First off, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns is a very different type of wrestling game then what a lot of us maybe used to. It is however, a long time series (since 1989) and has had many game releases in Japan. You might not look at this game to start with as a potential buyer (like me) but, a series that has lasted as long as it has, they must be doing something right. I had to check out the latest installment in the series and I was happy with what I got. And after the hours I spent on a game that looks so simple when you first put it in amazed me.

When you first look at this game nothing will probably stand out at you to warrant a second look. Unless you have previous knowledge of this series or have imported a previously released title. Luckily publisher Agetec has brought this installment to the series over to the US on the Playstation 2 because it truly is a new kind of wrestling that is a lot fun to play. If you can just look past the 2D graphics that this game is presented and play the game for what it truly is made for, a more realistic style wrestling game, you will find a very enjoyable game that you will spend hours playing. And for the price of this game being only around $13, it's a worthy pickup.

The biggest concern about this game is how hard it is for the newcomer to play. The menus look so simple when you first load up the game but, as you play around the system you find yourself saying "huh?" way to many times. A lot of my hours playing when I first started was trying to find and figure out what all this game has to offer. It is easy to start a match and start playing but, once you dive into the other areas it will take a ton of patience. There really isn't any help menus and to tutorials to help you learn how to play. The instruction booklet is deep and does explain a lot and will show how deep the game is but, is missing a lot of little things that it doesn't explain and you you will be forced to learn on your own. If they make another game in this series, and bring it to the US, I sure hope they fix this and make the game much more user friendly.

Game Play 4.5/5 & Controls 4.5/5
The game play is something I have never seen in a wrestling game before. Don't think you will just put the game go to an exhibition match and press buttons. I did this without reading the instructions and got seriously destroyed by my opponent. The game does not have your traditional easy, normal, hard difficulty levels and for good reason. Instead you can set the AI's difficulty from a setting of 1-10 with 10 being the hardest. Since there is no in game tutorials or help on the controls you will definitely want to read the instructions first on how the game system works. I also suggest putting the difficulty setting to 1 or 2 to start with until you get everything down pretty good. If not you will probably be so frustrated with loosing you may give up. Just have patience and learn as you go because in the end it truly is all worth it.

The game focuses on a unique, in-depth, and difficult to master grappling system. If you button mash as other wrestling games you will be in for a long ride. Instead of manually grappling your opponent the system will do it automatically anytime you are within range of your opponent. The key is all about the timing. Right when each wrestler's hands begin to touch the other the first to hit the D-pad with a face button will get the move in. Each button is a different move from weak, normal, and strong grappling moves. Each D pad direction is a different move in that category. The thing to remember here is, not to hit the button more than once because if you do, you will automatically loose the grapple. This is also very complex by you will not be able to perform your strong grapples until you have beaten down your opponent some first and get him winded. If you try the odds of you pulling off that strong grappled is about zero percent. You will really have to mix up your moves well and work over your opponent before getting the victory. The rest of the controls are much like other wrestling games where the triangle is for running, each button is a different strength of striking an opening, and doing ground moves are performed the same way. All of this will definitely take some time and practice but once you get the timing down and know when to hit the buttons the game will have much more realistic feel to it while playing.

The game does not fall short on over all game play or the overall things you can do in the ring. This game has as many moves, if not more, than any other wrestling game and the AI is by far the smartest you will see. Each wrestler has their own unique style (there are a lot of styles) and the AI does this perfect. To the high flyer's jumping off the turnbuckles on a regular basis, a submission wrestler you can't seem to get off your legs, to a power wrestler throwing you around like a rag doll, or a superstar playing to the crowed pumping them up any chance they get is done with precision. I can't stress enough how amazed you will be at how the AI performs to each style of wrestler. This also included how often a wrestler will pick up a weapon and use it or cheat and hold an illegal move longer. This is an unbelievable complex system that covers every single aspect of the game. And there are also a ton of moves that each wrestler can use in his/her arsenal.

The various game types in the game vary somewhat compared to other wrestling games and there may not be as many match types to play as others. however, there are not nice little perks that are new. You have your Exhibition matches were all types can be played. you can play an Elimination-Style Tournament mode where the participating wrestlers are placed in brackets. The winner advances, but the unique feature to this is, that fatigue and damage carries over from match to match until a winner is decided. You can play a Round Robin League-Style game where each wrestler participating earns points after each match (for a win or draw). You can have a huge roster of 64 wrestlers in league and can be placed in two or four groupes if you want. The wrestler with the most points at the end of the league is declared the winner. The game has Team Matches (like stables in our wrestling world) and they can play in team matches from elimination, round robin, or a unique game of tug-of-war. Each one is unique and fun to play and you can also edit a team or make your own up to 64 whopping teams. There is a Battle Royal matches and Title matches (if you make your own belts in create a belt mode) that wrestlers can fight in. Last is the Match Maker mode. This is their version of the Smack Down Vs Raw GM mode. Your job is to attract as many fans and profit as much as you can in twelve weeks. You can book seven matches per week and will have access to certain matches and teams to start with. As you progress, and if you do well, you will be given new matches to choose from and better teams to use. Booking the right matches for the right wrestlers is essential. Each wrestler has his own popularity with the fans and a different price for you to use them. The better the teams you get the more expensive and the more draw their wrestlers will have. You don't have to worry about a wrestlers happiness or signing then to new contracts. This is much more simplified however, it is not easy and will take some time to get it down. If your looking for a complex DM mode this is not it but, if your looking to play your matches faster and not worry about every little detail this is a lot of fun.

Create A Wrestler 5/5
This is the best feature the game has to offer and where you just might find yourself more often than actually playing the game. It is unbelievably in-depth with what it seems to have an unlimited amount of choices. First off, you can edit any of the 327 premade wrestlers in the game anyway you would like. Each one of these are based on a true-life wrestler mostly Japanese wrestlers that you probably have never heard of. There are a few notable real wrestlers like Andre The Giant, Sting, and Kevin Nash. Each with fake names though. You can also create up to 500 of your own wrestlers making the roster over 800 wrestlers. So you can make any amount of real-life wrestlers or fake ones you want. All I can say to that is wow. You can edit each wrestlers appearance, skills, move-sets, offensive/defensive skills, and AI logic. Just as an example of many options you have to play with, there are over one-hundred different faces you can choose from and a lot of them are based on real life wrestlers. With all of the costume options and over a thousand moves it is not impossible to create a real life wrestler of your choice. With all of the different skills and AI settings to choose from you can spend hours and hours in here just creating a couple of wrestlers to play with. And with such a great AI your new wrestler will perform exactly how you make them!

The only problem here is the same as mentioned before, the menus. They are very difficult to get down at first and may look overwhelming to start with. I came up with a rule, if in doubt hit the square button. you may find a sub-menu you did not know where with that many more options. The instructions explain in very good detail what all the skills and parameters do which is great but, it does not go into great deal on how to access all of this. Again like before, have patience because the final product is well worth the fight to get there.

Graphics 3/5
For what we are used to games looking like today, this will take older gamers back in a time of the Super Nintendo and newer gamers laughing. If you have seen or played any of the other installments you will not see much change here over the years. The game has an arcade type feel with it's 2D graphics and the menus look extremely blah. The animations are a bit choppy and cheesy looking as well. For example, if you are playing a barbed wire match and toss your opponent out out of the ring onto a row of bob wire you get a seriously laughable little explosion. And there is a little hiccup in some of the moves as you are performing them. The graphics however, are not so bad that it takes away from what the game is trying to accomplish. The wrestling ring looks good and the crowed looks as good or better than most other sport games on the Playstation 2. The character models are solid for a 2D graphics game and you will have no trouble telling the wrestlers apart even in a Battle Royal type match. Again you have to look beyond the fact that you are not playing a SmackDown vs. Raw and playing a much more realistic style wrestling game.

Sound 1/5
This is definitely a chink in this games armor. There really isn't anything good about it. There is no commentary and the menu music sounds like an instrument broke and your stuck with listening it sounds like broken. The crowd noise is all right when they get pumped up with a good much but, nothing that stands out. Even the referee when counting down a wrestler outside the ring or asking them if they give up during a submission is extremely hard to understand. The most frustrating thing was when i turned down the the sounds in the game to make them quieter there was no way to turn down the menu volume each time you make a selection. So if you leave your TV sound where it is and turn everything down every time you make a selection in a menu you hear a loud "boink" sound that drives you crazy. You are better off just using the mute button on your TV and listening to something else on your stereo.

Conclusion
I recommend this game to anyone over thirteen years of age. For a die-hard wrestling fan this game is a must to try. The good really out weighs the bad. For a casual player this game maybe a little overwhelming. But, the price of this game it well worth the small investment for the hours and hours you might spend inside the game. I am not a die-hard wrestling fan but, I do play the games. i found this overwhelming at first but, I kept at it and am glad I did. I now have a really fun game that is a joy to play now that I have figured things out.
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Recommended: Yes