Rock you! C’mon, Get Serious!
HIGH B. Jenet is back, and I will be taking no further questions on this matter.
LOW Ronaldo looks extremely out of place in this lineup.
WTF My newfound paranoia about getting punched in the face whenever people ask if I’m okay.
Ah, who doesn’t remember Garou: Mark of the Wolves?
SNK’s time skip of the Fatal Fury storyline was a firm favorite amongst fighting game fans with a bold new character roster, comparatively approachable combat system compared to their King of Fighters games, and truly slick animation for 2D fans to drool over. Feels like it came out only yesterday, doesn’t it?
Sorry, granddad. It actually came out more than two and a half decades ago. Oh dear.
As in most fighters, the narrative setup isn’t that important. Main characters Rock Howard and Terry Bogard make their triumphant return, along with many of the original cast. B. Jenet is back and looks absolutely fabulous, Gato’s still a bone-crushing reclusive edgelord, Hokutomaru’s grown up to the point he doesn’t look like a literal child anymore and… man, it’s good to see them back in action in a modern fighter.
On top of that, some Fatal Fury favorites from earlier titles have joined the roster, including Mai Shiranui and Billy Kane, and most of the new character designs do a good job of measuring up to the old crew. Preecha, Joe Higashi’s bookworm student, is one such addition with her mastery of Muay Thai and impressive kick combos. There’s also the addition of Cristiano Ronaldo, who looks completely out of place here thanks to an odd lack of expression and his soccer-oriented playstyle.
Then there’s Salvatore Ganucci, apparently a popular real life DJ who comes across as a far more worthwhile addition. He’s got a bizarre fighting style that hits surprisingly hard, and his inherent weirdness honestly won me over — one super involving punching his opponent to the beat while looking straight into the player’s eyes being a personal highlight.
On top of this, expect an appearance from Capcom’s Ken Masters and Chun Li in the first season pass — which is thoughtfully being offered to every player who buys the game. Expect more fan faves to come down the DLC pipeline as time goes on.
As far as modes go, there’s the traditional assortment of offerings for single and multiplayer shenanigans. Episodes of South Town is a story-based RPG-lite offering where each character has their own tale to fight through, levelling up as they go while earning new skills to help them progress. It’s a neat little extra.
Then there’s the more traditional arcade, versus and online modes. Nothing earth-shatteringly new, but well-considered and with various customization options available, such as setting up favorite music tracks to play on certain stages.
Mark of the Wolves was well known for trying new things with its fighting system, and City of the Wolves is no different. It makes some bold moves within the genre, along with a new combo system that heavily encourages cancelling EX Special moves into one another to slam out terrifying amounts of damage. Newcomers and beginners may be nonplussed by this almost-mandatory requirement if they want to be competitive, but it does make for some intense bouts.
One of the other big new tweaks is known as the ‘Rev Gauge’. This starts out empty at the start of each round, but can ramp up towards triggering an overheated status if players aren’t careful with stuff like chaining their EX attacks or using the Rev Guard. During this period they can no longer use many of their best tools or combos and become susceptible to being guard crushed if they attempt to block a sustained counterattack. This status also takes bloody ages to reset itself naturally.
There’s another unique hook called the SPG gauge, and it attaches itself to a third of each player’s health bar. Players choose whether to have it active when their health is good, somewhere in the middle, or right when they’re in danger of getting their ass knocked out. Either way, when it’s available players can slam out crushing attacks that power through enemy hits, as well as allow them to use their most damaging super attack, the Ignition Gear, which has the additional benefit of completely refreshing the player’s Rev gauge when it lands.
These mechanics may all have crazy names, but they tend to have some crazy effects, so it balances out. There’s also the return of Just Defense, where blocking at the exact moment a hit lands returns some health. Feints and Breaking allow for fake outs and quick recoveries, as well as some unorthodox move linking potential.
City of the Wolves is quite a mechanically deep game, and to my eyes, has an incredibly well considered fighting experience powering it. Such depth will require practice, which means that casual players might have a hard time jumping on for fifteen minutes a day. Basic, simple combos aren’t going to cut it against some of the insanely-lengthy murder chains that even intermediate players can whip out. The difference in damage is just too extreme, and the optional Smart Combo mode for beginners is more of a learning tool than a serious way to play.
On the flip side, it’s absolutely worth putting the time in. The online matches have been far more satisfying for me than the absurdly aggressive nature of recent fighters likes Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8. Maybe that will change as time goes on and people start learning how to clean house with their given characters, but right now? It feels bloody excellent against similarly-skilled opponents. Even when I got my head smashed in, only Kain’s zoning nonsense ever came close to tilting me.
Part of this success is that all my matches have felt super-smooth with great rollback, and players typically get hooked up with one another at a fairly rapid clip. I rarely have time to bust out more than a few decent combos in training mode before a challenge comes in, and this is exactly what I want from an online cross platform experience. Minimal fuss, quick matchmaking and smooth online performance has been the order of the day so far.
Graphically, City of the Wolves is… fine. It’s an obvious step up from the most recent 3D King of Fighters entries with a stylized comic book aesthetic and clean lines, but it’s certainly not on the level of something like Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear -Strive– or Tekken 8‘s overload of sheer style and visual opulence. It looks decent, and that’s about it.
It’s maybe no surprise by this point, but I moderately adore City of the Wolves. I played it for many, many hours straight during one particular online session, and when my age-ravaged thumb began to tire and chafe from constantly throwing out special moves and supers, I rubbed life back into it, chewed it like a dog (don’t ask) and kept on going until I was forced to finally take a break because I could no longer control the game to a reasonable standard. Even then, all I wanted to do was keep on slamming out Power Geysers.
That’s the sign of a damn good fighting game right there, I feel. Roll on Blue Mary’s inevitable comeback, my friends. We’ve got some arms to break.
Rating: 8 out of 10.
Disclosures: This game is developed and published by SNK Corporation. It is currently available on XBX/S, PS4/PS5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX and PC. Approximately 7 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed with multiple characters. 18 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Language, Suggestive Themes and Violence. The official description reads: This is a fighting game in which players can select from a large group of characters to engage in contests of strength. Fighters punch and kick each other as they attempt to drain opponents’ health bars; special moves feature flurries of kicking or large bursts of fire. Fights are highlighted by impact sounds, cries of pain, and screen-shaking effects. Several female characters are designed with jiggling breasts and/or revealing outfits (e.g., deep cleavage). The word “sh*t” appears in the game.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Audio cues do not play a significant role. This game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
The chance discovery of a muddy, burnt out copy of '50 Shades of Grey' in a hunting pit gave him an appreciation for complex plots, characters and overarching narrative, and the unexpected gift of a Spectrum 48k allowed him to indulge in these newfound sensibilities with intelligent, highbrow games such as 'flee from the badly animated spinning turquoise dolphins' or 'avoid the deadly glowing bricks of doom'.
The fusion of both these interests finally culminated with Darren teaching himself how to write by basically guessing at what words might look like when jotted down on paper as opposed to being howled inarticulately at the skies.
Now others occasionally get to read his scribblings. Lucky them.
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