Friday, November 12, 2004

Awesome New Video Game Review!

I'd like to take this opportunity to review the amazing new game for the Playstation2, Rumble Roses. As you may know, Rumble Roses is a wrestling game, similar to the 'Smackdown' series, only this game doesnt involve WWE Superstars. This is an all-women wrestling game, but unlike real women wrestlers, these ladies can do lots of impressive moves, like regular wrestlers can do! Let's start with the obvious. The women in this game are definitely quite attractive. But so are the women in the Smackdown series. It takes a lot more than attractive women wrestlers to make a game good, much less great. One thing this game does NOT have going for it, is the wide range of match types of the Smackdown series. No Steel Cage matches, no Ladder matches, no Iron Man matches, no Tag Team matches, etc. All matches are 1 on 1, singles matches. There are regular matches which involves wrestling in (and out of) a regular wrestling ring and, 'Mud' matches, where the wrestlers wrestle in an area filled with mud. That seems to be it. I dont know why the match types are so limited really. But once you get over your lack of pre-game options, things really start improving with the ring entrances. Awesome music, and unbelievable graphics accompany your wrestler's entrance to the ring. These arent just as good as the Smackdown entrances, they're better, WAY better. After the entrances, its on to the game play itself. The game play is similar to the Smackdown games, the 'counter' system has been improved somewhat so that it isnt completely random anymore, it requires very specific timing. Much like the Smackdown series, you do have a meter you build up over the course of the match, that allows you to use your patented finishing maneuvers. You can leave the ring and go outside the ring and find various foreign objects to use against your opponent, if you so desire, as all matches seem to be 'No DQ' matches. Another considerable improvement over the Smackdown series of games, is the wrestlers TALK during the match. Not conversation, of course, but they say little things every once in a whlie, like kicking out of a pin and saying 'I'll never give up!', that really does make the game that much more awesome. If you're playing in "Story" mode, you get a special scene before and after each match, and you have to beat about a half dozen or so opponents to complete your character's unique 'story', and the scenes are quite good, the storylines are very interesting. In exhibition mode, you can turn each character good or bad, 'face' or 'heel', by doing certain things during the course of the matches. And you can also have title matches as well. So there is a variety of things to do in this game, and again, everything the game does it does VERY, VERY well. I strongly reccomend Rumble Roses for the Playstation2 to anyone who enjoys playing wrestling games. While I havent played every wrestling game out there, of the ones I have, this one is the very best!

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