Human, publisher and progenitor of the Fire Pro Wrestling series is gone (the travails of bankruptcy...) but the flame continues to flicker through Spike. In their first outing with the Fire Pro license, Spike combines the best elements of previous games and adds some new wrinkles to a renowned gaming lineage.
   Spot impressions: The presentation and visuals are little evolved from Fire Pro Wrestling G (PS) or Six Man Scramble on the Saturn. The wrestlers are slightly larger and better defined (muscles bulge and ripple) and the camera keeps on top of the action, often zooming in when the action gets hot and tangled. A variety of matches and modes may be played out including Barbed Wire Death Match, Victory Road, Six Man Tag and the internet only Battle Royale where eight individual modem players grab a wrestler and enter the ring.
   A huge number of Japanese wrestlers may be chosen but many WCW and WWF Americans are represented as well. All have been given fictional names due to licensing issues but a rename function is available to change monikers to the correct ones. For example, Steel Gold Steam Odin is the WWF's Stone Cold Steve Austin, although Steam Odin sounds okay also. NJPW's Hiro Saito is now Raising Hiro, and so on and so forth. Players bored with real world wrestlers may also create their own bruiser and endow him or her with over 1300 moves and choose from 280 faces.
   The gameplay remains true to form with a bounty of actions, moves, and grapples to perform. Fans familiar with the Fire Pro style will feel right at home, nothing much has changed in this department. The amount of options and moves make this a deep blue sea to discover, uncover, and master.
   The limited edition of Fire Pro Wrestling D in stock today includes a "rare" trading card that can be used with the Fire Pro Card Bout game that is due out in March. Pre-orders will ship today but new orders will ship on Monday, March 4.