Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (PS2) Review

Posted by William Bumgarner on 02.10.2008

Vitals

Genre	Wrestling
System	PS2
Release Date	09/15/2005

The last entry in the Fire Pro series. Can a sprite-based game stack up to the modern 3D models and hi-def graphics? Read on, Macduff, and see if this game is good enough.

Greetings, everyone. I'm your humble reviewer, Bill Bumgarner, taking time from his way-too-cramped college/work schedule to bring you a review of Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the Sony PlayStation 2 console from Spike and AGETEC. This is the last entry in the Fire Pro game series, and many long-time fans, like myself, are pleased that it's so affordable and easy to pick up and play, but also lamenting that there won't be any more after it. This game has several aspects to be covered, so, let's get started:


GRAPHICS: 7/10
The game's weakest area, but that's to be expected since it utilizes 2D sprites rather than 3D models. However, these are very good 2D sprites. They are, without a doubt, better than the previous Fire Pro titles, and it's rather obvious that the designers did their utmost to pack as much detail as they could onto such a simple (and indeed limited) medium. The sprites aren't pixilated and the animations could not possibly be smoother or more seamless. I actually compared this to graphically superior games, such as WWF WrestleMania 2000 and WCW/nWo Revenge (it wouldn't have been quite fair to compare it with anything later than that) and found that Fire Pro Returns has smoother animations and far fewer glitches in said animations. There are some glitches (like kneepads disappearing/reappearing on some models during walk animations), but these are often hard to spot and don't detract from the overall play experience.


SOUND: 8/10
I'm impressed that MIDI tunes can sound so good. The music is crisp, clear, and undistorted, unlike WrestleMania 2000 where the music is of extremely poor quality. Now, I'm chalking this up to Fire Pro being on a disc versus WrestleMania being on a more limited cartridge, but I'd still rather hear FPR's tunes. My only real gripe is that it is, in fact, MIDI, and the eternally-looping background music on the menus can get repetitive. The standard grunts and groans that you'd expect to hear are good enough for what they're supposed to do, and the crowd noises only serve to enhance the experience, not detract from it.


MATCH TYPES:: 9/10
Normal matches, cage matches, and tag-team matches like you'd expect to find in any wrestling game, but this one adds a twist: the Deathmatch. Electrified barbed wire, landmines, spiked boads, fluorescent light tubes....everything you tend to associate with the in-ring daredevils of Japan is here. The only complaint I have is that there isn't anything in the way of a ladder match (though, with the sheer amount of violence and mayhem here, the game doesn't really need it). You can also pick and choose your rules for these match types. For example, you can set it to where players are not allowed to leave the ring, or fix things so that you have to score two out of three falls to win, or to where you can/cannot win a cage match by escaping the cage.


ROSTER: 10/10
Arguably the game's best point. 357 usable wrestlers, most of which modeled after existing wrestlers with name changes (and all you have to do is give them the proper name, if you wish, and you're ready to go). For example, the wrestler called "Tattoo" is clearly the "Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal" Sabu, complete right down to the moveset. In addition to the wrestlers, you also have several ready-to-use refs (two of which are female), each programmed to act differently depending on match types, moves used, and so on. Also, you can expand this roster with around five hundred additional custom characters, either based on real wrestlers or whatever you come up with from your own imagination (this extends to refs and managers, as well) and choose from any of over 1,600 moves to equip your characters with - including Petey Williams' devastating Canadian Destroyer.

CUSTOMIZATION: 10/10
Another point where this game beats all others into the ground. Not only can you create wrestlers, refs, and managers, as I mentioned before, but you can design your own logos, create your own rings, your own title belts, your own wrestling promotions, and your own factions/stables. Never before have I seen a game with this level of interactivity. You can arrange certain parts to make near-perfect copies of, say, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt, or the 1980s World Wrestling Federation ring setup, or create Extreme Championship Wrestling and fill it with the ECW-based characters already in the game plus any you want to create yourself. If you've played the text-based wrestling sim Extreme Warfare Revenge, this is kind of like that, only with visuals and music. The only problems I have here is that there is a rather steep learning curve for creating logos (that is, if you're unfamiliar with the logo-creation system of WWE Day of Reckoning; if you've used the logo tool extensively in DoR, it shouldn't take you too long to figure this one out once you get used to navigating the menus) and that choosing colors is both trial-and-error until you get the hang of it and a little tedious at times, seeing as how there's no visual guide to tell you how far you have to adjust the numbers to get the desired color. But that's a minor thing in the grand scheme and in no way detracts from the game experience.

PLAY CONTROL: 9/10
The controls are easy to learn. D-Pad moves your character, the Square/Circle/X buttons are used for attacks and the basic commands (pinning, tagging, etc,), Triangle makes you run, moving the L-Stick in different directions results in different taunts, and pressing certain combinations will trigger your Finisher moves. No gauges to fill, no icons to store, just get in position, hit the right buttons, and hope they don't counter. With this system, it's extremely easy to chain moves and finishers together to devastate your opponent (though this can be turned against you, so you have to be on your guard). Once you get a feel for what does what, you can crank up the difficulty on the game's AI and it becomes less about hitting the moves you want to in order to score a fantastic, stylish victory and more about dodging and then hitting the moves you need to in order to just survive. It becomes challenging without being near-impossible, and that's just the way I like it.

PRICE: 10/10
At $19.99 in U.S. currency, I would argue that a wrestling fan can't afford to not buy this game. Whether or not you already shelled out $50 for WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 or intend to buy TNA iMPACT! when it's released, twenty measly bucks is a small price to pay for this game, which is almost guaranteed to give you hours upon hours of enjoyment. Seeing as how the game is fully multi-tap compatible and supports up to eight human-controlled players, you can bring some friends over and enjoy a night of fun, brutal, sprite-filled violence without putting a hole in your budget.

LASTING APPEAL: 10/10
This game will still be as fun three years from now as it is today, and that's saying a lot in an age where most games are good for a year, two tops, and wind up in pawn shops for $10 or so.

FUN FACTOR: 10/10
What more can I say? If you can get past the sprite-based graphics, you're going to have a blast with this game. I would, at the most, give the most recent four Ps2 WWE games a 6/10 in this regard, but FPR has thoroughly impressed me with sheer enjoyability. I sense I'll be wearing out at least one controller on this one (and the last game that I did that with was Final Fantasy X-2).


OVERALL: 10/10
For being a heavily-customizable, nice-looking, easy-to-play game that has virtually everything most fans have been screaming for from the WWE-branded games for years, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns is easily the most fun wrestling game I've played since WWE SmackDown!: Here Comes The Pain. You can pick it up for the price of a PS2 "Greatest Hits" title, take a few minutes to learn the controls, and have a game you can either dedicate several straight days to or have waiting to play should you have some time to kill with one or two quick matches. Either way, if you're a fan of the Fire Pro series and/or Japanese wrestling, or just looking for something a little different, I can almost guarantee that this game would entertain you for a good while and possibly earn a permanent spot in your PS2 game library. I know it's earned one in mine. This game is pretty much perfect, if you take it for what is is instead of comparing it to the WWE games.

Graphics	7.0	Good enough once you get used to the sprites.
Gameplay	9.0	Easy to learn, easy to implement.
Sound	8.0	Very good for MIDIs, if slightly repetitive on menus.
Lasting Appeal	10.0	This is likely to be one of the few to stand the test of time.
Fun Factor	10.0	One of the most enjoyable wrestling games I've ever played.
Overall	10.0   [ Virtually Perfect ]

Screenshots
All 9 Fire Pro Wrestling Returns Screenshots