Review by Clark A.
MonkeyPaw’s Japanese import titles have varied in terms of accessibility for non-native speakers. With that said being a retro run n’ gun shooter, Wolf Fang does a bang-up job of being fully playable. Unfortunately, the problem lies more in the game itself than the language barrier. Wolf Fang is the sort of shooter that’s ambitious and original but squanders its immense potential through key design misfires.
This is especially disheartening during the rare moments Wolf Fang feels like it’s on the cusp of being outstanding. While there is some dialogue sprinkled in during and after missions, it’s fairly rudimentary and functionally closer to window dressing, leaving the action to do the talking. The emphasis is on piloting a huge sword-wielding, laser-firing robot through swarms of various other machines.
It’s just a shame that the actual gameplay won’t be memorable enough for most to justify experimenting with all the parts. Wolf Fang’s struggles lie in not in the sheer quantity of mechanical adversaries or their barrages of bullets – I embrace such ordeals – but in the generally poor manoeuvrability of the mechs. The developers’ tendency to sprinkle onslaughts of forces on both sides of the screen at unpredictable moments doesn’t help matters either, since the game’s controls and limitations seem to undermine any of the power-ups or weapons placed to alleviate this. 
Just about every game has its design blemishes in some form, but when Wolf Fang’s twenty minute ride is over, these blotches define the experience almost as much as the spectacular customisation concept. I don’t expect a three hour spectacle of a retro shooter, especially not for a home console port of an arcade game, but nearly every level ends before hitting its stride.
Technical Editor
