Backyard Wrestling is a guilty pleasure for millions of Americans.  Whether you’re buying a Video/DVD or participating in Backyard Wrestling, Backyard Wrestling is becoming a popular subculture.  Kids and adults are now running their own wrestling leagues in the confines of their backyards.  With Backyard Wrestling on PS2, now you have the opportunity to try it at home, but in a much safer environment.

Most people think of Backyard Wrestling as a bunch of kids who mimic what they see on television.  But to watch some of the backyard wrestling tapes, these wrestlers are doing much more than what is on television.  Setting themselves on fire, using barbwire tables, light bulbs, jumping off satellite dishes, and other crazy stunts are common place in backyard wrestling.  Now you can experience the thrill and agony of performing all of these crazy, insane moves.

Backyard Wrestling on PS2 has several different modes of insane wrestling action.  Talk Show Mode is a 1-Player only mode, which is essentially a story mode.  Just as the name says, it’s presented in a Talk Show format with a host and guest(s).  The talk show host will talk about backyard wrestling and then his guests will come out and discuss backyard wrestling as well.  After the cinema displays of the talk show, then you’re ready for your match.  Each stage of the talk show mode will have you challenging several different wrestlers.  You have to defeat all of your opponents for that particular stage before you can move on to the next stage.  If you lose against the last opponent on that stage, then you have to start that stage over again from the beginning.  This might mean having to fight the same opponent several times before moving on to the next Talk Show segment/stage. 

Now I need to jump in here and mention that Backyard Wrestling is not a true wrestling game.  I would categorize it as a fighting game, instead of a wrestling game.  I’m not going to open up a debate with the backyard wrestling fans that say backyard wrestling is a more intense and extreme version of wrestling.  While the hardcore wrestling fans think of backyard wrestling as a bunch of insane punks who have no idea what “real” wrestling is all about.  This argument shouldn’t even apply to Backyard Wrestling on PS2, since it’s a fighting game.  Sure the “wrestlers” will perform wrestling moves but the wrestling moves are secondary.  You can hit your opponent over and over again with punches and do just as much damage as a wrestling move.  In fact, button mashers will probably love Backyard Wrestling.  Just keep hitting the punch button over and over again, you’ll be just as successful as everyone else will.

The other modes in the game are Exhibition, Bonus Games, Create a Wrestler, and Media Room.  The Exhibition mode allows you to play a two-player game or have a one on one match with the computer.  The Bonus Games are special game types that can be unlocked by completing certain parts of the Talk Show mode.  When you finish certain parts of the Talk Show mode you unlock certain bonuses in the game.  These range from other wrestlers in the game, to different stages.  You will also unlock different bonus game modes, such as the King of the Hill mode and Tag mode.  The King of the Hill mode is a two-player mode where you have to defend your hill from your opponent.  But the hill moves around and if you stand outside of your hill, your health will deteriorate.  The Tag mode is another two-player mode where whoever gets knocked down is tagged it.  Once you become “it” you’re health will deteriorate and you have to make sure your opponent becomes “it.”  The other Bonus Game is the Survival mode where you compete against a never-ending cycle of opponents.  The goal is to see how many you can finish off with one bar of health.

As mentioned earlier the game plays similar to a fighting game instead of a wrestling.  This is all related to the controls.  A good wrestling game is always dependent on how well the controls are done.  There is a grapple system (called Grab State) that can be used in the game, however it seems pointless.  The computer will try over and over again to punch/kick you or throw an item at you, repeatedly.  It was useless for me to even try a grab move, since the computer would just knock the crap out of me.  When you’re finally able to grab the computer character, you have up to 8 different moves that can be done.  There are 4 sets of attack moves and 4 sets of slam moves.  The moves vary depending on which direction you push on your controller while performing the move.  I would have loved to use the grab system during an actual fight more often, but I had more success just punching the computer characters over and over again.  For gamers looking for a great control scheme will be disappointed.

The different stages available during the game are a positive.  Each stage is a different location, with different destructible items on each stage.  The destructible items range from tables, light bulbs, tour buses, breakable glass, industrial-cooling fans, to gas pumps.  Each stage has a different set of items that can be destroyed during a course of a match.  Each stage also has elevated areas where you can perform certain high diving, insane jumping moves.  You can either perform a move by jumping off of these areas onto the computer character.  You can even perform an insane grab move with the computer character locked up from one of the elevated areas.  It’s a site to behold to watch these insane jumps and they offer a good change of pace during a match. 

There are also items that you can use on your opponent available on every stage.  These items might range from barbwire bats, light bulbs, brooms, swords, stop signs, bricks or even furniture.  Some of the items you can pick up and throw at your opponent.  These items are a great way to inflict some additional damage to your opponent.  Now this isn’t a new concept to wrestling games, but one thing that was new to me was how accurate the computer was at throwing.  If I was running away from the computer and he was facing the opposite direction, every item he threw at me would hit me.  It was funny at first to see the items twist and curve while in the air.  But after a while this became very annoying.  It didn’t seem to matter where you were at on the stage, every time the computer would throw something at you it would hit!  I didn’t think you could throw a brick like a pitcher throws a curve ball.  Another frustrating part of the items was the computer was always running around the stage picking up the items to use.  It didn’t seem to matter to the computer that he/she had no energy left, he/she was always looking for an item to use.

Backyard Wrestling is not your typical wrestling game.  As a wrestling game it is average at best, but as a fighting game it walks the line between average and good.  “Real” wrestling fans will probably be disappointed because of the controls.  Fans of Backyard Wrestling will enjoy the game because of the insane moves and destructible locations.

Gameplay 6.5 

The controls are the biggest issue with the gameplay.  While the controls are responsive to the action on screen, it doesn’t seem productive to try and control your character like a wrestler.  I had more success punching during a match instead of trying to use the different wrestling moves in the game.  The way the computer reacted to everything I tried made me change from a wrestling style to a fighting style.  Punch and kick, punch and kick.  The destructible stages are nice, but they’re not productive for you during a match.  Once you try to get something setup, such as climbing up a ladder, the computer is already moving around.  A common problem is you can’t use an item on the stage because the computer will start attacking when you try to setup a move.  Another big issue with the gameplay is the items being thrown by the computer.  As I mentioned earlier these items would bend and curve while traveling through the air.  It seems the computer had a 99% accurate ranking when it would throw something.  It became very frustrating after only a few minutes of gameplay.  Bricks, tires, bottles and anything else would almost always hit your character regardless of where you’re at on the stage.

Graphics 8.0 

The graphics for the different wrestlers are detailed.  The in-game cut scenes are also very detailed.  The graphics for the different stages are well done with each location having a different look.  The character models are animated nicely and the characters move smooth.  The collision detection is good with none of the characters blending in with each other during a match.  There wasn’t any slow down during any of the matches.

Sound 8.0 

The sound effects during the matches are standard effects that won’t blow you away.  However the in-game music really did fit the concept and added to the mood of the game.  There are songs from Andrew W.K., Rancid, Sepultura, Insane Clown Posse, Anthrax and others.  With over 40 songs available, the songs would never repeat during a single match.  None of the songs took away from the game.

Difficulty Medium 

At first I was going to rank the difficulty as Hard, simply because of the controls and strange computer AI.  But after changing my style to strictly punches, I was able to finish almost every match the first time around.  If you try to play the game using your characters wrestling moves, you will probably be easily frustrated.  The computer will keep punching, kicking and throwing his/her way at you until you’re out of energy.  The flying items that magically curve while in the air only make the game frustrating, which adds to the difficulty.

Concept 6.5 

Sure the idea of the most intense and extreme form of wrestling finally making it’s way to PS2 sound interesting, but Backyard Wrestling doesn’t deliver.  You have the standard story mode (Talk Show Mode) which unfolds with in-game cinema displays.  But the cut scenes have nothing to do with why you’re wrestling.  During the Talk Show mode, the host will mention that backyard wrestling is a menace to society.  Then a guest will come out and mention something else about backyard wrestling.  Usually the only reference these scenes have to your match is the location of where you’re wrestling.  When you finish a certain stage of the Talk Show mode, you can unlock that particular stage or the wrestlers you competed against.  This is standard stuff that has been done before.  Also the Create A Wrestler mode is lacking the depth that other wrestling games offer.  You select from one of the pre rendered wrestlers and then select from several different looks.  That’s about it for the Create A Wrestler mode.  More options, especially for your character’s moves and looks, in the Create A Wrestler mode would have gone a long way in helping the game.  Everyone should enjoy the insane jumps and moves you can perform off of the escalated areas during the game.  These parts of the stages were a blast to try.

Multiplayer 7.0 

The game can be played with up to two players in the Exhibition mode and Bonus Games mode.  The King of the Hill game and Tag game must first be unlocked in the Talk Show mode before they can be accessed in Bonus Games.   A four-player battle during one of the stages would have been a nice addition.   It would have been nice to see a regular tag team mode included as well. 

Overall 7.0

In the end, Backyard Wrestling is an entertaining fighting game.  The large, destructible stages, insane high flying moves, good graphics and good sound should please some gamers.  For the hardcore wrestling video game fan, Backyard Wrestling will leave you looking for more.  The inept control scheme and strange computer AI will probably leave you looking for a tap out option right away.  One other thing I should mention is a bug that I found.  I shouldn’t take the credit, since I’m sure there are others who have run into the same problem.  During one match the computer hit me and knocked my character behind one of the stage items.  I was stuck behind this item and couldn’t move anywhere.  The computer controlled character decided to climb this item and kept running to the right.  But the computer wasn’t running anywhere; he was running in place.  There was nothing I could do but reset the game.  If the designer is reading this review, this bug occurred on the Truckstop stage and I was stuck behind the water tower.  This bug might not happen to everyone, but is something that shouldn’t happen at all.  But for anyone looking for a fighting game that offers some incredible gravity defying moves, and interactive stages, then Backyard Wrestling might be the game for you.