback later on in the match.
There’s a good deal of single-player content in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves that can be enjoyed by those who don’t find online to be a top priority. The primary one is Episodes of South Town – a mode where you pick a character and play out a storyline through fights. Outside of a couple of art pieces, it’s largely presented through text, with you taking on numerous semi-generic foes to power up your stats to take on bosses. It can be a bit repetitive to fight dozens of basic fighters to bolster your strength, but when played in bursts, it’s a neat enough mode.
Then there are the staples, such as Arcade, Mission, Survival, Time Attack, and Practice. The arcade endings are appreciated and give each character their own bits of story, and I liked the comic book-esque presentation to them. For fans of earlier entries in the series, there’s even a two-lane fighting system you can mess with, harkening back to the classic titles of the Fatal Fury franchise. I was surprised to see that in the tutorial mode, but it was a pleasant little throwback to mess around with.
Visually, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves looks great, utilizing a comic style to present the fighters in a distinct way. The stages are all lively and colorful, and the designs for the main cast of fighters are memorable and flashy. Fights unfold in a rush of colors and snazzy effects, giving hits extra impact that makes battles all the more satisfying.
The Final Word
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a blast to play thanks to its intriguing mechanics and strong presentation. The singleplayer offerings can be a bit repetitive, but fighting feels great and provides plenty of depth to take advantage of. If you’ve ever wanted to break into Fatal Fury, this is a fantastic choice to start with.
MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
