I have always loved the feeling of going to the arcade and playing the local fighting game they are offering. Whether it’s Street Fighter, or Mortal Kombat I would always play for hours trying my best to pull off a special move. One franchise I never got a chance to try was Fatal Fury, and I was definitely missing out. Fatal Fury: City of The Wolves, is the long awaited instalment in the franchise that fans have been waiting for. This game brings back the classic feel of the arcade while bringing it to modern day.

Like all fighting games, I recommend going through the tutorial to learn how this game works. This game includes many new and confusing mechanics that do take a bit to get used to, but in the end it adds to the fun. This game also has two different control schemes. You can use a classic style, which allows you to play like you’re at an arcade cabinet. You will have light and heavy attacks, and you would have to rotate the control stick to use certain special moves. Or if you want to simplify the game play you can use the simple control scheme. This control scheme makes the combat easier by making all actions one button and special moves are used by just pressing a combination of two buttons.

During a match you will notice a huge gauge on the screen, this is the REV gauge which is a major mechanic in this game. When you use your moves, you can add more power to it using the REV meter, but this has a drawback. If the meter fills up completely, you will enter an overheated stage, which means you won’t be able to use REV moves and will be at a disadvantage for a short time. This adds a risk/reward to the matches. You now have to choose whether you should go all out or hold off and play it safe. I’ve always loved when games do these kinds of things, as it makes matches more interesting. This game has a great balance of offensive and defensive options. For every REV attack there’s a defensive move, or you can just use your own REV move. There is no end to your options in battle, so go all out

The art style is amazing and reminds me of a comic book. Every time you use a REV move the particle effects feel straight out of a modern comic book. This helps me feel nostalgic about the times I used to read comic books and I’d get excited to see how the fight scenes play out. I feel like I’m in an actual comic book fighting during the matches with someone else. The game however is very difficult, it’s easy to play, hard to master. Even when I was playing practice matches, it took me a long time before I could even win one match.

This game has a roster of 17 strong fighters, each of which is a mechanically diverse cast that shows off the original roster, along with four newcomers. Two of those newcomers, Preecha and Vox Reaper, are excellent without any caveats. Preecha is easy to play, with flashy and satisfying combos and a well-rounded skill set; while Vox Reaper is just rushdown personified. He’s one of the few characters on the roster without a projectile, but his lightning fast speed, tricky divekicks, and neutral skipping dashing attacks more than makes up for it.

The game’s single player mode is exactly what you would expect. You play an arcade mode, where you go through a gauntlet of fighters in order to win. However the second single player mode is where things are interesting. Episodes of South Town is the second single player mode that is offered. This mode is a RPG-inspired mode that lets you play through a more substantial version of a character’s story by selecting battles on a map screen. You’ll gain experience with each battle and level up becoming stronger, increasing your stats and giving you access to new skills and abilities. It’s a solid diversion that adds some very nice and welcome light progression and RPG elements while also giving each character’s story a more satisfying beginning, middle, and end than what Arcade modes usually offer.

In conclusion, Fatal Fury: City of Wolves is a great addition to any fighting game fans’ collection. With controls that cater to excerpt or beginner players, great art style and interesting game modes, makes it an experience I recommend people to try.

Score: 8 out of 10

Reviewed on PlayStation 5