Visually the game has its impressive moments and can very well be called a launch window/next gen title. The character models are well designed…or very well designed if that is your thing. Each female grappler has a unique look, attitude, and animations. The intros are long, pre canned, and sometimes quite humorous. It is obvious that the influence comes more from Japanese wrestling and not from what we know here in the states. The animations are solid, especially in replicating the actual wrestling moves, which all flows together nicely and are sometimes quite impressive. There unfortunately isn’t much interaction with objects outside the ring, so now Devon doesn’t have to get the tables. This ties in with the fact that the rings are too small, which doesn’t give you much room to maneuver. I was also upset to see that there wasn’t any ‘create’ a wrestler, only customize, which is very limiting and tries to make you believe that with adjustments more wrestlers exists. The game’s cloth animations and lighting round off the visuals nicely and can be, to the right person, a good showcase for your 360.

Audio consists of Japanese J-Pop, overly excited intro announcers, pre-canned crowd effect, and no in game commentary. I was happy to see that if you make a play list on your Xbox 360 hard drive that you can use your own music to accompany your wrestlers to the ring, and believe me, after hearing this song selection you’ll be doing this rather quickly.

Game play as mentioned before, feels more like a fighting game with wrestling moves added in. When you try to execute the grappling engine, it feels clumsy and slow, which leads to many repeated moves. This may also be due to the fact that the move set is low compared to other wrestling titles. While Rumble Roses XX does feel closer to a wrestling game that the original, I can hardly say that this game will appeal to fans of the genre. On the plus side, moves are easy to execute, collision detection is remarkably good for a title of this nature, and some of the cool special moves and finishers come off looking impressive.

Fans who enjoy the game will find that there is a wealth of game modes to choose from. You have Tag Matches for 1-4 players, Queens Matches, which is a head-to-head battle where the loser must humiliate themselves after the match in a Penalty Game. Handicap Match, 3 or 4 way Battle Royal, a Pure Humiliation Match that can only end with a humiliation move, and everyone’s favorite, Street Fight. Out of the ring, action can be enjoyed with Character Customization, Photo Mode, and Costume Changes, for those who bought the game for these very reasons. An interesting Character Evolution feature affects your rivalries, crowd response, and even alters your intros depending on if you fight dirty or clean. Toss in some online play for up to 4 players complete with rankings to round out the solid replay value.

Rumble Roses XX is not a terrible game, or as some may think, video game porn. Beneath the surface there is a pretty good fighting game hiding underneath. If the gameplay felt more like wrestling than UFC, then the fans of the squared circle would have little choice but to pick this up. As is, I still feel that the potential for this title is there. Maybe by Rumble Roses XXX they will find their niche and produce a game that appeals to fans of the wrestling genre, rather than the fighting genre.