Backyard Wrestling:
Don't Try This at Home
System: X-Box
Publisher: Eidos
Developer:
Paradox Entertainment
Released: October 2003
Genre: Pro-Wrestling/Fighting
Capabilities: Memory Unit, Custom Soundtracks
Review Written: October 28, 2003
I didn’t know what to expect when I first heard the announcement of Eidos
publishing Backyard Wrestling: Don’t try this at Home (BYW). While the
enormous amounts of BYW DVD’s that are on the market do have a little cult
following, it is nowhere in the same league as the popularity of the WWE, or to
even a lesser extent, NWA: TNA. Regardless, I can’t argue with the fact that
this is a much needed fresh twist to the wrestling genre of video games.
Unfortunately, BYW fails to be a serious wrestling title, and while there are a
few good parts about the game, they probably won’t leave any lasting impressions
for you to buy the game.
Chances are you have probably never heard of 90% of the roster of grapplers that
appear in BYW. The most recognizable wrestlers in here are the rap group, Insane
Clown Posse (ICP). Besides having stints in the former WWF and the now-defunct
WCW, the ICP also started up their own wrestling organization, JCW (Juggalo
Championsh** Wrestling). Eidos also managed to get an agreement from former ECW
Champion, Sabu to appear as a selectable wrestler in the game. So other than
those three, the rest of the roster are a bunch of unknowns from JCW and BYW
that combine to form a roster of 30+ wrestlers.
BYW plays out more like a fighting game with a few wrestling elements thrown in
the mix instead of a pure wrestling game. You’ll notice this right away as there
is no ring whatsoever to be found in gameplay. This is the first game to take
this bold step since the not-so-memorable WCW Backstage Assault. Next,
there aren’t that many actual wrestling moves that can be performed. Each
wrestler can do only eight grappling moves. BYW takes a page out of DefJam
Vendetta by exaggerating the average move by throwing in some flashy
animations of the wrestlers being tossed around in an unrealistic manner, and by
renaming the moves (one example is the Death Valley Driver now being known as
“Over the Rainbow”) to fit the atmosphere of the game better. The finishing
moves especially standout the most, as the developers gave them a bunch of
slow-motion effects to really hammer home the impact. A decent reversal system
is also implemented, where the character who is being dealt the damage must
press the B button when he is briefly flashing in order to pull of the reversal.
.
Just like Backstage Assault, BYW makes the multiple amount of stages
interactive. Throw opponents into a gas pump and watch it rocket off into the
air, or give an earth-shattering slam right through a table. Certain collisions
can trigger events, slam a guy into a motorcycle outside a bar, and its owner
will magically appear with a baseball bat and will harm anyone who comes near
him. Almost any object can be picked up from the ground; they range from your
common baseball bat and steel chair to awkward objects such as mannequins and
basketballs to yield damage with. Characters can also instantly maneuver across
any platform such as ladders or boxes if they seem climbable, and don’t even
need to press a “climb” button as in most other wrestling games.
While Backstage Assault still focused more on a wrestling engine, BYW
seems more fighting-based, as my friends and I end up whaling on each other with
the versatile amount of weapons and interactive environments more so than the
slim amount of wrestling moves available. All this mayhem also causes life-bars
to drain ridiculously fast, and the average match usually lasts under two
minutes before a wrestler is KO’d. Heck, the inclusion of a pin button in here
is practically useless because of the fast paced matches.
The main way to play BYW is Talk Show Mode. Where the host of a television talk
show that is dubbed “Today’s Topic” introduces characters and interviews them to
set up the forthcoming matches. The actual matches are your basic one-on-one
bouts, but with maybe a stipulation or two thrown in like beating two or three
wrestlers with the damage dealt in one round still being sustained into the
next. There are also some bonus goals to achieve like getting X amount of
reversals and so on that unlock some of the hidden wrestlers and venues. Even
though the cut-scenes of the talk show are pretty witty and funny, they really
do nothing to effect the matches overall, and the lack of interactive storylines
makes this main single player mode seem just like several random matches against
the computer.
There aren’t that many extra match types available due to the non-ring nature of
the game. So don’t be disappointed when there is none of the fancy Cage or
Ladder matches to be found. There is a Survival mode, where you must face a
countless string of opponents on just one life-bar until you lose. There are
also two extra modes to be unlocked, the self explanatory King of the Hill and
Tag modes, which are two-player match types only. Surprisingly, a
Create-a-Wrestler (CaW) mode is included, but sadly it is lacking in almost
every creation element there is. All there is to it is selecting one of 15
character models and giving them one of several costume colors. You can’t select
specific shirts, tattoos, or accessories to deck your “created” wrestler out
with. Nor can you select their hairstyle, or add text to their costume. This
mode just seems rather tacked on, and is the most limited CaW mode to ever grace
a wrestling game.
Just like the gameplay, the graphics have their own ups and downs. The character
models are moderately detailed, albeit having a slight cartoon-ish look to them.
The models do look decent in their own right, but they look a few generations
behind when compared to the stellar models found in current wrestling games like
RAW 2 and Smackdown. There is plenty of blood that is spewing out
of the brawlers, and even though it is outrageously exaggerated, it fits the
zany nature of the gameplay. I was kind of shocked to notice continuous facial
damage to the character models considering that matches were pretty short.
Regardless, seeing clothing ripped apart and stained with blood does leave some
good impressions.
I loved the exaggerated move animations in DefJam Vendetta, and they look
just as sweet in here, it is just too bad there is not that many of them in
comparison. There really isn’t much in terms of presentation in BYW. The menus
are fairly basic, with no splashy effects. The entrances consume of a short pose
from the wrestler with the occasional audio threat from some of them. The FMV’s
for the Talk Show mode are what stand out the most. The CGI quality in them is
top notch, and it is just too bad the actual in game models don’t look anywhere
as close as the ones seen in the cut-scenes.
The sound effects for all the slams and punches aren’t anything we have heard
before, and they got the done just fine. The voice acting in the Talk Show mode
cut-scenes are well done and actually sound like the voice actors care for once.
One of BYW’s main features is its whopping 41 song soundtrack. Unlike the
wrestler roster, a lot of these artists are fairly well-known with groups like
Sum 41, Andrew WK, and (obviously) ICP contributing to this massive soundtrack.
An impressive Jukebox feature lets you enable and disable which songs you want
played during matches. The developers also capitalized on letting players adding
their own custom soundtracks to the mix as well. Interestingly, BYW is one of
the first Xbox titles that lets you copy any or all of the songs in the included
play list onto your Xbox hard drive.
Surprisingly, there is a bit of stuff to keep you hanging onto your copy of BYW,
though not for that much longer. There are the standard wrestlers and arenas
that need to be unlocked by completing Talk Show and Survival modes.
Regrettably, both modes can be fully completed in less than two hours apiece.
There are extra music video packages of BYW highlights that need to be earned.
The well-put together videos sadly are the only highlight of the extras. The
locked Tag and King of the Hill modes are decent multi player modes, but they
get stale after awhile with just two players. I have no idea why the developers
didn’t make this a four player game; it seems it would have been a perfect
candidate considering the small stages that the action takes place in.
RATINGS
Graphics: 7.0
Sound: 8.5
Gameplay: 5.4
Replay Value: 6.2
Overall: 6.7
BYW tried really hard, but didn’t really pull off being the next big wrestling
title. What is here though is more of a fighting game, with some wrestling
elements thrown in to round off the package. It can be fun for awhile, but the
frantically fast-paced matches get stale too fast. This is a good two-player
game, but it is just a damn shame that no four player options are to be found.
If the developers get things right and listen to the feedback, a sequel can
improve all the shortcomings here and can make a fantastic game. As it is, this
is a nice fresh change of pace from your standard WWE title, but after a few
days you’ll impatiently want to go back to them. I simply cannot recommend
Backyard Wrestling: Don’t try this at Home for its $50 selling price, but
you can easily make the most out of it with a rental.