"Nothing Special Compared To Other Wrestling Titles"
I have to say...I've been a wrestling fan for quite some time. I'm even a bigger supporter of female wrestling. Besides the obvious reasons, doesn't it just make your day when you see two females go at it? That's what I'm talking about. The game 'Rumble Roses' is actually a wrestling tournament based off a famous female wrestling named 'Kamakaze Rose' (ficticious, if I am not mistaken). The winner of the tournament will win all its fame and glory. Females from all over the world have joined this tournament to duke it out. But there's more to the tournament than meets the eye. Apparently one of the female wrestlers is hell bent on trying to fix the outcome of the tournament by introducing a human-like mechanical robot (Lady X) into the tournament to convert the wrestlers into human mechs.
Though the location of the tournament is not really known, female wrestlers from around the world seek tournament glory (and lots of prize money) to become the best female wrestler in the world.
This game seems to be a spin-off of WWE's Smackdown vs. Raw (same engine, of course.). it even appears that some of the moves are taken straight from this game, but don't get me wrong - there's lots of unique moves in the game that are not found in others. You start out only being able to use certain female wrestlers. There are 3 modes in this game: Exhibition, Story, and Gallery. You soon see that there are actually 2 versions of the same female wrestler for use in the game: a FACE wrestler, and a HEEL wrestler. From what I can see, a FACE wrestler is the good person (notice I didn't say 'Good Guy!') while the HEEL wrestler is the bad, lie, cheat and steal person. As you take each FACE or HEEL wrestler through exhibition, you can use what's called a VOW SYSTEM (this allows you to set conditions for the match to ultimately change the wrestler's attitude). By changing a wrestlers attitude (say from FACE to HEEL), you're turning your selected wrestler from good to bad, and thus it unlocks the bad attitude wrestler for use in the game. And we all know what that means...bad attitude chic means more skin baby! By taking each female wrestler through Exhibition mode and converting their attitudes, and ultimately challenging the champion for the Rumble Roses Championship belt, you will unlock a gallery option for that wrestler.
In Story mode, you take the wrestler through a small plot and you get to see where each wrestler stands in the tournament, their connections to other wrestlers, and the wrestlers who are just there to stir up trouble. You interact through cinamatic cutscenes with the different wrestlers in the game. By taking each wrestler through their Story mode, you unlock their character for use in Exhibition mode, in addition to an additional outfit and swimsuit (SWIMSUIT? Read on). By completing Story mode on all female wrestlers, it unlocks a powerhouse wrestler: LADY X.
Next is Gallery mode. This is kinda neat for those geeks who have never had an intimate encounter with a girl and/or woman. The gallery is supposed to serve as eye candy for the player. You can view the wrestlers curves and body by turning, tilting, zooming in and zooming out the camera. Don't wear out your R2 button, guys.
There are 4 wrestling ring environments, and 1 beach setting. The beach setting is where the Mad Mud Matches take place. This is where the female wrestlers trade in their wrestling gear for swimsuits and high heels and duke it out in a pit of mud. Sound exciting? Continue reading. This mode is exactly like the normal wrestling setting, except their is no ring and no ropes - most times the best action happens outside the mud pit.
So let's talk about the features. There are lots of neat punch combos, grapple moves and submissions in this one. You can also utilize the top turn buckles, corners and weapons. You also have a meter which shows how close you are to setting off a Killer Move, Lethal Move, or Humiliation Move. A humiliation bar in the shape of a heart beside the Special Move bar fills up everytime you perform a move that humiliates the other player. By filling this bar along with storing a Special Move, you can pull off a humiluation move (usually a Killer move combined with a Lethal/Submission move). The learning curve is quite small so jumping into this game to play for the first time is easy. Replayability? Totally, if you're into female wrestling and getting your fix of T&A - you could play this game all day and still not get tired of it. However, as all the features are unlocked, I noticed that the replayability started to drop a bit. After you've had the chance to try out all the wrestlers, it can get to be old hat. You're restricted and you can't really sight-see - but this holds true to any sport game - very linear, combined with a storyline to help make it not seem as linear as it really is.
Now lets jump right into graphics. The graphics are pretty good, considering its PlayStation 2. Some graphics seem more jaggy than others...lighting is just right, and textures look good. However, upon closer inspection you start to see inconsistencies in the graphics: some submission moves look really fake, pinning your opponent under 2 feet of mud looks kinda strange, and actions for some wrestler's entrances look really um...strange. Aigle riding in on a horse, and Evil Rose dropping from what seems to be fifty feet in the air into the ring...the game is moreso fantasy than anything else. But I suppose that's what Konami had envisioned this time around.
The sound is okay, with the exception of some wrestlers whining vocals and the match bell which sounds like a wooden spoon striking a large stove pot - not very attractive. Impacts with the floormat are spectacular and character reaction seems somewhat appropriate for the move performed.
Now how about some drawbacks. I think that there could have been improvements to all aspects of this game. My first beef is the storyline script...the script really didn't seem well constructed. It didn't give me that 'total immersion' feeling that I hoped for. It sounded like a bunch of elementary school girls talking to each other, with the occasional "You're pissing me off" or "How'd you get a rack like that?" comments. It had its really funny moments. My guess is the script writer probably had a Grade 7 education. Next order of business is the graphics. It looks like some of the graphics are more jaggy in other parts of the game, like the game was rushed to store shelves before passing the A&R department. For the most part the graphics are good...'acceptable'....AI has its awkward moments, improvements could have been done here. More environments and more match types would have been accepted with open arms - maybe a fantasy match or a nude match (I mean, come on...the game is already M-rated!). This has to be the biggest letdown of the game. Only three match types...normal, mad mud, and championship...not a very good selection. More work could have gone into this, but it doesn't sound like Konami wanted to spend time on it. The game is already made to look erotic and kinky...WHY NOT GO ALL THE WAY?
As for value, I'm pleased to say I picked this up in the clearance bin at Walmart for $19.99 CAD, though anyone could have probably gotten by with paying $30 CAD for it without a problem. Anything more would have been highway robbery for what the game delivers in features and extras. Overall, this game will appeal to limited demographics and is really nothing more special than ALL-FEMALE WRESTLING compared to similar wrestling titles. Most newer wrestling titles have female wrestlers in them, so in the big scheme of wrestling titles, Rumble Roses is nothing special.