Backyard Wrestling

Super Street Game Reviews...

For all you wusses out there: Don't play this game. For everyone else who can dish out the pain, well, we have the game for you: Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This At Home. Get ready to get down and dirty, because this is just flat out brawling--bone breaking, blood gushing action. Don't say we didn't warn you. In this game, there are no rules except to win.

To achieve your goal of ultimate backyard warrior, game developers, Eidos, helped out by creating interactive environments that let wrestlers pick up objects (bottles, bricks, bats, broom handles, chairs etc.,) to throw, smack, or smash each other with. Before stepping into the arena and beating your enemy to a pulp with your favorite pipe, you're gonna need some mood music. No worries, a soundtrack with over three dozen songs from bands like Insane Clown Posse, Sum 41, and Sepultura will get things started in the right direction. After that friends, it's all up to you.

Button mashers beware! No button mashing for this game. All this does is "reverse" your character's current move and it makes the character jerk around like a puppet. Meanwhile, your opponent is about to make scrambled brains on toast--yours, don't let 'em get the upper hand. Your best bet is always an aggressive one. Go after the other player and don't stop until you win. Don't forget to try everything! Climb on brick walls, ladders and roof tops to jump off and pile drive your opponents head into the concrete. Ooooh, too bad, those were his teeth... Each character has a certain slam move that is irreversible and that causes a tremendous amount of blood and damage. Learn your character's move, and it could save your ass in more ways than one.

Game play modes include Talk Show Mode (think Jerry Springer) where players try their luck at defeating wrestlers to open up new venues, characters and bonus games, like "Survival". Exhibition Mode can be played by either one player against the CPU, or invite a friend over who needs an ass whoopin' to play a two-player game. A cool feature included is Create a Wrestler. You pick what they look like, what they wear, their fighting style and their name. Once you're done, take your character to the backyard to test your skills and to beat your old high scores.

Yes, yes there are warnings galore all over this game, even in the title, so if you're a crybaby--keep moving, you're not welcome in the ring. If you view Backyard Wrestling more as a How-To Manual instead of a game, then the gene pool is better off without you anyway. This an over-the-top game that will have you laughing at the psycho moves you pull off, rocking out to the hardcore soundtrack, and hopefully, not taking any of it seriously at all. We give Backyard Wrestling: Don't Try This At Home four nukes. ****