Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves

This long-awaited sequel is like the age-worn fighting champ coming out of retirement.

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Twenty-five years in the making, it marks SNK's return to Fatal Fury after 1999's acclaimed Garou: Mark Of The Wolves, bringing with it a legacy that mounts expectation. Stepping into the ring today, it's squaring up against a new, golden generation of combatants with all manner of fresh tricks and techniques.

One thing's for sure, it certainly looks in good shape. This is far and away the smartest-looking fighting game SNK has turned out since The King Of Fighters XIII. Steering away from realism and centring on a comic-inspired art style works wonders - not least when it comes to the showstopping flourishes of each character's cinematic Hidden Gear super attacks, which have SNK's animators firing on all cylinders.

As for the battle system around those flair-laden moves, it's full of crunchy hitstop and counter-hit reactions, a melting pot of ideas from fighting games past and present. Whether you choose the classic four-button Arcade style or the simplified Smart style, you have plenty of tools at your disposal. As in Mark Of The Wolves, you can feint special moves to mix up a rival as well as 'brake', cancelling animations halfway through to create unique combo and pressure opportunities.

Alongside both light and heavy variants of super moves, the TOP system has evolved into the SPG system, letting you define a portion of your health bar pre-fight where your Hidden Gear and REV Blow will become active.