Backyard Wrestling has a lot in common with the series of DVDs that it was spawned from; they're both interesting for the first ten minutes but quickly degrade to mindless, repetitive jackassery.

Backyard Wrestling is plagued with flaws. It sports a too-small cast of wrestlers, limited character creation, awkward controls and only a handful of locations.

The too-few areas to wrestle in only include two backyards. Players also get the chance to brawl at a strip club and meat packing plant. Which is a fun/odd change of pace I guess, but when a game is called Backyard Wrestling, shouldn't there be more, oh I don't know, backyards to wrestle in?

Between the absurdly destructive bouts, Backyard Wrestling tries to slip a plot into the mess by interspersing fictitious talk show footage. These scenes barely connect to the actual gameplay, which is so over the top that the cutscenes end up feeling like a lame attempt at adding credibility to cheap game.

Overall the whole thing smacks of being thrown together quickly for the sole purpose of cashing in on a quickly dying fad. It might be good for a night or two of beer drinking, game playing fun with the guys, but it isn't worth much more than that.

Bottom line, if you want to play a wrestling game, rent one based off of actual wrestlers.

Learning Curve: Takes a second

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