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Backyard Wrestling - Feature Feature
Mark Simons
31/07/2003
Find out more about this wrestling game that doesn't focus on the glitz and the glamour of the big-time...
You can never get away from the fact that those damn yanks can come up with a new variation on any theme and the latest one, Backyard Wrestling, places you in the role of an aspiring wrestler. Apparently it is extremely popular and totally outrageous - but could we expect any less? It certainly sounds like a great idea and setting for a video game where a developer can really let loose.
We are informed that this controversial and shocking US phenomenon of Backyard Wrestling has been around almost as long as professional wrestling. It was unorganised, undocumented fun but has now evolved into something much more. With the popularity of 'hardcore' or 'deathmatch' style wrestling on TV, people were no longer satisfied with just being spectators and took playful wrestling with their friends to the next level. Where a bunch of guys would once 'play fight' in their yards, they now perform outrageous stunts.
The competitors must be prepared to endure extreme amounts of pain and take incredible risks in order to move one step closer to the BYW title and ultimately be crowned 'The King of Hardcore'. But the road to glory is long and dangerous. Dozens of weapons, including thumbtacks, barbed wire, light bulbs, baseball bats, tables, trash cans, and stop signs, are at your disposal to help re-arrange the faces of new challengers.
The more you hear the most interesting it sounds. We were so eager to find out more that we sent our roving reporter to challenge Mike Schmitt - U.S. Producer at Eidos Interactive - to give us the complete low down on this dastardly pastime and begin by giving us all a brief resume to its history.
"Backyard Wrestling was inspired by the popular VHS/DVD series. The whole phenomenon is a sort of a grass roots/underground movement. Fans of wrestling (WWF, ECW, WCW, etc.) across America started forming amateur wrestling leagues, putting on shows (and videotaping the footage). As footage began to circulate among wrestling fans a couple of quick thinking individuals decided to collect the most entertaining clips and distribute the footage commercially. So far BYW INC has sold over 2.5 million copies in the USA... and the series was just released in the UK a month or so ago (where they topped the home video charts). In addition to selling the tapes/DVD at retail, BYW INC also sells product direct (via late night TV advertisements) and have recently got into the Pay Per View market."
"When Eidos acquired the rights to do a Backyard Wrestling game we secured all of the available footage, etc. As for characters in the game we pull from a few sources. We have some of the more entertaining 'stars' from BYW as well as some of the 'Backyard Babes'. We also did a deal with JCW. JCW is an independent wrestling league owned and operated by the Insane Clown Posse (ICP). The ICP guys were huge wrestling fans and wanted to start their own league. They have their own cast of colourful characters and a number of them are featured in our game. Lastly, we have a few original characters that were created to round out the mix."
"As for rules in BYW, there are none and it really isn't a sport. Wrestling fans continue to stage leagues/matches and BYW INC continues to crank out tapes/DVDs of the most outrageous footage submitted to them."
The real nitty gritty of the confrontations - damage deformation to the human body - is done tastefully or, should that be, with plausibility. The characters in BYW take very realistic damage and in multiple stages, to different parts of their bodies, (for extreme realism). That said, backyard wrestlers think nothing of throwing opponents off 25ft high rooftops onto flaming tables and inflicting super violent acts with baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire.
On offer will be over 20 unlockable playable characters based on real life Backyard wrestlers, each with their own fighting styles and signature moves and understanding the moves on offer and the varying styles is straightforward as was explained. BYW is all about learning how to utilise your environment. Finding out what can be used as a weapon - finding where the high spots are (for aerial moves) - finding props to use for massive finishing moves. As for the characters, each wrestler is somewhat different. Some are big and slow but extremely strong, while others are fast high-flyers. It's up to the player to find a style they like and to know how to utilize the various props in the environment."
A special 'stun' meter provides players with extra humiliation moves. The more you stun your opponent with your cool moves the higher your stun rating will go, allowing you to humiliate your opponent. Moves are based on timing and skill and every attack, throw or slam, can be reversed with carefully executed counter moves. As you would expect a plethroa of devastating moves, including slams, throws, combos, ledge throws, aerial manoeuvres, running attacks, ground attacks, reversal moves and of course weapon attacks, are on offer and there are some splendid settings to grace all of this top notch action.
"We have 6 locations that I can tell you about and each location has different things in the environment you can interact with. You start off in what we call the 'Poor Kid's Backyard' - It's a beaten down, white-trashy looking shack. Tons of junk is available in the yard that can be incorporated into matches (broken down car, old mattress, busted up washing machine, etc). Other areas include: a truckstop, shopping mall, gentlemen's club, slaughterhouse and also a lush Mansion backyard. Each of the various locations is stocked full of different weapons/props that are unique to the level."
The goal and challenges are pretty straightforward in that in the single player career mode you fight your way through various locations (and opponents). You're also 'graded' on a number of categories as you play (percentage of environment destroyed, amount of damage inflicted, etc.)
The look and presentation of the game is very slick and is being coded by US developer Paradox, which has created other big titles that include: X-Men: Mutant Academy 2, X-Men: Next Dimension, Wu Tang: Shaolin Style and Lion King: Simba's Mighty Adventure, etc.
Everything you see has been hand animated in the fully interactive and destructible environments. Since Backyard Wrestling is pretty outrageous, some of the scenarios and moves in the game have been cranked way up! For instance you can pull off INSANE aerial attacks in the game from various high spots that would be impossible in real life.
To get a fix on what you are doing and the state of play a number of onscreen icons and meters will give you the full lowdown, which include your life bar and your stun meter. The more you stun your opponent with your cool moves the higher your stun rating will go allowing you to humiliate your opponent. There are 3 separate levels of stun (coming from punch/kick attacks, weapon attacks, and aerial/hardcore attacks). Ideally you want to get your opponent in a completely stunned state so you can set them up for a crazy aerial attack.
BYW offers numerous modes of play and the kind of outrageous action and possibilities that keen gamers want in their questions for the next big fix. A cool damage model system where you can see characters getting cut and bruised and bleeding, are a few of the extras on offer.
We have high expectations and let Mike have the parting shot.
"Backyard Wrestling is a new take on the wrestling genre. We're not emulating a TV show (like the WWE products) but instead taking the spirit of wrestling and putting an extreme twist on it. Our matches don't even take place in a ring! It's all about utilizing the environment to brutalize your opponent."
Feature by Derek dela Fuente
