Fire Pro Wrestling World (Part 1)
Steam / PC
Folks, this is a game that I've wanted to play ever since it got released! The problem always was, as far as consoles go, this game was a PlayStation exclusive and I happened to own an Xbox so, I was SOL, as they used to say. I never felt like it was worth owning an Xbox AND a PlayStation. They're just too similar in my opinion. What I did end up investing in was a gaming laptop because that way I can purchase all of the old PC games that I love on Steam (I just bought the original Wasteland (1988) earlier today for $1.50, no less. Gotta love the Steam sales!) but I can also get my hands on most (if not all) of the PS exclusives that I always wanted to play. Of course, this game was on the top of that list and I had to check it out first!
Fire Pro Wrestling World was first officially released on the PC on December 18, 2017, after having an Early Acess release earlier that year. It was developed and released by Spike Chunsoft; the current holder of the Fire Pro license. This is a really deep game, especially if you own most of the DLC as I do. For that reason, I figured we'd take a deep dive on this one and I'll break this massive game down, little by little, and see how good it really is. First, we'll take a look at the base game...
I'll admit, my initial reaction to this game was "disappointment". The last Fire Pro game that I played was Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on the PlayStation 2 so, I expected a huge number of wrestlers/MMA fighters to choose from on the roster. In the base roster for Fire Pro World; there may be 20-30 characters available and none of them are even based on real-life counterparts like other Fire Pro games. You can easily remedy this through purchasing DLC and through downloading other players created wrestlers on the Workshop section of Steam.
Having a game with a shitty roster and then forcing people to build up a better roster through investing even more money into the game seems like a dirty tactic, but I caught all of this stuff on sale and, for the sale prices, it was worth it. By dropping a few bucks, I added some of the top stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling circa 2017 like Kenny Omega, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Juice Robinson, and even some NJPW legends like Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask.
For a few dollars more (which is also the title of a classic,Clint Eastwood western) I added the NJPW 2018 pack which included even more stars like "Switchblade" Jay White. There are also two DLCs that add Joshi stars from the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion but I haven't invested in those just yet. I will soon, though, for sure.
Where you can really make your in-game roster shine is through downloading CAWs from the Steam Workshop that other players have literally poured hours into making and perfecting. If you can think of a wrestler; more than likely someone has created a decent (if not excellent) version of him or her for you to download into your game. Seriously, there are people out there who spend hours and hours creating legend after legend for all of us to enjoy and I, for one, really appreciate that.
The great thing with Fire Pro Wrestling World is, the tools they give you to create your own wrestlers are literally the tools the developers used themselves to create wrestlers for the game so you can make your creations look and act as much like their real-life counterpart as you want. The only limitation is the amount of time you're willing to invest in it. Players can also spend just as much time creating and tweaking signature moves for all their creations so it really is limitless as far as who and what you can create.
Moving on... let's take a look at some of the match types and game modes we have available here. As far as match types go - this game contains all the Fire Pro standards like a cage match, a couple of different deathmatches, Pride FC/Pancrase fights, and even UFC style fights in an octagon. There are even tournament and league options available to mess around with. This game has a huge variety of matches to keep you entertained and coming back for more!
As far as the available game modes go - Fire Promoter caught my attention first and it's the one that I've played the most. I'm always a sucker for a good promoter/GM mode. There's something about micromanaging a wrestling promotion that's always been appealing to me and Fire Promoter does not disappoint. In this mode, you start with a roster of 6 wrestlers and slowly build up your promotion to the greatest heights that you can.
Month by month, you're able to sign wrestlers to a contract, produce merchandise to sell to all the marks, sign indy wrestlers to a one-shot deal for the current event you're promoting along with many other options. You can even reach out to other promotions and loan talent to them or request them to send talent to you. You can upgrade your gym to improve the wrestlers on your roster and even negotiate television contracts. Fire Promoter is a great game mode that I've spent a lot of time on so far yet somehow, I'm still not very good at. The "fun factor" is there for sure, though, and I'll keep plugging away at it and continue to try to improve. Like most game modes for Fire Pro World - this mode is DLC that costs extra to get your hands on but it's well worth the investment, I'd say.
So far, this has been a really fun and really deep pro wrestling game to take a look at. Next time; we'll continue to dive deeper into this game to see what it has to offer. Speaking of "next time"...
Until next time... keep mashing those buttons!