Game Review: 'Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves'
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is SNK's newest fighting game, developed by KOF Studio. It is the latest entry, 26 years after the release of Garou: Mark of the Wolves on the Neo Geo Arcade System in 1999, and is the seventh title in the Fatal Fury series.
The game takes place one year after the events of the King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem tournament.
Updated Gameplay Mechanics, Callbacks from Past Fatal Fury Games
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has similar gameplay to its 1999 predecessor. One of the mechanics from Garou: Mark of the Wolves that was retained in the sequel is the S.P.G., or Selective Potential Gear system, formerly known T.O.P. (Tactical Offensive Position) system. Another is the four-button system, a staple in most SNK fighting games, keeping things simple and old-school.
Players can now choose between two control schemes: "Arcade Style," which caters to those who have played SNK fighting games through the years, while the "Smart Style" is suited for beginners and allows them to perform special moves and combos.
Another feature added to City of the Wolves is the two-lane system, a nod to past Fatal Fury games. The game now has a mechanic called "Just Defense," which is a variation of "Hyper Defense" designed to guard against attacks with multiple hits. Additionally, players can fill the "Gear" meter(s) using basic and special moves. Once filled up, players can perform "Gear" super attacks.
One Gear bar filled can have players perform an Ignition Gear attack, while both meters can unleash a more powerful Redline Gear attack. Once a player has two bars filled up, along with an active S.P.G., the Hidden Gear can be activated to perform the most powerful super attack.
City of the Wolves introduced a new mechanic dubbed the "Rev System," which allows players to execute "Rev abilities", including "Rev Arts", "Rev Blow", "Rev Accel", and "Rev Guard". Performing Rev abilities can fill up a character's "Rev Gauge".
Aside from the Arcade Mode, the City of the Wolves now has an in-game feature called "Episodes of South Town," a single-player mode with RPG mechanics that lets players select mission challenges to earn additional skills and points for their preferred character. This mode can also unlock new outfits, patterns, and colors for character customizations in the "Color Edit" mode.
Another cool feature of City of the Wolves is the in-game jukebox, which lets players listen to music from the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting series. The game also has cross-platform play, online multiplayer mode, and rollback netcode.
Comic Book Style Visuals, Banger Soundtrack, and Optimization
City of the Wolves uses the same graphics engine as King of Fighters XV, an SNK fighting game also developed by KOF Studio. It also boasts a brighter, more polished version of its comic book-style visuals compared to King of Fighters XV. Everything was on point, including the detailed backgrounds of each stage in the game.
Aside from letting players listen to music from the Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting games during battles, the game's soundtrack is an absolute banger. Tracks from renowned artists and DJs like Steve Aoki, Afro Jack, and Salvator Ganacci, who's also a playable guest character in the game, made the game even more special.
KOF Studio did an amazing job optimizing City of the Wolves on the PlayStation 4. The game runs very smoothly on the console. It's great that a 12-year-old console like the PlayStation 4 is getting continued support from SNK.
Stacked Roster of Past and New Characters
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves' stacked base roster has seventeen characters, including appearances of renowned pro footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and DJ Salvatore Ganacci as playable in-game guest characters. Aside from Rock Howard and Terry Bogard, most of the characters from Mark of the Wolves are back in the game, like B. Jenet, Gato, Hokutomaru, Hotaru Futaba, Marco Rodrigues, Kim Dong Hwan, and Tizoc.
Also included in the base roster are characters from the Fatal Fury games, such as Mai Shiranui and Billy Kane. Andy Bogard has already been released as part of the game's Season 1 pass DLC characters. The rest of the DLC characters, including Ken Masters and Chun-Li from Street Fighter 6, Joe Higashi and Mr. Big from the Fatal Fury series, will be released at a later date.
Verdict
It took 26 years for SNK to finally produce and release a sequel to Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and it was definitely worth the wait. It was a superb idea for KOF Studio to use the same 2.5D graphics engine as King of Fighters XV and improve it on Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. The visuals alone are a welcome change in the game.
SNK indeed took some cues from the 1999 game and added new features and innovations to City of the Wolves. The way this game was marketed really got fighting game fans excited, and SNK absolutely delivered. Indeed, having footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and DJ Salvatore Ganacci as playable guest characters in City of the Wolves is a bold move from SNK, but it was well received by fans of the game.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is not just for veteran players, but beginners can have fun and enjoy this game as well. However, adjusting the difficulty setting is missing in the game, especially in the Arcade Mode.
Overall, it's absolutely one of the best fighting games in 2025. And yes, SNK is definitely back!
Noob Geek rating: 8.5/10
(Note: Review code provided by SNK Asia)
