07/27/01

Fire Pro Wrestling (GBA)

You know a game is good when it takes someone who is new to the series and addicts them for three strait days. That's what Fire Pro Wrestling did to me. Honestly, I'd never played a fire pro game before Pat's party, and now I'm saving every penny to buy as many games in the series as I can. This game is THAT good.

Fire Pro may not have the graphical flare of other GBA games like Castlevania: Circle of the Moon or F-|Zero Advance (there are no mode seven effects or giant bosses), but the game delivers where it counts, its fun. Fire Pro delivers a game that anyone can jump right into, without being a button masher. There is virtually no possible way to be cheap in Fire Pro. If you want to win, you have to be good at it. I know some of you no mercy players out there might be worried that you'll suck at a game that requires skill to win, but don't go crying to THQ just yet, Fire Pro is very easy to get the hang of. Its just takes a little more practice to master. The graphics are nice as well, characters are very well animated, if a little small. But despite there small size, they are very detailed. All the moves manage to look excruciatingly painful too. Speaking of moves, there are over 500 in FPW all of which are available to your costume characters. I was able to find both Raiden's (KOF) and Jeffry's (VF) power bomb whip, and Jeffry's sitting power bomb. Not to mention the plethora of punch rushes I gave Balrog (SF duh), his finisher even looks like the gigaton blow. Seriously, I was able to find EVERY move for all three of those characters, and still have any number of moves that would work that I didn't use. The sheer number of faces, bodies, shoes, ect, do make it tedious to look through them all, but its worth it. You can build a likeness to just about any character that's proportioned realistically (sorry Pat, no Mega Man), and that is saying something. This game's create a wrestler mode makes No Mercy seem like your just doing a palate swap in street fighter.

Fire Pro is one of the best launch games for the GBA, and makes the GBA a must buy by itself. 9 out of 10

                                         
-Matt C

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