SNK Fighting Game Is a Blast
Fatal Fury is finally back. 26 years after the release of Garou: Mark of the Wolves, SNK’s fighting game franchise continues with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Moving the story forward from the last installment (meaning villain Geese Howard is still dead), it features mostly returning characters (Rock Howard, Terry Bogard, etc.) along with a handful of newcomers, which include some truly strange real-life figures (football star Cristiano Ronaldo, DJ Salvatore Ganacci). Thankfully, the wait was worth it as City of the Wolves is a blast to play and features a breadth of content and modes.
While the 3D models of characters aren’t as impressive as Garou’s gorgeous 2D sprites, fans of Mark of the Wolves will find a lot to like here. City of the Wolves builds off its gameplay by including revamped versions of the tactical offense position and just defense mechanics from the 1999 game. The most exciting new additions are related to the new “rev” system, which allows you to unleash enhanced versions of special moves and also chain them together, although if you spam them, your rev system is overheated and you lose access to them for a while. It’s a really intelligent system since it makes sure you aren’t abusing the enhanced specials, while also rewarding players who know when to use them strategically.
While the last paragraph might have sounded like nonsense if you’re not already familiar with Fatal Fury, the good news is that City of the Wolves is a good starting point. SNK has included a great number of modes, including an in-depth tutorial that walks you through every aspect, plus a ton of missions to teach players combos. It’s also easy to get to know characters and their pasts through the arcade mode, as each character has their own story with text-heavy scenes that add important context to the battles. Featuring solid netcode and plenty of ways to play online, it’s also easy to find players at your skill level so you can get better together over time (and you can even fight clones of real players offline if you’re nervous about fighting players off the bat).
While I spent most of my time going through the arcade mode with different characters, there are a lot of options here. My second favorite mode was the Episodes of South Town, which adds some RPG progression as you level up a character through an array of fights (sometimes even against super-powerful foes where the goal is simply to survive a time limit) and experience some fun yet largely forgettable storylines as well. It’s always nice to see modes that are outside the typical offerings, although your survival and time attack modes are here too. There’s also a shockingly in-depth color editor that allows you to customize all the characters’ looks (besides Ronaldo), plus a gallery and jukebox to check out. This is easily SNK’s most robust title to date, and the extra effort is very appreciated.
City of the Wolves features 17 playable characters in its base roster. While the vast majority are returning characters (only four are new), that doesn’t bother me. Seeing how long it’s been since we’ve had a Fatal Fury game, it’s great getting to see so many back since these iconic characters are why fighting game fans love the series in the first place (although Butt has been renamed Marco Rodrigues regrettably). Besides the two real-life cameos (which are bizarre inclusions but actually pretty fun to play as, so it could’ve been much worse), there are two original newcomers: a female muay thai fighter named Preecha, who stylishly unleashes the art of eight limbs, and an assassin named Vox Reaper, who is a high-damaging character that is really fun to play as if you have an aggressive play style.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Review: Final Verdict
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves doesn’t reinvent or subvert expectations, but it certainly lives up to them and is a worthy sequel to Garou. Seeing the returning cast of characters and mechanics is a joy for old-school fighting game fans, while the fleshed-out tutorial makes it accessible for newcomers. It’s mostly a wonderful blend of old and new, with some extremely odd real-life guest characters thrown in for extra measure.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
Disclosure: The publisher provided a digital PS5 copy for our Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves review. Reviewed on version 1.000.002.
