Pros: New game-play modes, graphics are much better, it's perversely fun to play.
Cons: You won't believe why...or maybe you will...?
The bottom line: It's not "all the way" evolved for the 360.
We're back again I see. Did you think Rumble Roses would have a sequel? If you said no, then you would probably have never played the game. If you said yes, we knew it was coming, right? For those not knowing what this series is about, I shall tell right now. For all those male fans of wrestling games, who was getting tired of just "divas" wrestling each other with lots of clothing on, this game is FOR YOU. Rumble Roses is a pure female wrestling game at heart. These ladies wear almost nothing--showing their "assests" and "J.LOs" pretty much throughout the whole game. What male in the human race doesn't want that?

First off, the additions in the game are pretty decent. Featuring what the original game didn't bring--lots of match types! You have a single match, PHM(match where the only way to win is to humiliate your opponent), tag match, handicap match, 3/4-way royal, title match(meet the requirements to compete for the title of the ring), street fight(fight in the streets; first one to win to win two out of three rounds by depleting the opponent's health becomes the winner) and a queen's match( this even takes place on a beach; whoever loses must go through a penalty game). Sure, it's not as big as "Smackdown!" or any other major wrestling game out there but what's here is pretty damn cool. In the Queen's match, you can select which type of humiliating game you want your opponent to endure(over 15 types; to being pushed in a pool to balance a ball). But beware, if you lose, you will have to endure such humiliation. When the match is over, "showtime" begins with you controlling all the camera angles to capture the most out of this punishment. In the tag-match(this type is pretty addictive), you can choose your partner BUT the catch is if that person doesn't like you, she will not help you at all when you are in trouble. However, if you are real good friends(example: Dixie and Reiko), she will be by your side throughout the whole match. Also, something real cool--when you want to tag, all you have to do is click a button and automatically you tag; it doesn't even matter where you are in the ring(you must be in the ring to tag). One other thing special about this type is the Double X move. When both of your finisher gauges are full, you get the change to do a Double X move which means you and your partner will inflict more damage on your opponents.

Before I skip it, you have your ordinary grapple moves done by the Y button and the directional button. Each directional button has a different move. When your finisher gauge is full, you can do Lethal/Killer and Humiliation moves. Each move is different for each girl. Lethal is more powerful than a killer move while a humiliation move is more pain inflicting since its usually a submission moves. You have your regular submission moves as well and each girl has a different one and different moves all together. You do have weapons in the game--you can even do a finisher with a weapon. However, only this can happen when your girl starts out with a weapon which means if your girl comes out on the entrance with a weapon. You also have your ordinary strikes and you can reverse strikes with two buttons.

Now, for "some" more new addictions, new arenas are present. A skyscraper(your on top of a building), Red Valley(the ring is in the middle of a desert), Island Resort(in the middle of the beach with water surrounding it; this can only be used in the queen's match) and the Rumble Roses Arena(the ultimate arena). There is only 4 arenas while the first game had only 3. Big change huh? There are 40 girls; the 10 from the first are back and they still have another "side" of them. So that means 20 new wrestlers are present in this game. Now, when you get tired of wrestling, you can go to the locker room and access lots of features. From taking photo shoots of your girls to fully customize your girl with different costumes and physique options. Also, you can shop to buy new costumes, weapons, punishments, weapons and other goodies. You win money by actually winning matches and you can use that hard-earned money at the shop. You can even play this game online and challenge competitors from all over the world.

So it sounds pretty decent doesn't it so far? True but you will not believe what I am about to tell you. Rumble Roses XX does NOT have a story to it! There is nothing for you to actually "drive" you to beat the game except for unlocking everything! The first game had a story and even if it wasn't that great, at least they could have added another story on this version. Come on people! Give us a story so it can drive us to beat the game! Visually, the graphics succeed very well; the girls look better than ever with lots of realism to them. The color textures look damn good on each one; bringing a real shiny look to them. Even the arenas look a tad better and the light effects look better than ever. However, the production behind this game is very sharp; sharp enough to be too sharp. Yes, many times, the graphics are too bright; either it's the sun doing it(most of the time) or the lights on the arenas. However, I found that this does not happen all the time. Most of the time it's the skyscraper, beach resort and red valley to be the brightest while the others are just fine. Other than those, the graphics are beautiful and I think it's 360 quality. The sound is pretty good as well; you can do the custom soundtrack or the game's music which features rock and hip-hop. It fits the game's attitude--dirty.

Controlling the girls are fairly easy. The moves are easy to pull off and simply laid-out with holding the Y button and one of the directional buttons. When you first play it though, the controls are a little rough around the edges; the girls move at a somewhat slow pace but you will get used to this after a few matches. People who have played the first will feel familiar to the PS2 controller because it uses the exact same location from that controller onto the Xbox 360 controller.

A lot of hype has surrounded this game; for me anyway. Does the hype actually live up to it's expectations? No, it does not. There is no story here which really hurts this game a lot because there is no "drive" to finish the game. The new additions in the game are cool at first but will wear thin when you experiment with everything. Basically, it feels hollow deep inside despite all the new features.

Rumble Roses XX Information:
Genre: Female wrestling
Rating: M for Partial Nudity, Mild Language, Violence and Sexual Themes
Difficulty: Easy
# of Players: 1-4
Lasting Appeal: A week-end and a little more

For More Rumble Roses:
Rumble Roses for PS2--where it all began