Backyard wrestlers are both insane and tough, they would have those WWE lot running away from them like girls. They leap off roofs, whack each other with unforgiving objects and bleed a lot. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to discover that this concept would translate well as a videogame, just as long as it's done with somewhat good execution and features lots of blood and people jumping off roofs onto each other of course.
Despite having wrestling in in its title, we'd be hard pushed to call Backyard Wrestling a wrestling game. The game does like to think it's a stablemate of the SmackDown! series, although it never truly convinces as one. Grapples strangely seem a little ineffective whilst punches and kicks seem to be the best bet at wearing down an opponent. Then there's the reversals, which are incredibly unresponsive, if any less so they would be literally nonexistent, such is the rareness of pulling one off.
If you find the game itself amusing, then the career mode may very well raise a smile. The story sequences are based on one of those trashy American talk shows, and the topic of the day is naturally that of Backyard Wrestling. The mode itself has you going up against a select number of opponents, before moving on to the next set of wrestlers. Sadly whenever you taste defeat, the amount of loading times you must endure is abominable, which is especially annoying when your opponent seems to be refusing to be defeated. Persistence in the career mode will reward you with new characters and environments simply by beating the locked character and completing a stage respectively.
The game is strikingly brutal and plays host to a number of weapons, which all have no problem in forging bloody holes into bodies. Anything you see in each of the environments is most probably a weapon that you can whack someone over the head with, including everything from a plank of wood to a cow's head. The strange thing about the weapons is the fact, that throwing results in an aerial weapon that acts like a heat seeking missile, which is both annoying and amusing. Then there is the strangeness of the weapons that disappear and then reappear after use, which makes the disappearing act seem a little pointless.
The sizeable stages are fantastic and diverse, ranging from a standard weapon-littered backyard to a bloody slaughterhouse. The stages are also tiered, which means you can climb to an advantageous position and jump down on to any hapless foes and you are never confined to a ring. There's also various people who are much more then just spectators, as when given the chance they'll intervene in your matches and smack you around the head, clearly displaying their disapproval at your crazy stunts.
Backyard Wrestling is better than we expected; it's just a shame about the lack of polish and the posse of problems. As a wrestling game it doesn't convince, and seems a little undecided whether to fall into the fighting or wrestling game category. Whatever the case, Backyard Wrestling is a brutally fun game, and an improved sequel would be most welcome.
7/10
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