After 26 years, Fatal Fury is finally back—and City of the Wolves hits! It makes a bold return with deep story content, solid offline/online modes, and ambitious mechanics. While I'm not a fan of how SNK implemented the Smart Style control scheme, and the online experience has some issues, this is undoubtedly SNK’s strongest modern fighter yet!
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves manages to live up to the expectations that were generated since its announcement. The gameplay is technical and dynamic, with a good balance between offensive and defensive resources, without creating unfair situations and rewarding those who can read their opponents better. The main game mode can be a bit slow, but that doesn't take away from the brilliance of the return of SNK's wolves.
Solid fighter that ties up a lot of loose ends for Fatal Fury. Has a great RPG mode with unique stories, all of which are separate from the arcade. Color Edit is also fun. If you like SNK and Fatal Fury this is for you. If you are not into the SNK world this game may be confusing. The match making is cross play and have only had a couple of issues. The menus are confusing.
Before I start my review, it's fair to mention that this is SNK's best modern title to date. SNK struggled to find their footing in 3D With King of Fighters XIV, only to wow us with Samurai Shodown (2019), and to get us Excited with King of Fighters XV. All three of these games unfortunately had a fatal flaw. King of Fighters XIV had graphics fit for a Playstation 2, Samurai Shodown (2019) took two years to come to PC with no rollback netcode until when the game was dead, and King of Fighters XV, Despite having rollback netcode and decent content, the matchmaking notoriously was broken for almost a year and a half, and only fixed with the Cross-Play Update. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves does not suffer the same pitfalls as it's predecessors in this aspect.
This fighting game offers deep, satisfying combat with a fresh REV system adding strategic depth, and a diverse roster of distinct characters, although its mode selection feels limited and its story mode somewhat uninspired; nevertheless, it shines online with smooth netcode and impresses visually with a unique cel-shaded art style and strong animations.
After two and a half decades, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a welcome return to SNK's ranks. Accessible enough for beginners, yet hard to master for fans, there's an even playing field for all. The narrative may be lost on some, but with enough characters to master it's a blast for the fighting game community.
The fighting game community is currently plagued by a problem: the game mechanics are being softened to appeal to casual players. But neither pros nor casuals want that. The latter would be more than happy with more solo game modes. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves doesn't offer these in a satisfactory form, but that aside, it feels like an alternative at this point. It is a challenging option that will delight hardcore fans in particular with its high learning curve and in-depth game mechanics. Despite audiovisual restraint and uninspired solo content, the pugilist impresses with great playability and tactical variety. A bold game that deliberately goes against current trends in the genre.
Although City of the Wolves falls short of delivering the impactful finale one might expect from its story, it wins hearts with the quality of its combat engine and the way it embraces its own legacy. If only there weren’t that ridiculous Ronaldo and Ganacci nonsense.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves struggles not only to understand what it wants to be, but which audience it wants to be for. While the game can be a sweat-inducing treat at its highest level of play, casual gamers might not get a lot out of it and the bevy of distracting guest characters and stage song composers in the game make it hard to see the title for its own merits.
Meh. SNK is far from the powerhouse it used to be, it's outclassed by Capcom in every respect, which was far from being the case 20 years ago. The new Fatal Fury manages to look worse than Garou from 20 years ago, and while the gameplay brings minor improvements, the novelty wears off fast. Add to that the mindboggling decision of including Ronaldo, which looks and plays like he's from a different movie altogether (because he is), and you get another 7/10 forgettable fighting game. The only reason you can play this is that there are not a lot of options in this niche. But it's nothing to write home about.
The game is good overall for fighting game fans but it has almost 0 casual appeal. The game is very over priced for the barebones launch we see here. Its just play ranked all day. Although the gameplay is pretty good and well balanced. Another positive is that all the future DLC is going to be free( which is a first in the fighting game genre). Overall I think this game is good to get on a sale but if you don't want to grind this game then there is little appeal to you. Its a good fighting game but pales in comparison to street fighter 6
Frankly, the long wait between Garou and City of the Wolves wasn't worth it if this was the final result. My first major issue is the lack of content in this game, especially compared to Street Fighter 6. You have just the standard modes, and that's it. My next major issue is the insulting roster. Why the heck are Joe and Andy DLC when Salvatore Ganacci and Christiano Ronaldo are in there instead? My final gripe is the poor internet play. Online play is atrocious. It's fine if you play single player, but I'd be lying if I said this game worth playing at this moment in time.
There are few characters and two unnecessary guest **** difficulty settings are not remembered, so it's a pain to have to choose them every time. The default CPU is too strong. The final boss isn't a new character, so it's boring.