All Star Pro Wrestling PS2 Preview Possibly the first wrestling game to hit PS2 is a Japanese style one that goes by the name All Star Pro Wrestling. Our great friends at Square will be dishing out this brawler and where it stands now the game is around 70% complete and is due out in Spring 2000. Now this isn't sumo wrestling but the combatants do look like the type. This wrestler looks to be aiming toward providing a visually stunning and realistic fighting experience. One way it accomplishes this is by using a four-step process to render the motion-captured bodies of the wrestlers. I always thought that one of the hardest images to recreate was the human body but I must say that Square has done an extremely good job of accomplishing the feat. These wrestlers look realistic in every way, with detailed skin textures and lifelike design. You can easily read the expressions on the faces of the wrestlers and they look so incredibly life-like. Hell these guys even sweat! The mat itself actually bounces up and down depending on the action in the ring, which I think, may be a first for a wrestler. Now as I mentioned before the game has definitely got it goin' on in the graphics department...for the most part. Now I have a slight concern over those cloned looking spectators that look like they've come straight from the laboratory to watch the match. And by god every damn one of them sits perfectly in their little chair, not even one of them is slouching. Now that's funny. Maybe Square can take the hint and stick a little variety into the crowd animations. As far as gameplay goes, not much is known but hopefully this will change soon. I'm not sure how interested the US will be in this game because it doesn't have all the glitz, drama and porn that say the WWF has but nevertheless it looks like a solid game. One interesting feature is that they plan to utilize both analog joysticks. We do not know how it will be implemented but Square assures that it will be an easy to control game. Expected Release Date: Spring 2000, Japan Developer / Publisher: Square Players: 1-2