Rumble Roses XX [X360]

There's another Street Fight match type that's a bit of a puzzler: In an already (by definition) scaled-down wrestling game, the designers have seen fit to include a two-out-of-three combat mode (in the vein of the most base, damage-bar arcade fighter). It lends some variety, but also has the feel of one of those DVD "special features" that turns out to be a gallery of not-particularly-new production stills.

In terms of pure mechanics, the combat has the most strategic elements you're likely to see in a gleefully nerd-horny ode to virtual catfighting this year. Submissions are tagged to individual parts of the body (therefore localized damage is a factor), and of course, the humiliation element allows for the kinds of sexy/unnecessary finishing moves that are, in the end, why any of us are playing this particular game in the first place. Embrace your inner Oink.

The AI opponents quickly become predictable, as they will in most games, but the online play option at least solves that with lag-free play against live opponents. There's also some indefinable added humiliation when your virtual hot chick has just bested another virtual hot chick, while both are clearly being played by male gamers, firmly rooted in bean-bag chairs.

If that visual doesn't give you the chicken-skin, consider the detail given to the customization of one's fighter -- not only the obvious dress-up aspects, but even body modification and the photoshoot ability, whereby players can take posed pics of their virtual girls and trade them with other pasty shut-ins around the world.

Bottom line: If you liked Rumble Roses for its actual gameplay (with some grudging admiration for its aesthetics), there is more to like in its successor. It's puzzling and disappointing that the single-player game seems as neglected as it does, but it's a basically solid, pretty package with some new diversions for veterans. Enter the ring knowing it's a "v1.5" rather than a true "2.0," and you won't feel sucker-punched.