Reviewed: December 24, 2004
Reviewed by: Daniel Sayre
Publisher
Eidos Interactive
Developer
Paradox Interactive
Released: November 16, 2004
Genre: Sports
Players: 2
ESRB: Mature
6
6
5
5
5.5
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Eidos interactive and Paradox Development bring to us Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes The Neighborhood. This sequel expands upon the previous backyard wrestling game, adding in more wrestlers, more stages, and more options.
Backyard wrestling is waged without the use of a regulation ring; instead you fight in a variety of environments. The wrestlers themselves are a grabbed from all walks of life, former pro wrestlers; porn stars, recording artists and people who have yet to move to the big time.
Backyard wrestling is anything goes. The stages themselves, which are somewhat destructible, are still fairly confined. If you were expected vast Power Stone-esque multi-tiered stages, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Most of the damage is superficial, mostly cracked floors and walls. Some of the stages allow some more “altering” damage.
Most of the items around the stage are destructible (many are then useable as weapons) which is a plus. In all, there are about ten stages, each one pretty different from the others. Each with many unique weapons and damage.
Control is very simplistic. You get a punch, kick, and grapple button for your attacks. Most of the control is superfluous though; I won a match by simply hitting the square button, nothing else, no direction keys anything. There are reversals and attack breaks, as well as about ten grapple attacks, but “square” works pretty well so why bother.
It’s also the same punch and kick animation over and over. Combos are included, and go a long way to helping you win the match. You also have some context sensitive moves like throwing your opponent off ledges or jumping from a higher level.
The other attacks are weapon attacks. These are the more creative of the two. Golf clubs, Computers, bar stools, etc can be used to either pummel the opponent with or used in special grapple attacks. The grapple attacks are a welcome change of pace and are quite over-the-top, which fits with the game design quite well.
The game has a career mode that is surprisingly well thought out. It opens with a particularly brainless faux news report, complete with a dubbed anchor who makes the voice actors in “House of the Dead 2” sound like normal English speakers. This opens the stage for a big spiel from the President of Backyard Wrestling where he declares that a PPV will be shot in “your town” with a one million dollar reward for the winner.
After sitting through that, you guide your created wrestler (be it male or female) though the Backyard wrestling circuit. This takes you to the ten stages mentioned previous a well as provides you with a number of challenges. As you win matches, you get money, which is then used to purchase upgrades for you wrestler, be they new moves or a stylish new clothing accessories.
Unlockable content is basically videos of certain wrestlers, more brawlers, and the ability to use a “name” character in the career mode. Not too bad, but more could’ve been there. Videos for every wrestler and maybe even more unlockable wrestlers.
The Create a wrestler is not very well done. I think WWF Attitude had a more feature filled editor then this. You get to select from three body types and six faces for each sex as standards. Then you get a pittance of clothing (none of which you can alter in any way.) Unlockables do help relieve this somewhat, but for a game where you HAVE to create a wrestler for use in single-player it’s very disappointing and under whelming.
The FMV’s look great; the wrestlers are smooth and look cartoony, which is what they were going for. The game wrestlers are also somewhat caricatured and not exactly “life-like.” Extremely primitive damage modeling is present, mostly in the form of blood on certain sections of the body after a time. Not bad per se, but not up to the levels present in the higher profile wrestling games.
The stages are well rendered; stuff breaks apart with some good “oomph” behind it. Some of the stages show some neat little traits, water in the pool level being an example. Most stages are pretty static, mostly just bangs and dents instead of new areas opening up with the destruction.
The Menu’s are done in the style of a farm fence and do well to mesh with the style of the game. The text is clear and easy to read. The menu’s themselves are quite easy to navigate through.
The sound is awful. The only good part is the background music and that’s because it’s licensed. Fights are the same groan and hit sound for however long the match lasts. Environmental sounds are much better, with satisfying “crunches” and “hits”.
The licensed match music fares much better, provided you like the genre choice of such bands as ICP and Andrew WK. Unlike Tony Hawk, which tries to have a blending so you can at least have a song or two you enjoy, Backyard wrestling goes for broke with a single style of music.
Well there is a career mode, you get bonuses for completing it, you can buy unlockables, and fight your friends in two-player mode. Not that shabby, but far from great. The gameplay is so under whelming I wouldn’t imagine you and your friends would be playing all that long.
At a full $50, you get charging full price for something that is slightly above budget ware. If you just want wrestling, many Sony’s Greatest Hits wrestling titles would be a far better buy.
After playing through the game, I see Backyard wrestling for what it really is, a fast paced fighter as opposed to a wrestling game. Now there certainly isn’t anything wrong with that, and certain areas do show some surprisingly excellent ideas, the whole thing just seems to be weighed down by the weaker aspects of gameplay.
The game is a step up from the previous game in the series, so if you liked Backyard Wrestling: Don’t Try This At Home you’ll be happy with this one. If you are looking for a wrestling game that isn’t WWE, I’d advise you to check out Legends of Wrestling before you come to this backyard.