I started playing it when they gave it with ps plus. I installed the game, started creating my wrestler, the game crashed as I was about to finish. I uninstalled it and never played it again.
If they had made the game wide open to modders it could be the new 'Fire Pro Wrestling' but it is a console feeling game, and a budget feeling game, for full price.
A wrestling game launching without a Cage match is insane. And the fact it never even got added is even madder. Even though I’m sure they said it would be at some point lol
Not because it wasn't a WWE game, but because of the THQ/AKI 64 era animations and control scheme. That was definitely all it took to fool a lot of us.😒
I knew the Creator Creator was gonna be a bit limited but boy I was not expecting it to be THAT limited. Street Fighter 6 of all games has a better character creation mode.
@@Blaze_XIII If someone bought this game and was not able to get more than 4 hours of fun out of it, or the same amount of time as a PPV, that player has to be doing something wrong. There is plenty wrong with the game, but I don't think anyone can say with a straight face they can't get like a week of fun out of it.
Tony Khan loves wrestling, starts a company and it’s mid on its best days. The roster loves videos games, push for a video game and at its best it’s mid. It’s a common trend with AEW.
Just comparing the DLC costs to WWE2k, AEW prices a new wrestler around $5 each leading their Season Passes to be $20-$30 for each pass while only getting 3-6 wrestlers for each (and maps i guess, but that's wildly underwhelming). Meanwhile, WWE2k24 has one season pass for its whole release for $40 that gives me close to 20 new wrestlers over the year, each with an insanely specific move set, entrance, and new clothes and moves to use for Custom Creations. The value that 1 single wrestler brings to WWE2k is far greater than what you get per wrestler in AEW Fight Forever and it's far more affordable in the long run.
I enjoyed WWEs game more than AEW but after doing the my rise and mucking around with universe mode for 10-15 hours I don’t feel there’s much to do in either game.
@@micahnewby7964 I was comparing the depth of the two. Fight forever was a tribute to the old N64 game everyone loved. It’s pick up and mash buttons. WWW2k is supposed to be a more realistic wrestling game. I blame the fickle fans who always need something to complain about. Same with AEW and WWE. AEW has the best matches but people complain about story because that’s what they’re used to and expect every promotion to follow the leader.
@@turtlehead2 fair. I was making a console generational graphics joke that therefore has NES Mario and N64 in _separate_ camps, though they are both "pick up and play" (and childhood favorites) (Twinkly music over a screen fade out/fade in) For several months I watched my older brother play Super Castlevania IV on the new SNES he had gotten the previous Christmas. Finally get a chance to try my hand. No witnesses (only reason I even had the chance) and waaaay too early to have a reasonable means of preserving it for posterity, but this is what happened: first life I die ridiculously early, like almost immediately in the first level (jumped into an enemy over a pit if I remember correctly). Second life? All the way to Dracula's second form, beating the game on third go Never been able to do anything like it before or since. I mean, I'm decent at games. Needed passwords to be able to beat games, but I _earned_ those level skip passwords. Didn't look them up online like chest codes nowadays and couldn't get a Game Genie or Game Shark because I was sneaking playing time as it was🤣
Honestly, AEW's decision to build a game engine from ground up rather than using something like unreal done the game ... Most their budget went towards that and made it impossible to quickly update.... Whereas, unreal or unity would've allowed a quick use of pre-existing assets, so they could've focused more on actual gameplay
Nah, @@abdieljove2011. Surely it's the Bazinga Bomb. We all know what any move with the name "Buster" entails and we know dang good and well Sheldon Cooper isn't getting anywhere near that🤣
Well, Kenny omega made the decision to go to the studio that's pretty much falling apart and has had no good games behind them since a decade if not more. He also hired a guy who had some creative input for nm 64 but he was absent he stopped doing games the past 20 years so their decisions were all over the place. Its fucking hilarious how they just didn't go with a respectable video game company give em 3 years and go with it,
@@nikoladzhurov1800Yuke's did Smackdown and the 2K games until 2015-2016. The advisor brought on by Omega was meant to evoke the N64 wrestling games he directed.
@@nikoladzhurov1800also Omega couldn’t decide whether they should remake No Mercy, Mario Party, or Fortnite, so decided to do all three and call it AEW. All while thinking a wrestling game doesn’t need a cage match. 😅
Should have had a cage match. That's a big oversight. Coffin match. Blood and guts match etc. Basically should have had more match types. The thing that scores big points with me about fight forever is its so easy to play. I'm not a great gamer so the fact that it was easy to remember the controls was a big win for me liking the game
They copied the season mode from Know Your Role. Why, on Earth, would you do that? The meaningless, unskippable cutscenes that took a long time to load were the cherry on top. Having the exact same result whether you choose yes or no to joining the Death Triangle sealed the deal for me. I played through the pile of shit ten times to level up some CAWs, and I regret every second of it. Save us, Ultra Pro Wrestling.
10:10 Through just Community Creations in WWE2k you can have more accurate AEW arenas with more accurate AEW rosters fighting for more accurate AEW belts than in the actual official AEW video game. You're likely to put on an a more faithful Forbidden Door ppv in WWE2k than you could in Fight Forever and that's exclusively due to the creation suite that 2k offers players.
On this note, I actually have a full AEW universe mode right now. I skip entrances since none of their music can make it into the game but it's not like that's too big a deal since AEW Fight Forever doesn't really have entrances with music anyways. And I *could* mod their music/entrance in if I desired, since some AEW superstars still have their old entrance animations in game listed as something like "Superstar 76".
A lot of companies need to follow Frontier’s example. For Planet Zoo, for instance, they release DLC every few months, it usually contains 7 or 8 new animals and a heap of building parts and is like £7.99. They also release a free base game update on the same day
Or follow Yacht Club Games or Team Cherry or Curve Digital and drop loads of DLC for free for people who already have the game. Just increase the overall price of the game
Honestly, the most disappointing thing about this game isn't comparing it to modern games: it's in comparison to older games. FF was clearly modeled after WWF No Mercy but from my experience playing No Mercy and Tom's wonderful retrospective, it's frankly appalling how much more content was in this nearly 25 year old game as opposed AEW FF (I mean, you can't even change roster members' attires to keep them up to date). I downloaded a bunch of AEW wrestlers into Fire Pro Wrestling World, and it's a much better AEW game than Fight Forever
Worst preorder decision I’ve ever made. Tony is us all a refund. My dumbass bought the special edition thinking I was gonna get all the doc and it only included season one. What a joke
There’s no benefit of pre ordering. You could’ve save yourself money by watching a midnight release review. That’s how I ended up saving money. It just lacked so many things I had 20 years ago in wrestling game.
It feels like this game and the devs are stuck in the 90s. So much content and features are missing. Even a freaking wwe game from the ps2 era had more content than fight forever and it's not even funny.
The best thing about the recent WWE games are that the created arenas and quality of the created wrestlers have gotten so good that you can download the whole AEW roster, and a realistic looking arena. Plus, they brought back the ramp camera so you can see the stage set while wrestling. And PC fans have it the best with mods.
Stadium Stampede was a good idea, but having it online only made it really hard for me to get a feel for it. Just getting killed and having to wait for a new game.
The biggest thing that killed it for me in the game is that every match only seems to last about 5-6 minutes when I'm so used to wanting to play 20-30 minute long matches
The roster and dlc in this game is what kills it for me. Why do I have to pay for basic longtime roster members? Feels like a scheme to get money. Not into the arcade vibe either but that’s just a personal preference.
Really, for me, I like AEW - but for me to buy this game, they had to offer something different. Because if I wanted to just play wrestling matches, then I could just download AEW wrestlers into the WWE2K game. When I saw promoted TH-camrs trying to be positive about the game at launch, my heart sunk. Because it was literally just clunky matches. The fact that it didn't have commentary was absolutely wild to me. The only way I would have ever considered playing the game would be if it was free. Which coincidentally is the only way it would have been acceptable for them to charge so much for DLC.
The lack of commentary is actually a pro, instead of a con. You won't have to hear Jim Ross giving zero efforts in recording the commentary in every match you play.
I hope we see more content like this. I enjoy the news and top 10 lists but I really like seeing you guys sit down and talk about stuff like this other than the usual content only about the actual wrestling.
If it only cost $29.99 at launch and didn’t get called the greatest game since no mercy it probably would be perceived better today Also, just release big DLC packs with wrestlers like WWE does and stop spreading them out individually sometimes The game tries to get you to part way with money that it’s not worth
I remember way back when AEW first announced they were making a game with Yukes, my immediate reaction was “The company’s barely a year old and doesn’t even have a house show circuit yet, this really shouldn’t be a priority.” AEW should’ve spent their first five years focused 100% on building the brand and fanbase through their main product, the wrestling itself. Instead they barreled headlong into making video games and action figures before they’d created a market for them. Look at WWE, they can put out a lousy video game and 90% of the time it’ll still turn a profit because a segment of fans will buy it no matter what. Hell, people stuck with 2K20 for years just for the laughs even though it was damn near unplayable. AEW has no such fanbase, at least not one big enough to get away with putting out crap like Fight Forever. But why put the cart before the horse like that? Probably a combination of factors, the biggest being ego. Tony Khan’s ego tells him “You can be the next Vince McMahon (or at least a more successful Eric Bischoff) if you just spend enough of your father’s money.” Kenny and the Bucks’ egos tell them “We’re huge stars who deserve our own video games and action figures right now.” Another factor is a clear lack of market research. AEW has always primarily courted the 18-35 age demographic, which means merch like toys and video games will have a smaller potential consumer base than similar WWE merch since they actively court younger fans. That’s why you can go into any Walmart or Target in the country and find the AEW toys practically untouched, nobody’s buying them for their kids. And with Fight Forever being a faithful throwback to wrestling games from 20+ years ago, it was a guarantee nobody but old farts like me and people into retro gaming would be interested.
It's still insane that in the time it took for this soulless void of a Game to come out, the 2k series died in the glitch induced fire that was 2k20, stayed dead for over an entire year, came back better than ever with 2k22, and had an arguably even better 2k23 after that.
Brilliant piece Fraser. Expertly explained. I got the game for free as part of my PsPlus subscription and even at zero cost, as a fan of AEW and having played wrestling games for years it just didn’t get me excited. It felt run of the mill, nothing to differentiate itself from any other fighting game, let alone the WWE 2K games. Of course it doesn’t help this game that the WWE games have taken a huge step up recently but that being said, the AEW game should stand on its own as a good game regardless of the competition and sadly, it doesn’t.
It's bizzare they've got so many mediocre minigames and no in depth create a wrestler/area. Particularly when Kenny Omega is a gamer and was giving them advice.
AEW Stadium Stampede would do fantastic as a standalone Free To Play game, not as a new game mode buried in an underperforming title updated in months after release. It could've swooped right in to fill the void that Rumbleverse just left wide open for them.
Not with that terrible, clunky, poor his detection gameplay. Its the worst battle royal I’ve ever seen and is not even close. It plays nothing like the base game which is completely dumb
Came on PS Plus recently so have now platinumed it on PS4 and PS5 and while it's not outright terrible (imo) it is extremely average, with poor countering mechanics, dodgy AI, limited CAW and general lack of options. Plus the prices they charged for all the individual DLC packs were outrageous.
I'm interested to know more about the development history of the game to know how things ended up the way they did. I look forward to an eventual Matt McMuscles 'What Happened' video on it, maybe even featuring some kind of collab with Cultaholic?
Is anyone else sick of the business models of modern gaming? You pay for a base game at launch then get nickel and dimed for the rest of the content that should have been in the game at launch for over 2 years?? Every wrestling/Fighting game these days is doing this and it sucks. Remember when you actually got full games at launch day 1?? No season passes no dlc no having to spend extra for content. Modern gaming sucks and these game developers get more and more greedy year after year.
Sad to say I gave up on fight forever a while ago, I’m just waiting for the sequel HOPING they learned from their mistakes and taken notes from the wwe games. Smackdown HCTP wasn’t perfect but it was good enough for us and it’s become nostalgia.
I think it was horribly unfair of Uno to compare Fight Forever to No Man’s Sky. Hello Games have never once charged anything for NMS updates/dlc, which is one of the primary reasons that game has gone on to be beloved, and inversely why nobody will ever care about Fight Forever. Also, it’s such a joke that Omega et al were comparing Fight Forever to No Mercy, one of the most wonderfully content-rich games ever made. Give me a break- Fight Forever is just another lazy, unfinished, corporately-produced, micro transaction-fueled modern game trading on nostalgia for what’s come before it.
I really was hoping as a fan of the current product that AEW would do a better job of updating wrestlers attires and current gimmicks. Something that WWE ignores till the next game comes out.
Ive only played stadium stampede within the first couple days of release. Then not even a week later ive NEVER been able to play that mode because all of a sudden there was like no one playing NOT EVEN A WEEK LATER. I really enjoyed playing that mode. For a mode with people complaining that there wasnt real people in the lobby you cant even play the mode against AI.
I never understood all the extra crap that was is the road to elite mode. The sightseeing, gym, and meals added nothing to the experience. The mini games were really confusing and impossible to control. And then the mode just ended out of almost nowhere.
Most of the mini games were basically RNG. Take Shuda's Slugfest. I played that half a dozen times and every time the CPU opponents got max scores but my CPU partner never once even hit the "ball", meaning I lost every time due to something I had no control over.
My 8 year old loves playing this. Mainly the casino battle royal and stadium stampede. She also loves creating wrestlers. Then I bought 2k24. Then she wondered why the AEW game didn't do any of that stuff. Now she only plays AEW once in a while to really figure out how to use the horse.
Fight Forever isn't a bad game but i can't say it's a good game, like it's the kind of game that you and your friends would pay for a while, have a few matches , check out a few mini games before swapping over the latest WWE game just due to how more fleshed out it is. That's what AEW: FF is to me, the bones of a decent wrestling game that was just waiting to be fleshed out properly, instead it got low content DLC for high prices that did nothing to prolong the re-playability of the game itself.
Here is one of my biggest issues with AEW Fight Forever Its the minigames. The moment i realised they were including minigames, i worried because my thought was "why are you wasting resources, time and money on a portion of the game people will legit only be playing once on a try? Heres something people may not know. AEW Fight Forever DOES have a steel cage in the game but it is in a minigame. And the fact they were including more in the dlcs were more of a headscratcher. If you are making a pro wrestling video game, focus on what match types you know Wrestling fans will be playing. I also wish they made the stadium in Stadium Stampede match a full match map in the exhibition mode. But it will most likely not happen. If your gonna make a Fight Forever 2, heres what i would want. - More than just 4 people limit in a match - Have more match types - have more match types in 3 way matches Have more matches in 4 way matches - have more varieties in ladder matches (3 way, 4 way, 5 way & 6 way matches) - make c.a.w mode more accessible and appealing for creators (or hell even make a offical list for CAW formulas i would much prefer that.) - Have Cage Matches - made a trios tag match - have a Create a show mode - have a Creation Community - Get rid of the minigames - for DLCs, include 5 max people per pack to make it more worth for players to buy packs and not just 1 character per pack.
This is a great summation. I bought wwe no mercy day 1 and still enjoy booting up my n64. The hold and wait for discounts is the only way I'll interact with video games these days since to day 1 everything video games are well over $100 and still feel unfinished. I got this on launch but there isn't anything to keep my interest without spending a lot. Even just basic updating wrestler outfits or additional outfits.
I like to boot up Fight Forever from time to time for some quick matches, but lack of long time replay value is the worst part. And no communication from THQ/Yukes/AEW Games is just infuriating.
@@AndyKazama2 even if you don't use the glitch though once you've gotten the other RTE trophies you can just quit each match and speed through to the end.
Glad I waited for $20 for the Ultimate Edition on the Steam sale. I think if they wanted to sell more copies on PC, they should have enabled modding. People would absolutely buy this if you could just slap in Batman and Joker character models.
AEW paid a lot of money to former AKI staff leads to come out of retirement to supervise this game yet they failed to capture on what made Wrestlemania 2000 and WWE No Mercy accessible and most importantly, fun.
I do enjoy the gameplay overall but its just lacking modes and customization options to really keep you coming back. The game had potential but it feels like the devs focused on stuff that fans never wanted like Stadium Stampede instead of adding more match types and a GM mode.
As someone who doesn't really follow the AEW product and just rented this game through my local library, I'm glad I didn't pay money for this. It has so much potential to be good, but instead it feels like the company just shat it out and hoped that the diehard fanbase would be enough to keep it going. If they ever make another one, I really hope they learn from their mistakes, instead of taking more steps back and off a cliff.
I played it for the first time last weekend as Xbox did a free play weekend for it. I didn't hate the gameplay but yeah the DLC has been way too pricey (and sometimes really outdated in the case of Toni Storm for example). What makes the DLC more annoying is that the game teases you by showing you DLC wrestlers in the main menu. I even had Matt Hardy in the career mode even but couldn't use him because he's DLC. Also unbelievable that you had to pay for simple game modes like a tournament and a gauntlet. They're already in WWE games while also having better graphics and loads more wrestlers. They should have been free updates. Not the random youtubers i haven't heard of.
Good thing the folks at Hyper Focus Games are developing a game that's everything we wanted Fight Forever to be and more! Hope to see Ultra Pro Wrestling content on this channel soon!
I enjoyed the game at first and even tried to defend it but 2 months is all i lasted. The story mode was a masive disappointment and... They did really NOTHING to answer the genuine critisism people had, all they seemed to do was yet Yukes churn out over priced DLC, which for me I refused to touchj because they were all rip offs. If they were faily priced then maybe but no at those prices they could keep them. And for a player that doesnt DO online competitive matyched and likes to create their own fun, this didnt even TRY and I was so disappointed. Especially given how frustrating Ive found the WWE games this was supposed to ber what they were not in a good way but in the end it just felt like the team stopped trying
I don't get why people complain about this game so much. For what it was, and a first outing, it's pretty fun. I'm willing to bet most people don't play the game with friends, that's where it really shines.
Play with friends and do what ? It’s a 4 actual people you can only play 3 match types of the 7 😅😅 this game is trash. How do you make a wrestling game with minimal wrestling content ?
It was so hyped up because they used the vaunted AKI engine that was responsible for one of the top 2 wrestling games of all time, No Mercy. TNA Impact for the XBox 360 is a better game.
The fact that Evil Uno never got put into the game after he basically carried the PR side for it leading up to release is real sad
I'm not a huge Uno fan, but the disrespect is very real.
@VileSyndicxte same here, for all the work he put in he at least deserved a manager spot or something
Yeah, they did him dirty.
Evil uno sucks
Wait he's still not in the game? The heck?
So the company that has 20 tournaments a year never thought to have a tournament mode in their game…
I think the only thing I was amazed by is the fact I could get a last minute flight to Nice in France for $32.99! I'm off to france
And you'll have nice (hahaha break my neck pls) places to visit around here 🇫🇷
AEW: Fight For a year or so
Couple of weeks or so more like haha
😂😂😂
AEW: Sh!t forever
AEW: Play Minigames Forever
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I started playing it when they gave it with ps plus.
I installed the game, started creating my wrestler, the game crashed as I was about to finish.
I uninstalled it and never played it again.
I pre ordered the elite edition on PS 😭 biggest waste of money
I didn’t even bother getting it while it was free. They’d have to pay me for me to play this bum ass game from a bum ass company.
you should ask for a refund even if it's ps plus
@@KegOfMeathonestly , I played it when it became free on PS plus
It was fun for a while. Atleast in my opinion
@@ianacquaye3719
You deserve that...
If they had made the game wide open to modders it could be the new 'Fire Pro Wrestling' but it is a console feeling game, and a budget feeling game, for full price.
A wrestling game launching without a Cage match is insane. And the fact it never even got added is even madder. Even though I’m sure they said it would be at some point lol
Also not being able to get Metalingus for Copeland and Micky Rukusing his theme is crazy lol
Especially when blood and guts is a whole marquis match and show
You don’t even have match options like no ring out, submission only, ko… this is a complete joke
Looking back, it's mad that people were blindly claiming this was the best wrestling game since No Mercy because it wasn't a Fed game 😅😅
Aew fans keep sabotaging themselves
Even the Bucks and Omega were saying that. Lol. Not even close to WCW world tour. 😂
But there comparing to a game over 20 year old and isn't that great now
@@petesmart1983 If that were true, what about every game inbetween? They use No Mercy because they still perceive it to be the best
Not because it wasn't a WWE game, but because of the THQ/AKI 64 era animations and control scheme. That was definitely all it took to fool a lot of us.😒
Honestly if someone wants to play an AEW game, just play WWE2K and use the community creations to get the AEW wrestlers
Yeah, you can have more up to date AEW wrestlers, title belts and arenas on a WWE game, which says a lot 😅
Yup the only thing missing is entrance music- if you play on pc it solves that too.
Wwe 2k are shit
@@Drollpanther What does that make Fight Forever, nuclear waste?
2k plays like a fighting game not wrestling game
I knew the Creator Creator was gonna be a bit limited but boy I was not expecting it to be THAT limited. Street Fighter 6 of all games has a better character creation mode.
On release (idk if it updated, because I stopped playing soon after release) you couldn't even have BROWN as an eye color
I keep on waiting for that feature to get an update, such a weird oversight
Wrestling games on ps2 have more depth in their creation mode. What a joke
It was fun at the beginning because it was different. However, the lack of depth became evident very quickly.
The comparison between the game cost and the cost of PPV's is a point I never considered and wild to know once pointed out.
Its 1 ppv vs a game you can play infinite times
@@Drollpanther exactly and the fact that a PPV could arguably provide more value than an infinite game loop is wild
@@Blaze_XIII If someone bought this game and was not able to get more than 4 hours of fun out of it, or the same amount of time as a PPV, that player has to be doing something wrong. There is plenty wrong with the game, but I don't think anyone can say with a straight face they can't get like a week of fun out of it.
@@Drollpantheryou can play infinite times, but sadly only 7 guys can endure the loop
Tony Khan loves wrestling, starts a company and it’s mid on its best days.
The roster loves videos games, push for a video game and at its best it’s mid.
It’s a common trend with AEW.
Honestly, I think the game is less than mid. Plus the fact that you have to fork out 100 fooking dollars just to get the complete experience is insane
Just comparing the DLC costs to WWE2k, AEW prices a new wrestler around $5 each leading their Season Passes to be $20-$30 for each pass while only getting 3-6 wrestlers for each (and maps i guess, but that's wildly underwhelming). Meanwhile, WWE2k24 has one season pass for its whole release for $40 that gives me close to 20 new wrestlers over the year, each with an insanely specific move set, entrance, and new clothes and moves to use for Custom Creations. The value that 1 single wrestler brings to WWE2k is far greater than what you get per wrestler in AEW Fight Forever and it's far more affordable in the long run.
I enjoyed WWEs game more than AEW but after doing the my rise and mucking around with universe mode for 10-15 hours I don’t feel there’s much to do in either game.
It’s like comparing NES Super Mario brothers to Tears of the Kingdom, but ok.
C'mon, @@turtlehead2my man...give em at least Mario 64🤣 At least it's 3D, after all
@@micahnewby7964 I was comparing the depth of the two. Fight forever was a tribute to the old N64 game everyone loved. It’s pick up and mash buttons. WWW2k is supposed to be a more realistic wrestling game.
I blame the fickle fans who always need something to complain about. Same with AEW and WWE. AEW has the best matches but people complain about story because that’s what they’re used to and expect every promotion to follow the leader.
@@turtlehead2 fair. I was making a console generational graphics joke that therefore has NES Mario and N64 in _separate_ camps, though they are both "pick up and play" (and childhood favorites)
(Twinkly music over a screen fade out/fade in)
For several months I watched my older brother play Super Castlevania IV on the new SNES he had gotten the previous Christmas. Finally get a chance to try my hand. No witnesses (only reason I even had the chance) and waaaay too early to have a reasonable means of preserving it for posterity, but this is what happened: first life I die ridiculously early, like almost immediately in the first level (jumped into an enemy over a pit if I remember correctly). Second life? All the way to Dracula's second form, beating the game on third go
Never been able to do anything like it before or since. I mean, I'm decent at games. Needed passwords to be able to beat games, but I _earned_ those level skip passwords. Didn't look them up online like chest codes nowadays and couldn't get a Game Genie or Game Shark because I was sneaking playing time as it was🤣
Honestly, AEW's decision to build a game engine from ground up rather than using something like unreal done the game ... Most their budget went towards that and made it impossible to quickly update.... Whereas, unreal or unity would've allowed a quick use of pre-existing assets, so they could've focused more on actual gameplay
The developers used unreal 4 but they decided to make everything from the ground up.
Game would have sold better if it came with a free episode of the Big Bang Theory
I don't understand why Sheldon hasn't been added as a playable character. He's AEW's biggest draw.
@@anonymous_5016 that actually would have been a great idea
@@anonymous_5016His finisher should be called the Bazinga Buster.
😂
Nah, @@abdieljove2011. Surely it's the Bazinga Bomb. We all know what any move with the name "Buster" entails and we know dang good and well Sheldon Cooper isn't getting anywhere near that🤣
Kenny Omega not being happy with the game should have been a clear sign
Well, Kenny omega made the decision to go to the studio that's pretty much falling apart and has had no good games behind them since a decade if not more. He also hired a guy who had some creative input for nm 64 but he was absent he stopped doing games the past 20 years so their decisions were all over the place. Its fucking hilarious how they just didn't go with a respectable video game company give em 3 years and go with it,
@@nikoladzhurov1800Yuke's did Smackdown and the 2K games until 2015-2016. The advisor brought on by Omega was meant to evoke the N64 wrestling games he directed.
@@nikoladzhurov1800also Omega couldn’t decide whether they should remake No Mercy, Mario Party, or Fortnite, so decided to do all three and call it AEW. All while thinking a wrestling game doesn’t need a cage match. 😅
Should have had a cage match. That's a big oversight. Coffin match. Blood and guts match etc. Basically should have had more match types. The thing that scores big points with me about fight forever is its so easy to play. I'm not a great gamer so the fact that it was easy to remember the controls was a big win for me liking the game
They copied the season mode from Know Your Role. Why, on Earth, would you do that? The meaningless, unskippable cutscenes that took a long time to load were the cherry on top. Having the exact same result whether you choose yes or no to joining the Death Triangle sealed the deal for me. I played through the pile of shit ten times to level up some CAWs, and I regret every second of it. Save us, Ultra Pro Wrestling.
10:10 Through just Community Creations in WWE2k you can have more accurate AEW arenas with more accurate AEW rosters fighting for more accurate AEW belts than in the actual official AEW video game. You're likely to put on an a more faithful Forbidden Door ppv in WWE2k than you could in Fight Forever and that's exclusively due to the creation suite that 2k offers players.
On this note, I actually have a full AEW universe mode right now. I skip entrances since none of their music can make it into the game but it's not like that's too big a deal since AEW Fight Forever doesn't really have entrances with music anyways. And I *could* mod their music/entrance in if I desired, since some AEW superstars still have their old entrance animations in game listed as something like "Superstar 76".
A lot of companies need to follow Frontier’s example. For Planet Zoo, for instance, they release DLC every few months, it usually contains 7 or 8 new animals and a heap of building parts and is like £7.99. They also release a free base game update on the same day
Or follow Yacht Club Games or Team Cherry or Curve Digital and drop loads of DLC for free for people who already have the game. Just increase the overall price of the game
Honestly, the most disappointing thing about this game isn't comparing it to modern games: it's in comparison to older games. FF was clearly modeled after WWF No Mercy but from my experience playing No Mercy and Tom's wonderful retrospective, it's frankly appalling how much more content was in this nearly 25 year old game as opposed AEW FF (I mean, you can't even change roster members' attires to keep them up to date). I downloaded a bunch of AEW wrestlers into Fire Pro Wrestling World, and it's a much better AEW game than Fight Forever
I just said something similar to a friend: AEW: Fight Forever is a lot like No Mercy, but with less features. How? 😂
Worst preorder decision I’ve ever made. Tony is us all a refund. My dumbass bought the special edition thinking I was gonna get all the doc and it only included season one. What a joke
There’s no benefit of pre ordering. You could’ve save yourself money by watching a midnight release review. That’s how I ended up saving money. It just lacked so many things I had 20 years ago in wrestling game.
It feels like this game and the devs are stuck in the 90s. So much content and features are missing. Even a freaking wwe game from the ps2 era had more content than fight forever and it's not even funny.
Facts !! I can boot up shut your mouth and do so many things that you can’t do in FF.
I had such high hopes for the game, i always felt wrestling games should be so much better than they are.
You compared it to PS2 era games, but those games had much more to offer. Maybe if you meant Legends of Wrestling…
The CAW still had way more choice in Legends, though 😂
The best thing about the recent WWE games are that the created arenas and quality of the created wrestlers have gotten so good that you can download the whole AEW roster, and a realistic looking arena. Plus, they brought back the ramp camera so you can see the stage set while wrestling.
And PC fans have it the best with mods.
I fully expect a 'What Happened?" episode from @MattmcMuscles at some point
Stadium Stampede was a good idea, but having it online only made it really hard for me to get a feel for it. Just getting killed and having to wait for a new game.
The biggest thing that killed it for me in the game is that every match only seems to last about 5-6 minutes when I'm so used to wanting to play 20-30 minute long matches
The roster and dlc in this game is what kills it for me. Why do I have to pay for basic longtime roster members? Feels like a scheme to get money. Not into the arcade vibe either but that’s just a personal preference.
£30 For making blood pressure raise, shit story mode and gameplay so stupid it would make TNA impact video game look world class.
Really, for me, I like AEW - but for me to buy this game, they had to offer something different. Because if I wanted to just play wrestling matches, then I could just download AEW wrestlers into the WWE2K game.
When I saw promoted TH-camrs trying to be positive about the game at launch, my heart sunk. Because it was literally just clunky matches. The fact that it didn't have commentary was absolutely wild to me.
The only way I would have ever considered playing the game would be if it was free. Which coincidentally is the only way it would have been acceptable for them to charge so much for DLC.
The lack of commentary is actually a pro, instead of a con. You won't have to hear Jim Ross giving zero efforts in recording the commentary in every match you play.
I hope we see more content like this. I enjoy the news and top 10 lists but I really like seeing you guys sit down and talk about stuff like this other than the usual content only about the actual wrestling.
The OSW review of this game is hilarious to look back on. They were straight up shilling this shit game.
Yep, that review has not aged well 😂
That review aged as well as the guy who drank from the wrong grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
They even bought it up in their recent video and doubled down even more, sad behavior from their lot
@@sameoldsameold9239 no, they didn't enjoy it.
@@sameoldsameold9239enjoy a wrestling game with only 7 match types ? This is a joke right lol
If it only cost $29.99 at launch and didn’t get called the greatest game since no mercy it probably would be perceived better today
Also, just release big DLC packs with wrestlers like WWE does and stop spreading them out individually sometimes
The game tries to get you to part way with money that it’s not worth
I remember way back when AEW first announced they were making a game with Yukes, my immediate reaction was “The company’s barely a year old and doesn’t even have a house show circuit yet, this really shouldn’t be a priority.” AEW should’ve spent their first five years focused 100% on building the brand and fanbase through their main product, the wrestling itself. Instead they barreled headlong into making video games and action figures before they’d created a market for them.
Look at WWE, they can put out a lousy video game and 90% of the time it’ll still turn a profit because a segment of fans will buy it no matter what. Hell, people stuck with 2K20 for years just for the laughs even though it was damn near unplayable. AEW has no such fanbase, at least not one big enough to get away with putting out crap like Fight Forever.
But why put the cart before the horse like that? Probably a combination of factors, the biggest being ego. Tony Khan’s ego tells him “You can be the next Vince McMahon (or at least a more successful Eric Bischoff) if you just spend enough of your father’s money.” Kenny and the Bucks’ egos tell them “We’re huge stars who deserve our own video games and action figures right now.” Another factor is a clear lack of market research. AEW has always primarily courted the 18-35 age demographic, which means merch like toys and video games will have a smaller potential consumer base than similar WWE merch since they actively court younger fans. That’s why you can go into any Walmart or Target in the country and find the AEW toys practically untouched, nobody’s buying them for their kids. And with Fight Forever being a faithful throwback to wrestling games from 20+ years ago, it was a guarantee nobody but old farts like me and people into retro gaming would be interested.
It's still insane that in the time it took for this soulless void of a Game to come out, the 2k series died in the glitch induced fire that was 2k20, stayed dead for over an entire year, came back better than ever with 2k22, and had an arguably even better 2k23 after that.
Brilliant piece Fraser. Expertly explained. I got the game for free as part of my PsPlus subscription and even at zero cost, as a fan of AEW and having played wrestling games for years it just didn’t get me excited. It felt run of the mill, nothing to differentiate itself from any other fighting game, let alone the WWE 2K games. Of course it doesn’t help this game that the WWE games have taken a huge step up recently but that being said, the AEW game should stand on its own as a good game regardless of the competition and sadly, it doesn’t.
It's bizzare they've got so many mediocre minigames and no in depth create a wrestler/area.
Particularly when Kenny Omega is a gamer and was giving them advice.
It tells you he knew how bad the game is that he basically never played it on his streams 😂
AEW Stadium Stampede would do fantastic as a standalone Free To Play game, not as a new game mode buried in an underperforming title updated in months after release.
It could've swooped right in to fill the void that Rumbleverse just left wide open for them.
Not with that terrible, clunky, poor his detection gameplay. Its the worst battle royal I’ve ever seen and is not even close. It plays nothing like the base game which is completely dumb
Needed more time in oven. Gameplay is solid but lacking so many features. Legend of Wrestling has a better CAW mode ffs!
They had almost 4 years of development. Its just garbage 😅
Fight forever was doomed from the start. Bad controls, bad graphics, bad online, bad story mode. Never had a chance
Got it free last month with ps plus , played it for a few hours then deleted it game play and controls are absolutely awful
Came on PS Plus recently so have now platinumed it on PS4 and PS5 and while it's not outright terrible (imo) it is extremely average, with poor countering mechanics, dodgy AI, limited CAW and general lack of options.
Plus the prices they charged for all the individual DLC packs were outrageous.
I'm interested to know more about the development history of the game to know how things ended up the way they did. I look forward to an eventual Matt McMuscles 'What Happened' video on it, maybe even featuring some kind of collab with Cultaholic?
Is anyone else sick of the business models of modern gaming? You pay for a base game at launch then get nickel and dimed for the rest of the content that should have been in the game at launch for over 2 years?? Every wrestling/Fighting game these days is doing this and it sucks. Remember when you actually got full games at launch day 1?? No season passes no dlc no having to spend extra for content. Modern gaming sucks and these game developers get more and more greedy year after year.
This game gets boring after about 1 hour of gameplay. I went back to playing the WWE 2K series, I have all of them except 2K20.
Sad to say I gave up on fight forever a while ago, I’m just waiting for the sequel HOPING they learned from their mistakes and taken notes from the wwe games. Smackdown HCTP wasn’t perfect but it was good enough for us and it’s become nostalgia.
I think it was horribly unfair of Uno to compare Fight Forever to No Man’s Sky. Hello Games have never once charged anything for NMS updates/dlc, which is one of the primary reasons that game has gone on to be beloved, and inversely why nobody will ever care about Fight Forever.
Also, it’s such a joke that Omega et al were comparing Fight Forever to No Mercy, one of the most wonderfully content-rich games ever made. Give me a break- Fight Forever is just another lazy, unfinished, corporately-produced, micro transaction-fueled modern game trading on nostalgia for what’s come before it.
And still somehow the best wrestling game on switch
Promised us the next No Mercy. Couldn't have failed more spectacularly.
I'd say more they promised us WWE All-Stars and gave us ECW Hardcore Revolution.
@@destructionfun2😅😅😅 !!
I can agree. There is so much potential. I would like to see more on the creative parts too
I really was hoping as a fan of the current product that AEW would do a better job of updating wrestlers attires and current gimmicks. Something that WWE ignores till the next game comes out.
Ive only played stadium stampede within the first couple days of release. Then not even a week later ive NEVER been able to play that mode because all of a sudden there was like no one playing NOT EVEN A WEEK LATER. I really enjoyed playing that mode. For a mode with people complaining that there wasnt real people in the lobby you cant even play the mode against AI.
I never understood all the extra crap that was is the road to elite mode. The sightseeing, gym, and meals added nothing to the experience. The mini games were really confusing and impossible to control. And then the mode just ended out of almost nowhere.
Most of the mini games were basically RNG. Take Shuda's Slugfest. I played that half a dozen times and every time the CPU opponents got max scores but my CPU partner never once even hit the "ball", meaning I lost every time due to something I had no control over.
11:54 let’s be real more like GameCube cause PS2 wrestling games were beyond fire
Nah, GameCube was amazing with the wrestling games, maybe more like the original Xbox
@@yenkocamaro6965 I agree ! wm 19, dor 1+2 were all great alternatives to the smackdown series. Only wm 18 was disappointing
Day of Reckoning 1+2 on GameCube were some of my fav wrestling games, I'd even rate them over svr 04.
My 8 year old loves playing this. Mainly the casino battle royal and stadium stampede. She also loves creating wrestlers. Then I bought 2k24. Then she wondered why the AEW game didn't do any of that stuff. Now she only plays AEW once in a while to really figure out how to use the horse.
Fight Forever isn't a bad game but i can't say it's a good game, like it's the kind of game that you and your friends would pay for a while, have a few matches , check out a few mini games before swapping over the latest WWE game just due to how more fleshed out it is.
That's what AEW: FF is to me, the bones of a decent wrestling game that was just waiting to be fleshed out properly, instead it got low content DLC for high prices that did nothing to prolong the re-playability of the game itself.
Here is one of my biggest issues with AEW Fight Forever
Its the minigames. The moment i realised they were including minigames, i worried because my thought was "why are you wasting resources, time and money on a portion of the game people will legit only be playing once on a try?
Heres something people may not know. AEW Fight Forever DOES have a steel cage in the game but it is in a minigame.
And the fact they were including more in the dlcs were more of a headscratcher. If you are making a pro wrestling video game, focus on what match types you know Wrestling fans will be playing.
I also wish they made the stadium in Stadium Stampede match a full match map in the exhibition mode. But it will most likely not happen.
If your gonna make a Fight Forever 2, heres what i would want.
- More than just 4 people limit in a match
- Have more match types
- have more match types in 3 way matches
Have more matches in 4 way matches
- have more varieties in ladder matches (3 way, 4 way, 5 way & 6 way matches)
- make c.a.w mode more accessible and appealing for creators (or hell even make a offical list for CAW formulas i would much prefer that.)
- Have Cage Matches
- made a trios tag match
- have a Create a show mode
- have a Creation Community
- Get rid of the minigames
- for DLCs, include 5 max people per pack to make it more worth for players to buy packs and not just 1 character per pack.
They need to either put a visual indicator in for countering or else have an actual training option for it too so you can get the timing down
This is a great summation. I bought wwe no mercy day 1 and still enjoy booting up my n64. The hold and wait for discounts is the only way I'll interact with video games these days since to day 1 everything video games are well over $100 and still feel unfinished. I got this on launch but there isn't anything to keep my interest without spending a lot. Even just basic updating wrestler outfits or additional outfits.
now these are the kinda videos i can attach too, more of this please.
I had a "special patched version"... Played for maybe an hour, then uninstalled it, literally everything just felt meh.
AEW should make fight forever a free to play game.
They did
Only ps plus
I like to boot up Fight Forever from time to time for some quick matches, but lack of long time replay value is the worst part. And no communication from THQ/Yukes/AEW Games is just infuriating.
There is a light chance I am one of that 7..
My friend had the game on his PC,..was playing it earlier today
I could never bring myself to try the Stadium Stampede mode because I was (and still am) heartbroken over Rumbleverse closing down.
Connecting to it was a pain in the arse tbh, you didn't miss anything
I still playing Aew fight forever I mean it's not perfect but I love it
According to Dave Meltzer this is the greatest wrestling game ever and 💩💩 all over every WWE game ever created!
Can’t believe the first wrestling game that’s had own heart in since wwf attitude was this burning pile of horse shit
I got the platinum trophy. I didnt hate it. Roster was a problem for me. Big names missing, wrestlers who had left and dlc was a bit pricy for me.
Note: to get the platinum trophy you don't need to play road to elite 10 times. There is a glitch you can use.
@@AndyKazama2 even if you don't use the glitch though once you've gotten the other RTE trophies you can just quit each match and speed through to the end.
I got the trophy game, too. It was kind easy to get the platinum
Hopefully they can make another game someday that's more SvR than No Mercy.
I played a couple of matches on this game and then went NOPE! 3 years in development for an average game at best.
I found the game super fun at lauch. Now I can't bring my self to play it for more then 10 minutes
Glad I waited for $20 for the Ultimate Edition on the Steam sale. I think if they wanted to sell more copies on PC, they should have enabled modding. People would absolutely buy this if you could just slap in Batman and Joker character models.
Got it on Playstation Plus and after one match I couldn't take it anymore.
The best AEW game is in WWE 2K.
On 2k24 I have more of AEWs roster than AEWs own game.
And I’m sure they look better too
It fine game I played it for a month did everything I could on it and stop playing! I have not played it since December of 2023!
AEW paid a lot of money to former AKI staff leads to come out of retirement to supervise this game yet they failed to capture on what made Wrestlemania 2000 and WWE No Mercy accessible and most importantly, fun.
It’s like this with a good portion of games these days
They release only 30% of it and make you pay for the rest in dlcs
I do enjoy the gameplay overall but its just lacking modes and customization options to really keep you coming back. The game had potential but it feels like the devs focused on stuff that fans never wanted like Stadium Stampede instead of adding more match types and a GM mode.
As someone who doesn't really follow the AEW product and just rented this game through my local library, I'm glad I didn't pay money for this. It has so much potential to be good, but instead it feels like the company just shat it out and hoped that the diehard fanbase would be enough to keep it going. If they ever make another one, I really hope they learn from their mistakes, instead of taking more steps back and off a cliff.
It's weird how many people just wanted aew2k.
This is how everyone felt when they played ECW Hardcore Evolution back in the day.
AEW Games has to be a money laundering front
Fight Forever is basically Abandonware.
How so, they have been supporting the game with patches, modes, and DLC since it released. For over a year.
I played it for the first time last weekend as Xbox did a free play weekend for it.
I didn't hate the gameplay but yeah the DLC has been way too pricey (and sometimes really outdated in the case of Toni Storm for example). What makes the DLC more annoying is that the game teases you by showing you DLC wrestlers in the main menu. I even had Matt Hardy in the career mode even but couldn't use him because he's DLC.
Also unbelievable that you had to pay for simple game modes like a tournament and a gauntlet. They're already in WWE games while also having better graphics and loads more wrestlers.
They should have been free updates. Not the random youtubers i haven't heard of.
Good thing the folks at Hyper Focus Games are developing a game that's everything we wanted Fight Forever to be and more! Hope to see Ultra Pro Wrestling content on this channel soon!
That one's a definite PS5 purchase for me, been following it for what feels like years at this point
Great video fortunately I got AEW Fight Forever for free as part of PlayStations Monthly games
How do we not have a playable Tony Kahn... His finisher will be called the NDA
it was too arcady, matches always lasted like 2-3 minutes, a typical length of a match of the attitude era
I only knew of the game because I saw the PS5 cases at EB Games. I also can't play WWE 2k series for some unknown reason.
I wish this video was like five times as long
No one wants more live service games. We want games that are complete and when you progress you unlock more.
There are probably a lot of people who want more live service games. Not everyone wants the same things you (or I) want
I enjoyed the game at first and even tried to defend it but 2 months is all i lasted. The story mode was a masive disappointment and... They did really NOTHING to answer the genuine critisism people had, all they seemed to do was yet Yukes churn out over priced DLC, which for me I refused to touchj because they were all rip offs.
If they were faily priced then maybe but no at those prices they could keep them. And for a player that doesnt DO online competitive matyched and likes to create their own fun, this didnt even TRY and I was so disappointed.
Especially given how frustrating Ive found the WWE games this was supposed to ber what they were not in a good way but in the end it just felt like the team stopped trying
Thinking this game will get a sequel is optimistic at best
I don't get why people complain about this game so much. For what it was, and a first outing, it's pretty fun. I'm willing to bet most people don't play the game with friends, that's where it really shines.
Play with friends and do what ? It’s a 4 actual people you can only play 3 match types of the 7 😅😅 this game is trash. How do you make a wrestling game with minimal wrestling content ?
The game is ok can’t reverse for shit I’m taking it back to GameStop and get Gotham knights fuck this shit
The fact AEW is still advertising it to get people to buy it a year after it was released says it all
It was so hyped up because they used the vaunted AKI engine that was responsible for one of the top 2 wrestling games of all time, No Mercy. TNA Impact for the XBox 360 is a better game.