Return To Home Page		February 2, 2005

Release Date	Publisher	Developer	Anticipation	Players	Price
25/2/2005	Konami	Konami/Yukes		1-2	$99.95

The fighters look gorgeous.

I'm not a fan of wrestling, but I don't mind wrestling games. Perhaps it's the knowledge that games are delibertly fake. While THQ's WWE titles follow the tripe seen on TV Konami have teamed up with Yukes (who also develop THQ's titles) to develop a wrestling game filled with boobs... ermm, I mean female wrestlers. It's a match made in heaven if you ask me. Rumble Roses is generating a lot of interest prior to release, and it's not hard to see why - this game has a solid developer and looks wonderful. But is there any substance behind the visual flair?

Some of the lush visuals.

Rumble Roses, as you probably already know, is a wrestling title featuring only female wrestlers. In total the game includes some eleven wrestlers to, ermm, play with, although that number doubles as you unlock their alter-ego's. As you expect with Yukes developing the title Rumble Roses includes all manner of wrestling moves including suplexes, kicks, elbows and pins. The controls are fairly basic but allow you to rack up some nice combinations to ensure your opponent isn't going to get up anytime soon. The wrestlers can also taunt each other mid-bout, while the combination of moves and aggression will determine how 'good' or 'bad' the crowd perceive them, resulting in boos or cheers from the baying fans.

It's a mud match!

As well as exhibition matches the developers are including a story mode. We haven't seen this yet but it apparently has something to do with the military cloning the wrestlers. Another of the game modes is the Mud Mode. As the name suggest this mode puts the bikini clad girls into a mud-filled pool to wrestle to the end. It's not really as exciting as it sounds however. From our limited time in this game mode the wrestlers get a nice dirty brown sheen to them for a few seconds before it starts to drain off again. There's certinaly no "Stripes" type ripping off of the bikini's. Sigh...

Impressive, most impressive!

Graphically Rumble Roses is pretty special overall. Each of the wrestlers is reportedly made up of some 10,000 polygons, and their animation is equally impressive. Even the intro to the game with its rocking soundtrack will get you pumped, and certainly it's an intro we can't (or should that be don't) seem to want to skip here at Future Gamez.

Konami are certainly using the theory that "sex sells" with this title. But hey, I know that I would much rather watch these stunning girls wrestling then either real life wrestlers, or blokes. I hope you like girl-on-girl action (and really, which guy doesn't!) because this game's coming in for a pounding in late February.