Fire Pro Wrestling World PS4 review: Does WWE 2K19 have some serious competition?

Fire Pro Wrestling World is out now on PS4, and WWE 2K19 it ain’t.

Fire Pro Wrestling World doesn’t have slick animations and realistic visuals, it doesn’t have a boatload of mainstream wrestling stars and you can forget about any chart-topping acts appearing on the soundtrack.

What Fire Pro Wrestling World does have is bags of old-school charm, a surprisingly deep combat system and one of the greatest creation suites in any video game. Ever.

Visually, however, the game could be better. The character sprites are bold and the game is colourful, but the animation system leaves a lot to be desired.

We’re fine with the stylised visuals which by now are pretty iconic, but the stuttering animations are slow and clumsy.

Fortunately, Fire Pro Wrestling gets it right between the ropes, when you’re putting on matches.

Most moves are performed by grappling and pressing different buttons and directions on the DualShock controller.

There’s a rhythm to Fire Pro Wrestling, where timing is everything. It’s best that you start out using light attacks and strikes, before bringing out the big guns when your opponent starts to tire.

It strikes a nice balance between arcade and simulation action, letting you have fun, competitive matches with a natural back and forth that doesn’t feel forced.

There are a ton of different match types, including hardcore barbed wire and landmine bouts, as well as Battle Royale, steel cage and even MMA rules.

Fire Pro Wrestling World is all about giving players the freedom to play the way they want, and nothing exemplifies this more than the incredible creation suite.

The list of moves, poses, taunts and costumes is obscene and you can even make your own wrestling rings, mats, referees and title belts. 

Whether you want to want to recreate the Monday Night Wars, the Rock and Wrestling era or even this year’s Wrestlemania, Fire Pro Wrestling World makes it possible.

You don’t even have to do it yourself, just sign in to FPWW NET with your PlayStation account and download one of the community creations. It will be there next time you play.

The process of transferring these wrestlers into your own promotion is a bit on the awkward side – the game’s menus are generally pretty poor – but once you’ve figured it out, you’ll have a great time fantasy booking your own federation.

Alternatively, you can play as the licensed wrestlers from NJPW, including Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr.

There’s even a New Japan story mode in which you take a wrestler from zero to hero, complete with laughably bad script that’s actually pretty entertaining. 

In fact, the Fighting Road campaign mode rather sums up Fire Pro Wrestling World as a whole.

It lacks frills and needs some polish, but it’s consistently entertaining and not short of charm.