Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (Sony PlayStation 2, 2007)

For those of you who enjoy playing wrestling games like WWF: No Mercy and Legends of Wrestling, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns is not quite for you.

First, the creation mode is deep, which is where Fire Pro Wrestling shines. You can create wrestlers (Male/Female), referees (Male/Female), rings, belts, and promotions (Wrestling company brands like WWE) in any fashion possible. However, what people fail to tell you is that it takes a long time just to create a specific wrestler, ring, or belt, especially, the ring. Now, I know there are You Tube videos of people showing you awesomely created rings from the game that look exactly like the old WWF and WCW rings of the 80s and 90s. Yes, it is possible to create those rings, but under two conditions. One, if you don't have a PS2 AR Max Replay, then you're screwed, and wind-up have to sit-up for 8 hours having to create your own WCW/WWF ring. Not fun. Two, if you do have an PS2 AR Max Replay then you're in for a real treat as you can download pre-made WCW/WWF rings and wrestlers from various websites saving you time of having to create your own rings and wrestlers, which will probably never match those seen on You Tube; after all, they're GRRREEEAT!!!

The game play of Fire Pro Wrestling Returns is mediocre. First of all, there is no story mode, no online play, and NO LADDER MATCHES!!! What's a wrestling game without a ladder match? The game modes include Exhibition: Normal Match, Cage Deathmatch, Barbed Wire Deathmatch, Landmine Deathmatch, SWA Rules Match, S-1 Rules Match, and Gruesome Fighting. Team Match mode includes: Elimination, Round Robin, and Tug of War. Battle Royal mode includes: Normal, First Win, Endless, Over-rope, and Time. Other modes worth noting are: Title Match, Match-Maker composed of: Season, Competition, Ranking, and Booking. It seems like a lot, but when you actually play the game for about five minutes you'll soon find yourself bored as the control style or grappling system is crappy and difficult to master (It's not like WWF: No Mercy or even like the Smackdown vs Raw games) and when you do master it it's not worth playing any further because the 2-D graphics makes the game seem old.

I will note that the fun part of the game is when you are the Vince McMahon/booker/promoter. You can pretty much create any dream match (excluding ladder matches)...that's...if you have downloaded all the pre-made wrestlers and rings from the WWF, WWE, WCW, ECW, TNA, UFC and/or whatever wrestling league you can think of. The more the better!

Overall, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns is a descent wrestling game for the PS2. The creation mode is superior than any of today's wrestling games, but it does take some time to figure it out, seeming that there are no guides or instruction books to help you out. The game modes and game play are mediocre with no story mode and no ladder matches. The 2-D game play makes the game seem old and outdated. I would rent this game before buying because, even for the most die-hard wrestling/gaming fan, there seems to be something missing in the game whether it's the ladder match mode, story mode, or even 3-D GRAPHICS!!! I give this game a 3 out of 5. Although, it separates itself from other wrestling games, it still lacks the traditional and fundamental game play that makes wrestling games like WWF: No Mercy pure gold and that is simple control style with advanced innovative game play. Thank-you for reading my review and have a nice day.

when I owned a dreamcast years ago I bought "Fire Pro Wrestling D" granted I had to use an import converter disc and print out a translation for what was on the screen because everything was in japanese! It was a fun game with a good number of match variations, a huge number of wrestlers, and edits for making your own wrestlers,belts,and matches.

"Fire Pro Wrestling Returns" for Playstation 2 is pretty much the same as "Fire Pro Wrestling D" except for the fact that it been translated in english and made a a few changes such as getting rid of the cage deathmatch, but adding a create a ring edit. The names of the wrestlers have been changed to either avoid lawsuits or as a attempt of translating Japanese text into English. Two examples of this is American wrestler "Vader" is called "Saber" and "Bret Hart" is "Brad Love"

the gameplay is pretty much fair if you have ever played "WWE superstars" or "wrestlefest" from the late 80's then you have idea. 2-D wrestlers kicking, punching, grappling,body slamming, and pinning each other. the ring is 3-D as in you see the whole ring. you can through your opponent into the ropes or into the corner or onto the floor. depending upon the match type you can have barbed wire ropes and barbed wire boards on the turnbuckles, or better yet florescent light poles. if you've ever seen a Japanese death match then its in the game, exploding barb wire on the floor. Tables, chairs, sledgehammers, oh my!

the main con in the game is its not a game that you can just button mash and expect to win. if you want that go play one of the games in the "Legends Of Wrestling" series, or "Street Fighter whatever number it is now" In order to win you need grapple and wear down your opponent as best you can in order to get the 3 count.

all in all its a fun game for the PS2 that I suggest you buy if you are a big wrestling fan.

Pros:
1. Ridiculously deep create mode. You can create over 300 wrestlers. It has just about everyone signature moves and taunts including all the WWE'ers. You can even create the old WWF, WCW, & NWA titles. Create a ring logo, create stables, create wrestling orginazations, create, create, create.

2. Electrified cage matches, exploding landmine matches, barbwire matches, even a UFC octagon. Plenty of fun match types.

3. Tried and true style of play. If you've ever played a fire pro wrestling game you'll be able to pick this one up and play immediately.


Cons:
1. Though this is a 2D game that never bothered me, but the graphics look unchanged from 1995. They could of tried a little harder.

2. No story mode?! So unless you have a friend to verse or tag with, youre out of luck.

The Fire Pro Wrestling series is huge in Japan, and this is the first time it's ever been available for a console in the United States. If you want a game with John Cena or Triple H, this isn't for you. This is more for fans of professional wrestling, and not fans of sports entainment. This title brings you back to the glory days of the WWF (not WWE), NWA, WCCW among others. You can create your own federations including title belts. The best feature is that you can creat up to 500 (yes I said 500) of your own wrestlers. I don't know who has time for that many, but if you do have the time you can create 500 wrestlers. The AI of the CPU is insane, but not too bad once you get the timing down. 3D gameplay would have made it better, but still if you can pick this game up for $15 or $20 I would jump all over it.

This game is fantastic, but I didn't give it an excellent rating. The game is very challanging when playing the computer and also ha sa steep learning curve which takes away from the fun when you're just starting to play the game.

After you learn a bit, the game becomes very entertaining. I think it's best enjoyed with two players.

I also didn't give it an excellent rating because there is no story mode in the game and there are also not many match types to choose from, although the match types that have never before been in a wrestling game untill now MIGHT make up for that. Match stipulations such as barbed wire ropes, land mines, and a caged octagon ring "gruesome fighting" match.

For wrestling fans I highly recommend this video game. For the occasional wrestling game fan, you'd be better off with a WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw game.