Rumble Roses Updated Impressions

We were fortunate to get a look at a new version of Konami's Rumble Roses, an all-female wrestler for the PlayStation 2, at the recent G-Phoria event (which airs August 6 on G4TechTV) in Los Angeles. The work-in-progress version of the game gave us a better feel for the fighting roster, the saucy attire you can choose for the fighters as you play, and the arenas you'll duke it out in.

Konami's all-girl wrestling game is, err, shaping up nicely. Click "stream" for a larger view. The work-in-progress version of the game featured a very thorough sampling of the fighters you'll choose to play as in the game. Aside from the two main characters, American grappler Dixie Clemets and Japanese combatant Reiko Hinomoto, the game will feature a varied roster of ladies who will all have a variety of different outfits to fight in. Of course, given the nature of the game, don't expect any of the outfits to offer a whole lot of coverage. The different togs will all be on the skimpy side of things and they will offer some very unique looks. As far as the arenas go, the version of the game on display showed off a mix of expected and unexpected locales. On the expected front, we saw a standard wrestling ring surrounded by a cheering crowd. The unexpected side of things was represented by a pool of mud that the girls can thrash around in, which will likely thrill players.

The control in the game was surprisingly solid for a title that features such copious amounts of cleavage. Rather than simply coast on the natural attributes of its fighters, Rumble Roses manages to incorporate a serviceable wrestling engine to the package. Each of the ladies handles pretty well and each features an accessible array of moves to use in combat.

The graphics in the game are still coming together to be a good showcase for the PlayStation 2 hardware's strengths. The high-polygon character models are quite impressive, thanks to a plethora of curved surfaces that male gamers will wholeheartedly approve of. The backgrounds are also surprisingly well done and feature a high level of detail and some interactivity. The game's look is enhanced by some nice lighting that helps enhance the player models and backgrounds.

The audio in the version of the game we played stuck to the kind of heavy rock music you'd expect in a grappler. The voices and sound effects were coming together and generally appeared to complement each other.

From what we saw, Rumble Roses is shaping up to be a solid wrestler that manages to balance a showcase of its fighters' natural assets with solid control. The graphics are coming together well and the control is on its way toward being polished. Rumble Roses is currently slated to ship this November for the PlayStation 2.