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"There Goes the Neighborhood... running away from the game"

Introduction -
The bane of professional wrestling companies and worried parents is back. Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood attempts to recapture the excitement of the first while trying to avoid all of the criticisms that wrestling fans everywhere had with it. There a multitude of fighters ranging from ICP and Sonjay Dutt, all the way to Adult Film Stars: Tera Patrick and Sunrise Adams. The story is pretty simple and sets the groundwork to why you are pummeling your neighbors well, however that is about it. The basic premise is that BYW comes to your town for another tournament and YOU, that's right, YOU can enter and if you win, you get a $1 million. Whoopedee doo. Ok, enough with the intro, let's jump into the nitty gritty:

Graphics 6.5/10 - A better looking game than the first, but not by much. The characters kind of look like who they are supposed to but with the limited body models, there isn't much variety. For the perverts out there, yes the girls are skinny and have big boobs and they all look the same, just with different skins. The stage design is actually the high point. The multilevel arenas are designed well and look good to boot. The minigolf stage is just fun to romp through and it does actually feel like you are duking it out in a real one.

Sound 2/10 - I'll start with the good part first since there are so so many bad parts. The good part: they actually got the real people to do the voices. The bad part: You cannot even hear the voices clearly and the sound quality is horrendous. The sounds of impact and punches sound very flat, again due to the sound quality. The music is from a lot of smaller bands and I personally don't like it, but that is a matter of taste. However, the music in the menu page just loops and you just want to break the game after the 5th time. So, my point here is that the sound is just horrendous.

Gameplay 4/10 - The create a wrestler is very very weak in comparison to the WWE CAW. Everything from appearance to movesets are very very limited. When you can only choose from 7 face and models, there is something wrong. You can only do so much with that.

Gameplay itself is very repetitive and frustrating. You will be spending your time doing the same move over and over again and wondering why it doesn't work half of the time. Remember how I was praising the multi-levels, well climbing them is another story. The controls were unresponsive and it just didn't work a lot of the time. At least you can just throw people into the many structures to just destroy them and cause a little damage.

The Enemy A.I. is also very bad. I found myself facing an opponent that had his back faced towards me for more than half the match. When his back wasn't turned, he just cowered and blocked. Sure beating up people with everyday household items is fun, but when you have a stupid enemy and the same moves over and over again, it just sucks.

For the fans of the first game's over the top finishing moves, they are back. They are just as exciting if not more so. So a plus if you liked the first.

Replayability 4/10- There are unlockables such as wrestlers, accessories for your CAW, and wrestling videos. So that may drag you back for more. Also, playing with friends in the multiplayer might prolong your playing, but if your friends are hardcore wrestling game fans, they might just shy away. No XBOX-LIVE, so finding willing participants might be a little difficult.

Final Rating 4/10- I just couldn't find myself liking this game that much. The issues with sound and gameplay were just too much. Call me spoiled by playing WWE Smackdown, but Backyard Wrestling 2: There goes the neighborhood barely is a wrestling game but more of a brawler, but even then it isn't that great. If you liked the first, you might like this one, but that isn't saying much and my review won't deter you from getting it. However to the other people, I wouldn't recommend buying this game. Rent: maybe, Buy: no.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/04