 The beautiful Pacific Coast Highway. Sun, surf, and backyard wrestling? Eidos pulled out all the stops to show off their new brawler, Backyard Wrestling, in semi-sunny Pacific Palisades, CA. The show was complete with wrestlers, backyard wrestlers, and beautiful backyard wrestling babes. There was even a little person, and drunk wrestler-wannabe to round out the cast. The press was first shown a demonstration of the title by its developers, Paradox (X-Men fighters, Thrill Kill). The level that was the furthest along was the mansion area. Here players could run around the backyard of a mansion, pick up patio chairs, torches, anything that was lying around, and use it to beat your opponent senseless. Players will also auto-climb or auto-maneuver over any object. If you want to climb the palm tree, simply push the analog stick against it and the wrestler will start climbing. Another example shown was a wrestler moving against a patio table and automatically rolling onto it. Of course, you can climb to any higher elevation and body slam your opponent onto the ground. Backyard Wrestling moved at a slick 60 frames per second, and featured decent texturing for players and backdrops.   Next it was hands-on this bad boy to test the game out for ourselves. The button setup is easy to figure out and intuitive. The square and x buttons are first and secondary attacks, the triangle button is to pick up and put down objects, and the circle button is used to grab. Players have a snappy feel to their moves and a generally good fast-pace to them. It was real easy to move around the environment thanks to the auto-moves that have you climb, roll, etc. onto most surfaces. Once on a high platform you can push an attack button to body slam. One of the best additions to Backyard Wrestling’s gameplay is the ability to reverse holds. One press of the circle button and you’ll have your opponent in a headlock. But as your attack progresses, your opponent will flash a few times to signal a window of opportunity for him to press circle and reverse the grab. This reversing dance can go on until one player screws up and feels the fury of a grab attack. It also ensures that you can't keep grabbing someone senseless and win. Backyard Wrestling also features NPCs (non-playable characters) to add to the fun. At the mansion background, a butler will be standing by near the side with a silver platter. If you go near him you’ll get wacked by the platter. You can even use a grab move, hurdle your wrestler towards the butler and watch him get smacked. Other NPCs in the mansion background included a man and woman who hurl random things at you if you get too close to them. The areas in Backyard Wrestling most resemble those of Power Stone. It’s kind of like a fully interactive playground that gives you the tools to have a fun wrestling match. The mansion area featured a sound stage you could climb on, speakers you can be thrown in, patio table, chairs, torches, and a roof over the spa to jump off of. It’s up to the player to decide what to do, the game just gives you the tools to be creative while you’re doing it. The build at the event was a bit early and had a few glitches. Players were prone to bad collision detection, walking outside the backdrop area, and getting stuck in a few places. Paradox mentioned that the game is currently over 50% complete, so issues can be cleaned up between now and when the title ships. The game is set up have roughly 30 wrestlers, a career mode, vs. mode, and many locations to fight in, including a mall. After play, the press were treated to some real life Backyard Wrestling thanks to the multiple wrestling entertainers present. The wrestlers literally kicked the crap out of each other with chairs, fluorescent lights, and staples to the head (youch!). As bloody as it was, it was entertainment as its best. Backyard Wrestling slams into stores this summer. The game is currently set to hit PS2 and Xbox, with GC status pending. We’ll have a full preview up soon at GA. Until then, take a gander at the Backyard Wrestling event.         
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