Fire Pro Wrestling Returns

The Good
I have been enthralled with the Fire ProWrestling series for quite some time. When Fire Pro Returns was announced, I knew I had to eventually pick it up. As I assumed, the game isn't all the different from Fire ProWrestling D, but it's new additions definitely make it the version to own in the Fire Pro series. The gigantic roster is incredibly large and it is fun checking out wrestlers I have never even heard of before. My personal favorite game mode in FPR returns is the battle royal mode. There is just something about picking apart 7 other wrestlers that can not be beat. Of course, FPR also helps my creative side, as the edit mode is a great time killer. I have had this game for almost two months and have already created 56 wrestlers.

The Bad
Legal action prevented Spike from allowing WWE wrestlers on the default roster. At least they kept the WWE wrestler faces in edit mode, so you can create them yourself. The Edit mode for create a wrestler has a very underwhelming color selection and starting out, the costumes are easy to screw up too. My biggest gripe against FPR returns is the same I had for Fire ProWrestling D and that is, after awhile, the computer quickly becomes rather easy to defeat on all but the hardest difficulty setting. Someone who lives and breathes for a challenge from their video games will probably not like this game. I can easily look past that, because the gameplay is still fun and there are ways to give the computer an advantage.

The Bottom Line
It is a wrestling game with an amazing amount of depth. 327 wrestlers and over 1600 moves prove that statement as fact in my book. Granted it's not in 3D and plays nothing like Smackdown vs Raw. It's not that kind of game and those of you looking for something similar will find FPR to not be up your alley at all. Those willing to give a game that, at heart, is still stuck in the Super Nintendo era of wrestling games a chance will probably love what is on hand. Here is one way to look at it, the Fire ProWrestling games have been being churned out since 1989, that means that Fire Pro Returns is literally 16 years in the making. That allows Fire Pro Returns to have a layer of depth and polish that few games of any genre could hope to match. The guys at Spike love wrestling. And I love Spike's wrestling games.