Customizing

Despite the huge roster, many fans will be put off by the lack of American stars - copies of Undertaker, Kane, The rock et al are conspicuous by their absence, despite being in Fire Pro D on the Dreamcast. However, this is where the Edit mode comes in. Not only can each promotion, wrestler and faction in the game be renamed, the 500 edit slots and exhaustive move list means that anybody can be made and have a very close move set to their real life counterpart. Thanks to the frankly mind bogglingly huge logic system, you can even make them wrestle like the real version - the logic programming is so deep that there is not enough space in this review to do it justice.

Aside from wrestlers, there is also a ring edit mode that allows you to use a built in paint package to create a ring logo and use it on custom coloured rings. Want to make the ECW ring? No problem. It's a shame that this game was originally made before TNA got the six sided ring, or the chances are that that would be in here, too.

Match Maker Mode

Anybody tired of 'one night' matches will be drawn to the Match Maker Mode. In this mode, the aim is to choose a promotion and book a card, or a series of events in a manner that will please the spectators. This plays out like management simulation, where money is awarded for big drawing cards, which allows you to book more wrestlers and bigger venues. A smart booker will pay attention to what the fans of each federation like, and will book to their tastes. To excite fans further, it is possible to control every match that has been booked, to make it as close as possible - the fans won't respond to a one sided squash match.

It's About Wrestling, not Winning

Sadly, Fire Pro doesn't include a story mode, unlockables, or any of the extras that seem to come as standard in wrestling games these days, meaning that many may find the game fails to hold their attention in the long term, but that's the divisive nature of the Fire Pro series. It's not a sports entertainment game, it's a wrestling simulation. The appeal is in wrestling a great match, rather than winning, and as such offers a much more emotive experience than the competition. How many times have you been happy to lose in Smackdown? In Fire Pro, there is just as much joy in losing a great match as winning.

With Fire Pro, the only limits are within the individual player's imagination. There are all the tools to create one's own story mode, title runs, rosters and of course, great matches, but it's down to the player to create them himself, or with the help of friends.

Despite having the most robust wrestling engine in gaming history, Fire Pro will no doubt be shunned for being a PS2 game that uses sprites, however, for any fans of wrestling, or anybody who is even mildly curious, the $14 price tag is something that cannot be argued with.

Take a chance on Fire Pro, and the chances are, you'll be returning for many years to come.