Fire Pro Wrestling

"This or the PSX wrestling games? No contest."

Finally the excellent wrestling game series gets ported over to the rest of the world, and this game is just like the rest of the series - it doesn't disappoint. If you are one of those people who think Smackdown 2 is the best wrestling game, prepare to eat your words when you play this game.

Gameplay
Wow, where do I begin?
The single player experience is incredible. The matches last very long, and do not end with the performance of a finisher. There are over 150 wrestlers in the game, each with a different moveset, costume and computer AI. In matches, you can't perform more powerful moves at the beginning of the match, you have to wear the opponent down. Also, there is a breathe button ( Left shoulder button), which you have to use. You should breathe after you perform a move, or eventually your wrestler gets tired. You grapple immediately when the wrestlers go close to each other, and you have to press the button to do the move exactly when their arms lock. You need timing to get it right, and that really really makes this game great.The moves look great, similar to their real life counterparts, so do the wrestlers. The control is incredible, there are little buttons, but whenever you press them the wrestler does the move or command immediately. The create-a-wrestler feature is the best in all wrestling games, including the Playstation and N64 games. You can create 70+ characters. There are so many moves, you can't even count them, and the skill points are distributed so that each wrestler is almost the same as his real life counterpart.
Now, the modes. There are a vareity of modes to play with, the best one being the audience mode. You have to choose a style of wrestling, such as Lucha Libre (mexican high-flying), Hardcore, and Strong (Misawa,Kawada, Kobashi). After the matches, the game will give you a rating of how you did in the match, e.g., if you're playing Hardcore, and you use a lot of sickle and fork attacks, and you go out of the ring often, you will get 90+%. There is a Tournament mode, similar to the WWF's King of the Ring. Now for the types of matches. There are not many, but each one is uniquely different.
American - Like the WWF, once you do a finisher, match is over.
Death Match - There is an explosive, electrified cage, which will detonate after a while.
Gruesome - The whole GBC UFC game in 1, you fight in a Octagon, and can only win by making the opponent tap out.
Also mentionable are the referees. There are 4 referees, and each one is different, in that they count faster, count slower etc.

Graphics
The worst aspect of the game, the characters are small, but they are distinguishable. The crowds are flat, and the graphics look like a NES 8-bit game, but a better 8-bit game.

Sound
There are several tunes which you can select in which to listen to in the match, and the wrestlers groan in pain when you apply submissions. The crowd also cheers, and boos, according to whos in the ring, and whats happening in the ring.

Overall
I would reccomend this game to ANY wrestling fan, as it simply is one, if not the, best wrestling games today.

Gameplay 10
Graphics 7
Sound 8
Control 9
Replay Value 9
Final Score 10+7+8+9+9 divide by 5 = 8.6
8.6 rounds off to 9.
Final Score (rounded off) : 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/01, Updated 10/14/02