Don’t try this at home … or the truck stop … or the
slaughter house … or the mansion … or …
Well, you get the idea.
Eidos, Paradox Development and Havok have combined for Backyard
Wrestling Don’t Try This at Home, an extreme no-holds-barred wrestling game that
is both violent, blood filled and wildly entertaining. Did the word challenging
creep in there yet? It should, because if you think this game is a simple matter
of picking up your opponent for a body slam through the nearby table, or a
spinning neck-breaker, think again.
GameZone.com was invited to step into this whacked-out wrestling
world, with little trepidation fired off a suplex at this PlayStation2 preview
build.
Each wrestler is metered for the damage received and these folks
can take a lot of punishment. Some of that if reflected on the face of the male
wrestlers, who may emerge from a fight with faces streaked with blood. The two
women included in the package, Kitana and Jezebel, won’t suffer that visual
affliction. Despite the damage they take (and they can dish it out), they remain
pristine.
Kitana is poising in her backyard, the self-proclaimed queen of
extreme. Along comes Rude Boy and the brawl ensues. There is nothing that is out
of bounds. Pick up the medicine ball and launch it into your opponent’s face.
Use anything and everything in the yard to your advantage in this fight.
The blood splatters, staining the ground and the action is
intense – from slo-motion high-risk devastating moves to punch-drunk fighters,
with head swimming in a sea of stars. Ok, this game is not for the faint of
heart. Even the intro movie is filled with the violence and grimacing moves. Not
to mention comely women strutting their stuff.
The Insane Clown Posse, a band that likes exhibition wrestling,
shows up and provides some of the background music, along with Spineshank,
Bowling for Soup and Chimaira. The soundtrack of this game is really driven by
the music. The wrestling effects consist of a variety of grunts and groans often
synonymous with these titles.
There are many ways to enjoy the game – there is Talk Show Mode,
Exhibition Mode, as well as bonus games, create a wrestler and the media room,
which has game trailers and unlocked movies.
With nine pre-built wrestlers, and seven main venues in the Talk
Show mode (which is a progressive fight format) and four in exhibition, there is
likely someplace for everyone to fight. You can pick up a variety of objects,
from chairs to jarred burning candles and use them.
Bonus games include Survival Mode, King of the Hill and Tag.
The control elements will require a solid learning curve. The
action is so quick that you will have little time to hunt for move controls. In
that regard, this is a purely reflexive game. There is no such thing as a
difficulty setting here. You either succeed or fail. Don’t expect the opposition
to take it easy. Not only is the AI very good, but the moves are well
choreographed. Though wrestlers can be obscured by certain environmental
elements due to a static camera, the overall the look of this game is very good.
Backyard Wrestling is an extreme game that will not appeal to
everyone. This game does not have the impressive, fluid stylings of a Soul
Caliber II, nor does it have the comedic antics of a WWE title. Instead, this is
a game that winks knowingly at the player, then gets extremely violent. It is a
sinful pleasure inflicting as much pain as possible on your opponent in this
realm.
The title says it all – don’t try this at home, unless it is in
the video game format.
