Fire Pro Wrestling 2
Reviewed by JPeeples
Fire Pro Wrestling 2 has hit North America, and
wrestling fans will never be the same again. This new
release marks the first time that two Firepro games
have been released in the U.S., in succession, and it
also marks the first time major differences between
the JPN and U.S. version of a Firepro game. FPW 2 was
developed by Spike, and was translated and
distributed by Bay Area Media (or BAM for short.) The
Firepro series has always been held in high regard by
wrestling fans for over a decade due to its versatile
game engine that allows you to have wrestling matches
with the flow of actual matches. This series is also
famous for its thorough create a wrestler mode, which
was unmatched until some of the newer PSX and N64
wrestling games were released. FPW 2, just like Fire
Pro Wrestling before it, features a deathmatch mode
that takes place inside of an exploding steel cage.
The popular octagon cage matches (called Gruesome
matches) from FPW are now only done in a wrestling
ring, ala Pride FC, due to a court ruling some time
back involving BAM and the owners of the UFC, which
stated that the octagonal ring, and white muscular
guy that served as a logo for the Gruesome fights was
a direct rip-off of their (UFC's) creation. All the
things in this game that BAM could be sued over, and
THAT is the one that got them in troubleÉ Unreal.
Just like with FPW, there is a battle royale mode in
FPW2, as well as the never before seen Iron man Road,
which, along with a few additions to the roster, and
a wrestler bio section, act as BAM's attempt to make
up for the lack of the Management of Ring mode from
the JPN version of FPW 2, Final Fire Pro Wrestling.
Wrestlers from all over the world are featured in
FPW; stars from WWE, the now defunct WCW, ECW, and
FMW promotions, New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan
Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling NOAH are in this
game. There have been some changes to the characters
to avoid copyright infringements; all of the
characters appear under different names, and, in the
case of WWE, ex-WCW, and ex-ECW wrestlers, their
appearances have been changed.
The bread and butter of the Firepro series has always
been the gameplay. It is the fantastic gameplay that
has allowed it to reach legendary status in the land
of the rising sun, gameplay. The gameplay engine in
the FPW series is amazingly versatile, most any kind
of match can be done to perfection with it, that
alone speaks volumes. This engine can do WWF-style
pomp-and-circumstance matches, it can do long,
drawn-out, and engrossing battles like AJPW and NOAH,
and it can do the hardcore stylings of ECW and FMW
perfectly. The game engine can also handle
shootfighting better than some of the commercially
released shoot fighting games (say Òhello" PSX
version of UFC.) How's that for a diverse engine?
Gameplay goes a little something llike this; you and
your opponent come into contact with one another, you
grapple, whoever pulls off a button combination the
fastest, and does a combination that overrides the
opponents' combination will win the grapple. Once you
execute a move, you might have it countered, this is
especially true for your character's special move,
which can be done at any point in the match, but be
strategic with it, or else you'll get countered
endlessly, and you might get pinned. PFW also forces
you to use quite a bit of pacing in the match, you
see, in the FPW games, you have to control your
breathing; going for a series of high impact moves
right off the bat might seem like a good idea, but it
could leave you winded and out of breath, this will
leave you wide open for your opponent. You can
breathe throughout the match by pressing the L
trigger, be sure to breathe as much as you can, you
can't risk getting winded. To top it all off, FPW
features a multitude of modes for you to try out this
multifaceted game engine. The exhibition match mode
allows you to have singles matches, death matches,
tag matches, and shoot fights at will. FPW 2 has seen
the removal of a number of FPW's modes. The audience
mode is gone, as are the tournament modes and round
robin modes. It's a shame that these modes have been
removed, especially since the MoR mode isn't here.
The iron man road mode is a great addition to the
series. In it, you begin a career in pro wrestling
and, after winning a ton of matches in multiple
categories, you will win the mode. Thanks to the
cumulative damage, this mode is extremely satisfying
to those who enjoy a nice challenge. However, don't
expect too much from it until you start to wrestle in
it at the higher difficulty settings. On top of
adding in the iron man road, BAM has added in a nice
little wrestler bio section. This bio area gives you
the specs of the wrestlers (using the metric system)
and gives you a little history lesson to boot. The
bios for the characters give you a lot of insight
into who they are supposed to represent. You will see
a little bit of info on their style, and on their
alliances. Also, information on their personality is
given, as well as info on their greatest rivalries.
BAM should be commended for giving the player a nice
little history lesson, and for doing what they could
to make up for the loss of the Management of Ring
mode. BAM brought the series to the U.S., and for
that, long-time Firepro fans should be thankful. The
core gameplay is about as perfect as could be. The
diverse game engine enables you to perfectly
replicate any style out there. And it had better,
because the game's full roster is about as diverse as
could be. Speaking of the rosterÉ
The character roster is another strong point. As I
mentioned earlier, wrestlers from nearly every major
promotion of the last five years are in the game.
However, it doesn't stop there, oh no. FPW 2 includes
some people you might never expect to see in a
wrestling game. Ever wanted to see Batman take Robin
on in an electrified steel cage? Well, thanks to FPW
2, you can. If you have ever wondered what it would
be like to see Bruce Lee take on Rocky Balboa in,
say, a shoot fight, this game lets you. This game
lets you. Also, in a throwback to the days of old,
there's even a wrestling BEAR in the game. For those
who might think that the inclusion of some of these
characters is a bit unrealistic for a wrestling game,
think again. Batman and Robin-esque characters were
promoted for wrestling shows in the 40s and 50s; the
Batman character usually had a snappy name like
Mattman, while the Robin character had something
along the lines of a Bird Boy name. The wrestling
bear had been a staple of wrestling house shows since
the industry's carnival days. If you want to see a
wrestling bear in action, pick up the Wrestling Gold
series of tapes, which feature a wrestling bear on
them. It would have been even more fitting to have
Spider-Man in the game, what with the Arachnaman
character from a decade ago. Bruce Lee being in the
game is a bit of a stretch, however, Rocky Balboa
being in does actually fit. In one of the Rocky
flicks, Hulk Hogan, who is in this game (sort of,
like all other name-brand wrestlers I've mentioned)
fought Rocky Balboa. This game lets you recreate
their bout from the flick. In another nod to
wrestling's glorious history, many legendary
wrestlers and tag teams have been placed in the game.
You can recreate Lou Thesz's final match with
Masahiro Chono in this game, or you can create dream
matches like Misawa versus Mutoh. This game is what
you make of it, and thanks to the nearly limitless
supply of wrestlers, you will always have something to do.
The control in FPW 2 is as pristine as the gameplay.
A and B are used for striking moves, and when the
buttons are pressed simultaneously, a special attack
will be unleashed. The game's grappling system has
been dissected in my gameplay description, so I won't
dwell on it here. The controls are quite responsive,
and never cause one bit of trouble.
The graphics in FPW 2 are underwhelming in some
respects, and stunning in others. The game takes
place in 2D, with a 3/4 overhead perspective that
allows you to see everything going on. FPW 2 also
features amazing animation for most of the moves,
unfortunately, for some moves, most notably cradles,
the animation is sparse. The animation for some of
the special attacks is, for the most part, amazing
(see Muto's Shining Wizard for an example of this.)
Yet just like with the regular moves, some of them
look shoddy. For example, Mitsuharu Misawa's Roaring
Elbow is an example of this, the move lacks quite a
bit of animation and looks choppy. Thankfully, 90% of
the animation is super-smooth, the choppy animation
can get in the way of the realistic aspect of the
game, but it never really effects the actual flow of
the gameplay. All in all, the graphics are a bit
hit-or-miss. Some of the animations need a lot of
work, while others couldn't be done better. The
character sizes could be larger, the characters can
be a bit hard to see, and this has the potential to
negatively effect the gameplay if you don't learn how
to compensate for it. Overall, the graphics get the job done.
The Firepro series has never really been known for
amazing music, and this game will not do much to end
that trend. Each character in the game has their own
unique theme music, it's a shame that most of it
consists of simple bleeps and bloops that could have
been done on a NES. The sound effects have really
been spruced up from FPW. All of the sound effects
have been given a bit more volume, and help to get
across the damage of each move. Misawa's elbow
strikes in particular, sound absolutely vicious
thanks to the full-bodied nature of the sound effects
used for them. Sadly, the crowd and referee noises
have seen a bit of a negative change from FPW. During
the match, the crowd will hoot and holler, and,
during near falls, they will ooh and aah. The
referee's voice can be heard during pin and
submission attempts, during near fall pin attempts,
his voice will sound more excited, as if more emotion
is going into the count, this really does quite a bit
for the atmosphere of the game. While the emotional
impact of these effects is still intact, the voice
samples have been downgraded quite a bit. They are
now very raspy and choppy, and it can take away from
the desired effect of drawing the player into the
match. Overall, the sound of the game is good, while
the theme music and some of the sound effects are
poor, most of the sound effects are amazing, and, in
the case of referee and crowd effects, they really
add quite a bit to the game.
The replay value in FPW 2 is through the roof. While
there are only 10 wrestlers in the game at the start,
you can unlock many, many more via the game's Ironman
Road mode. The grand total of characters, including
the unlockable ones, brings the number of characters
in the game to around 200! On top of that, FPW 2,
just like FPW before it, allows you to create your
own wrestler, 77 slots have been allocated in the
game's edit mode; this mode enables you to customize
your own wrestling company; well, name and
roster-wise anyways.
FPW 2 is a wrestling fan's dream game. It gives you a
flawless game engine and a seamless control scheme.
It enables you to have your own dream matches. Ever
wanted to see Goldberg face the Rock? It can be done
in this game. This game gets my highest
recommendation, it is, without a doubt, the finest
wrestling game ever created, barring Firepro
Wrestling D for the Dreamcast. While the graphics
leave a bit to be desired, as does the sound, the
gameplay more than makes up for any trivial fault the
game may have. Simply put, if you're a wrestling fan,
you must buy this game.
Overall: 10 out of 10