[DLC] World Wonder Ring Stardom - Due Out 8/22!

Let me start off by saying that the more I play it, the more I love this DLC.

Before I explain why, let’s get the negatives out of the way (and there are quite a few, be patient!):

* The DLC is clearly overpriced; both in gaming industry standards (in other games we get full expansions for that kind of money ) and in the standard that Spike themselves set in previous DLC (no belts, referees, no story & only 10 wrestlers with only 1 attire each – that is the definition of bare bones).

* The point system given to the edits seems disconnected from previous Fire Pro entries, making the current edits ‘overpowered’ compared to the rest.

Surely, one can say that Spike intended Stardom to be in its own universe, so the ranking system is not related to anything else. I tend to disagree and think that’s just sloppy work. Just like a Football Manager game wouldn’t make the Australian League second division super strong compared to the Premier League (“because they are in completely different leagues and never play with each other”), I would expect Spike to continue its multi year tradition and keep the edit points in the same standard.

* The sloppiness continues with the edits themselves – some parts are clearly off (for example – Kagetsu has one of her body parts in a different tone than the rest of her body) and some logic decisions are questionable (going for strong moves early in the match). Although, to be fair, these issues aren’t common and Spike has a history of making bad logic so in a way this does keep the tradition going :)

With so many cons, why do I like this DLC so much?

Well, one of the things I loved the most about older Fire Pro games was the sense of discovery. I recall playing Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium and asking myself – who is that guy in the green trunks that keeps beating everyone with his elbows? That’s how I discovered Mitsuharu Misawa and that’s how I discovered Puroresu. Playing the game and then watching & discovering the wrestler or promotion in real life was a really fun experience for me and then the other way around, watching someone in real life and then making him in Fire Pro.

Playing the game (and by playing I mean editing/creating & simming) and watching wrestling became so synonymous to me that I literally can’t watch a wrestling show if Fire Pro isn’t turned on on another screen and if it’s not, I find myself thinking “how do I make this guy in the game?” or if I already made him, I think “is his moveset accurate?”.

I never cared about STARDOM and probably wouldn’t if not for this DLC. I looked into it a short time before the DLC was released and I was hooked. I can gladly say that to me, this DLC provided that same sense of discovery I experienced with the early Fire Pro games and that alone gives me so much more value than all those negatives I talked about at the start of this review.

Personally, I recreate all official edits anyway and add my own touch and tweaks to them so having points a little higher than I would like is just another thing for me to mess around with while watching the STARDOM 5* Grand Prix in the background :)

This editing & recreation (and later, creation of new stuff) is, in my eyes, as essential and fun part of Fire Pro as the simming itself and I am grateful to Spike for releasing this DLC, giving me that old sense of discovery, inspiration and many hours of fun, while also getting a chance to support my favorite game and women wrestling in the process.