 |
Main > Reviews
> Fire Pro Wrestling
REVIEW - The Fire Pro Wrestling (FPW) series has been a successful one is Japan for many years, but has never got a chance to try the North American waters. Only importers had the chance to try these unique wrestling games. Now importers and wrestling fans finally have the chance to buy a fully translated English version (in the USA, and Canada) of Fire Pro Wrestling for the Gameboy Advance. I have to say one thing right off the bat. This game is definitely NOT a button-masher! Gamers that are expecting grappling systems like those in NO MERCY for the Nintendo 64 or SMACKDOWN for Playstation, should simply not buy this game. FPW has its own unique grappling system, which involves precise timing. Grappling in FPW is only a case of walking close to your opponent. From there you lock up into a grapple and then it is all about timing. If you press your button combination to early you lose the advantage, and if you press it to late you will lose the grapple and the CPU (or your friend if you are linking up) will perform a move. The controls work like this: Inside a grapple you press a button combination such as B+RIGHT you will perform a weak move such as a body slam or a punch to the head. If you pressed a combo such as A+RIGHT you will perform one of your wrestlers medium moves such as a piledriver or a suplex. If you pressed A+B+RIGHT button combo you would perform one of your wrestler's strongest moves such as a Tiger Driver or a powerbomb. Always start with weak moves in a grapple by using the B button. Don't expect to hit your powerbomb finisher 10 seconds into the match. A new innovative idea in a FPW is the breathing button. Press and hold the L button and your wrestler will stand there and breath for the amount of time you desire but beware your opponent can and probably will attack you while breathing so be sure to knock him down or throw him out of the ring first. Breathing is essential in FPW if you want to be successful. Don't expect to pick up FPW and win your first match. You will spend several days perfecting the controls on the easiest difficulty and may get a little frustrated. But if you stick with the game then you will be body slamin', and powerbombin' your opponent in no time. Any game that would be released in North America without a license (such as WWF) would most likely fail. FPW is not the case. Since FPW doesn't have a license, the wrestlers, their finishers and federations are renamed but character models closely resemble their real life counter-parts besides the color and appearance tweaks. An example of this is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. He is renamed "The Bionic Man" Steve Majors, his federation (the WWF) is renamed APW and his finisher (the Stunner) is renamed Deep Freeze. Every single wrestler (all 157 default wrestlers, and 43 hidden wrestlers) are all based on their real life pro-wrestlers. The graphics in FPW are not top-notch Gameboy Advance graphics but resemble those of the FPW series. Anybody expecting N64 game graphics shouldn't. After all FPW games are all about depth, not graphics anyway. Matches in FPW are shown at an isometric view, just like any other FPW game. It provides a clean view of the arena and the wrestling action. The sound and music in FPW aren't up to the standards of Gameboy Advance but are certainly better than Gameboy Color. The tunes in the matches and at menus are not annoying, but they won't stick in your head. The sound effects are just wrestlers grunting, punching, kicking and the referee counting or saying "give up, give up?" The wrestler's entrance themes usually sound nothing like their real counter-parts but do the job at introducing wrestlers to the ring. The range in modes makes FPW a great game and makes the game very replayable. Several great modes such as the Audience Mode where you wrestle in a certain style for the crowd and they rate you on your performance (100% being the highest and 0% being the lowest). You go through several matches and finally you get to unlocking new wrestlers. There is also an Ultimate Fighting Championship kind of mode where you get into a Octagon cage with your opponent and the first one to get knocked out or submit is the loser. Another cool mode is the Deathmatch. You get an electrified cage with your opponent and there are explosives on the outside of the ring. You set a timer on the explosives and they blow up at your desired time. The person that comes out of the explosion alive or if a wrestler gets a pinfall before the explosion, is awarded the winner. Other than those modes you have the standard Exhibition, Battle Royal, Survival and Elimination matches. Along with the vast range in modes, you have an in-depth Create-a-Wrestler mode or an Edit mode as the game calls it. This Edit Mode blows NO MERCY and SMACKDOWN out of the water in all areas. Appearance settings, skill settings, colour settings, and wrestling moves, it is all there. If your favourite wrestler is not FPW you can create him easily. Edit Mode is not only about creating characters but you can also edit names. If you are sick of seeing "The Bionic Man" Steve Majors, Deep Freeze, or the APW than you can edit them to their respectful names ("Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Stunner, and WWF). FPW coming to North American shores is a big step forward for the wrestling genre. Don't get frustrated with the controls in this game… give it some time. The in-depth modes and the accurate game engine make this game a must-buy for any wrestling or fighting fan.  Top |
|