10 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW: Fight Forever - REVIEW
3. Limited Match Types
While AEW: Fight Forever is fun to play, it's hard to argue that its match types aren't extremely limited.
Of course, the Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match is something that grabs the attention, but that can't distract from the bare-bones nature of the types of bouts on offer here.
There's a Ladder Match option, with the ladder itself being easy to use and the mechanic of reaching up for the casino chip a really fluid one. That contest, much like the Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match, is only available as a one-on-one battle.
In terms of the other match types, there's a standard singles bout, there's a three-way singles, a four-way singles, a standard tag team match, and the Casino Battle Royale. Oh, and your standard singles match can be turned into a Lights Out affair or a Falls Count Anywhere battle.
Where the Casino Battle Royale is concerned, that's a real disappointment.
In real life, AEW's Casino Battle Royale concept features 21 wrestlers, split into four groups of five and one Joker. With the intention to be the last person standing in an over-the-top extravaganza, the match starts with a first group of five, then another five are added every three minutes, until the Joker enters last.
Unfortunately, the Casino Battle Royale on Fight Forever is only a Casino Battle Royale in name. The bout starts with four wrestlers... then a new wrestler can only enter when somebody has been eliminated. Yes, the Casino Battle Royale will only feature a maximum of four wrestlers at any one time.
For whatever reason, Fight Forever can never have more than four wrestlers - and a referee - in the ring at once; at least in offline play. Considering 2000's god-awful Royal Rumble on Dreamcast - another game developed by Yuke's - allowed for eight wrestlers in the ring, it's crazy to see Fight Forever's in-ring limit here in 2023.