Hey​ ​hey​ ​folks,​ ​and​ ​welcome​
​to​ ​another​ ​installment​ ​of​
​Dave’s​ ​Impressions.​ ​This​
​time​ ​around,
Fire Pro Wrestling World.​ ​These​ ​impressions​
​were​ ​taken​ ​from​ ​playing​
​the​ ​game​ ​for​ ​around 3
hours. ​Enjoy!
Before talking about the latest entry in the
long running Fire Pro Wrestling series, I
need to lay out a little history. I am a lifelong
pro wrestling fan. Something about the larger
than life figures fighting each other captured
my imagination as a child, and that style
of physical storytelling has kept my interest
all these years later. Oh sometimes I’ll
take a break for a few years or get tired
of one promotion and watch another for a while,
but I think I’ll always have the pro wrestling
bug in some form or another.
The Fire Pro series has been around for a
while. I first discovered it on the Game Boy
Advance, but it was the 2005 Playstation 2
release of Fire Pro Wrestling Returns in the
US that consumed me. A disclaimer. While I
played a lot of the GBA version, I have never
actually played the PS2 version. I became
obsessed with creating characters in the editor
and having the game itself control them, simming
wrestling matches. I created a whole federation
of wrestlers and booked shows, writing about
the results like I was covering a real event.
The three hours that I have spent with Fire
Pro Wrestling World has all been simming.
Now I’m not saying that these games aren’t
worth playing. The timing based grapple system
is unlike any other wrestling game out there.
I recommend those who enjoy wrestling games
to give it a try. I just prefer simming.
Steam workshop really is the reason to play
this version over any other Fire Pro release.
Previous entries had hundreds of wrestlers,
often famous ones with name changes to avoid
copyright infringement. This game has a small
collection of original wrestlers. Very small.
All the modes are still here, but whether
it was because of time restraints, budget,
or not wanting to get sued, you’re going
to want to visit Steam workshop. Thanks to
a robust community, any wrestler I could think
of has been available to download. Often with
costume changes, and fully tweaked CPU logic.
There’s even referees and original creations.
How could I not have my matches officiated
by Red Shoes?
Now if you want to make your own creations,
you’ll be spending a lot of time in the
editor, and I recommend for the sake of your
sanity to turn the music off and listen to
Spotify or a podcast. The editor seems confounding
at first, and that’s because it is. It’s
one of those systems where you just start
playing around and after a lot of trial and
error, you start to understand how it all
works. Of course I say this with the experience
of using the editors of two previous games.
A lot came back to me, including what some
of the special abilities do, and what the
different wrestling styles mean. Some limitations
I would place on myself as well, like if I
want to raise an ability point in one stat,
I have to lower it in another. I want my creations
to have well defined strengths and weaknesses.
There is a manual out there on the net that
offers a measure of explanation, but trial
and error will be your best teacher. Especially
testing your wrestler. During a test match,
I couldn’t stop staring at a small section
of beard I had forgotten to fill in.
And unless you’re meticulous with your AI
tweaking, simming matches is not going to
go as smoothly as it could. It’s an issue
with Steam workshop too as you don’t know
how dedicated the person who created the wrestler
is with tweaking values, and you can’t edit
their creation yourself. Even with great CPU
logic, matches are far from perfect, but there
are plenty of magic moments to make it worthwhile.
I find myself getting sucked into the drama
of the matches, rooting for one character
over another, and often the CPU will really
surprise me with a move combination or a reversal.
All of this is enhanced by the ability to
sim any dream match I can think of. Hulk Hogan
vs Brock Lesnar in a steel cage? Done. Cactus
Jack vs Pentagon Jr in a barbed wire deathmatch?
No problem. How about The New Day vs The Elite?
Well the AI has a problem with mutliple wrestlers
interacting with each other, but the match
had some great moments. Each match I simmed
sent my mind racing with new possibilities.
I think what the developers were trying to
do was bring Fire Pro Wrestling back, but
use the modding power of the PC community
to make up for a lack of resources. The game
doesn’t look too much better than its PS2
counterpart, but the ability to download any
wrestler on a whim (not to mention all the
other mods I haven’t even looked into yet)
might just make this the definitive Fire Pro
experience. I might not have the time to create
a whole wrestling fed again, but I can still
feel the pull to do so. I can always sim dream
matches as a back up.
Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed this video,
please like, comment, share, and subscribe,
and I hope you’re having a wonderful day.
