In my recent PAX East 2015 adventure, which I’m still milking and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, I was able to get my hands on a demo for 5 Star Wrestling, a professional wrestling game from Serious Parody, available RIGHT NOW on PSN exclusively for PS3.

First a brief history of myself and professional wrestling games.  I was a dedicated fan of THQ and AKI’s WWE (then WWF) wrestling games.  I liked the strategy, the skill involved, and the intricacy.  Once that series stopped and AKI devoted themselves to hip-hop artists fighting each other over Carmen Electra (seriously) I then found myself left with the Smackdown series.  While I can’t actually fault it, it just didn’t really do anything for me, personally.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when a couple of kilted men (they’re Scottish, so I’ll allow it) approached me and asked if I liked wrestling.  If we’re being totally honest here, the closest I’ve come to watching wrestling in the last decade was following the Connecticut Senatorial races.  However, since I saw what the men were promoting, and having a fairly knowledgeable history of wrestling video games, I said I was.  I lied.  Yes, I’m ashamed of myself.

What I found was a very interesting, and more importantly, fun take on the wrestling game.  I found myself sitting next to a total stranger, ready to enter the squared circle.  Available wrestlers looked similar to real life wrestlers, as I would expect nothing less from a studio named Serious Parody.  We have wrestlers ranging from Jonny ‘The Bull’ Maivia to ‘Raging’ Andy Organ.  Myself, I chose Mike Iceberg.

The controls are what I’ve come to expect from wrestling games.  Grappling, striking, ground techniques.  There was a “spirit” (my word, not theirs) meter which filled up when I was doing well.  Filled up to five stars, and I could do my finisher.  I was sincerely impressed with the level of detail with respect to doing the finisher.  Any situation I could imagine Gol… ahem… Iceberg doing his finisher were envisioned.  Also available was the ability to counter almost any move.  Finishers countered with finishers.  It was a great way to capture the way a “real” wrestling match works.

Sure, I was able to grab onto the controls easily, but I’m as close as one could get to being an expert at wrestling games as you could.  What I appreciated was how much fun I had.  That fun factor that was missing from the Smackdown series, as it did too much to do it all well.  Here, 5 Star Wrestling keeps the scope small enough do to what it does very well.  After my match, where I obviously won, I was able to share a high-five with my new-found friend.

In terms of multiplayer, it’s all couch play.  Nothing is done online.  It’s a disappointment, but it is a business decision I can understand.  It’s not fair for me to hold that against them as I generally dislike online play and WWF No Mercy didn’t have online play either, and I loved that game.

Now, this is not a full review, as I’ve only played a demo, and I don’t give review scores, because they would only encourage you to not read my full article.  What I can say, without hesitation, is that I will be purchasing 5 Star Wrestling from PSN and Mike Iceberg will once again stand victorious.

ICE-BERG! ICE-BERG!

Also, if you find yourself interested in more from Serious Parody, their Wrestling Manager game is available from the Itunes App Store.  Or so I’m told.  I’m an Android guy.