After Project Justice, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Soulcalibur and so on, Garou: Mark of the Wolves wasn’t just a palette cleanser – it was a paradigm shift. The 2D sprite-based characters and backgrounds looked absolutely stunning, but they belie a complex fighting system that went beyond simply learning combos or breaking out Special Moves. The T.O.P. Gauge introduced a new layer of strategy; Just Defend rewarded patience and playing mind games with your opponent; and, best of all, the cast felt balanced from top to bottom.
When it seemed like a sequel was impossible, SNK finally delivered with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. It’s been a long time coming and in many ways, the cult classic’s formula may seem unrecognizable between the fully 3D visuals and the new REV system. However, there’s more than a semblance to hook hardcore fans, even if the overall package could use some work.
“On top of the already impressive 3D models, SNK added this subtle layer of shading, which feeds into the overall bombastic yet clean effects. All the classic fighters, be it Rock, Terry, Gato or Kain (who’s playable for the first time), also feel great to control.”
Story-wise, City of the Wolves returns to South Town with a mysterious entity opening up the King of Fighters tournament. Everyone has their own plotlines, unfolding in the new Episodes of South Town mode. Terry Bogard is investigating rumors of Geese Howard’s ghost; Rock Howard, now under the tutelage of Kain R. Heinlein, his uncle, is fighting to save his mother; and so on. Like Street Fighter 6’s World Tour mode, you’ll explore multiple cities and battle opponents to level up, increasing your max health and damage in the process.
Progressing further will also unlock the T.O.P. Gauge, now known as the S.P.G. Gauge and various skills that can be equipped to improve your character, like health boosts, attack boosts, and whatnot. The streamlined nature of it all works well, and the AI more than puts up a fight (more on this in a bit), but the overall presentation leaves something to be desired. I’m not asking to be able to explore South Town in a third-person perspective – though it would have been nice – but something more than the unremarkable flat maps and dull dialogue boxes would have been nice.
Add a greater variety of opponents as well. At times, it felt like I was fighting the same three NPCs between the major storyline battles. At least the latter can be challenging, and some surprising fighters add to the hype.
The characters themselves also look phenomenal. On top of the already impressive 3D models, SNK added this subtle layer of shading, which feeds into the overall bombastic yet clean effects. All the classic fighters, be it Rock, Terry, Gato or Kain (who’s playable for the first time), also feel great to control. I especially enjoyed playing with Preecha, one of the newcomers, and the aggressiveness of her close-quarters Muay Thai (though the anti-air could use some work).
The environments are rife with details and well-animated, though I’m not too sure about the two-lines stages. Yes, it was a mode in Real Bout Fatal Fury 2: The Newcomers, but swapping between the foreground and background of a stage to fight feels odd. It’s not a core focus, thankfully serving as more of a side distraction than anything else.
“Unfortunately, issues with player input reading still seem to be present from the beta, resulting in some inputs either not executing or different moves occurring.”
Aside from Episodes of South Town, there’s Arcade Mode and Missions for single-player. The former is your standard battling through eight opponents to reign supreme, punctuated with cutscenes featuring comic book-style panels. Unfortunately, a lot of the enthusiasm is dulled by how aggressive the input reading can feel by the AI. It feels like nearly every move is blocked and countered from the second they’re, especially from Stage 3 onwards. This is also present in EOST mode to some degree but it feels all the worse in Arcade Mode.
Of course, the biggest question is how the actual fighting feels. For some moves, it felt like coming home, with so many familiar moves carrying over and looking excellent in the process. But it’s not about Just Defend, Counters and the S.P.G. – the REV system adds another tactical layer to everything.
When S.P.G. is active, it can be used for REV Blows, shrugging aside incoming attacks to deliver hard-hitting blows (on top of providing access to the devastating Hidden Gear when you have two Super bar gauges). You can also chain together REV Arts – stronger versions of regular Special Moves – using REV Accel or negate chip damage from special moves with REV Guard (if you’re not confident in Just Defending it). The downside is that all these REV moves will cause the REV Gauge to overheat, allowing opponents to break through your guard until it cools down.
Just Defends and the new Hyper Defends further help with cooldowns and reinforce Garou’s strong defensive fundamentals. The fact that you can Guard Cancel out into other moves thus keeping up the attack, combined with the ability to brake special moves, adds layers of strategy, especially with how you position the S.P.G. Gauge. Choosing between a powerful start or an end-of-round comeback (or something in between) is a given. However, working out when to use your REV Arts and REV Accel, baiting your opponent and exploiting their tendencies, also makes for some compelling battles.
It’s a fairly high skill ceiling, but it’s fun to engage with, especially when everything clicks. Unfortunately, issues with player input reading still seem to be present from the beta, resulting in some inputs either not executing or different moves occurring. Though it’s not egregious, there are definitely circumstances where it pops up, and it feels incredibly awkward.
“The characters and fighting system make the experience, and though several fundamental issues must be ironed out, it offers a solid gameplay loop with plenty of depth, especially given how nuanced and distinct the roster is.”
Though I couldn’t go as in-depth into online play as I would have liked, the few matches I had boasted solid netcode, even at 150 to 180 ms latency. Matchmaking also felt pretty quick, especially given the limited number of people playing before launch. However, as always, it’s best to wait until launch to see how things perform. The UI also leaves something to be desired, between the small text and iffy navigation.
Despite these rough edges and the rudimentary, though not spectacular, Story Mode, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is worth checking out, especially if you’re burned out on Street Fighter 6 and want to avoid anything to do with Tekken 8. The characters and fighting system make the experience, and though several fundamental issues must be ironed out, it offers a solid gameplay loop with plenty of depth, especially given how nuanced and distinct the roster is. It’s bittersweet in a sense – to see all these once-newcomers becoming established fighters in the series, yet still feeling so inherently familiar.
Some part of me pines for the good ol’ days of the sprite-based visuals and old-school vibe, but as it stands, City of the Wolves is a strong continuation of the franchise that will hopefully grow into its own with more support and polish.
This game was reviewed on PS5.
