Ah yes, backyard wrestling. This violent underground fight club has spawned numerous $9.99 DVDs and other assorted merchandise that gives fans (or those who just watch in horror) numerous thrills, the likes of which only insane men can provide. Eidos looked to capture the intensity of the "sport" in last year's Backyard Wrestling, which, while somewhat fun, failed to hold my interest. However, the house that Lara built is at it again, this time with Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes the Neighborhood, a sequel that's loaded with new features and has more of an edge, and its new look has me very interested.

My only two gripes with the first game was its insane AI difficulty and the lack of (ironically enough) weapons, and while I'm not sure whether Eidos has tweaked the gameplay so the computer fights fare (even though this is a dirty sport), they've definitely tossed in tons of new features including all sorts of items to bludgeon opponents with. Golf clubs, a chain saw, a weed whacker, burning pieces of wood, a sledge hammer, trash cans, a pool skimmer, and a barbed-wire bat are just a small sampling of the weapons at your disposal, but this time around, Eidos is proving that they're also thinking outside the box. In addition to the stuff you can pick up, you can also use the environment to your advantage. You can light things on fire, slam bodies with car trunks, tear apart an office, toss opponents onto red hot grills, and stomp on what appears to be a miniature golf course that has a small city to trample Godzilla style. This allows you to put the hurt on your opponent numerous ways, and should make for some absolutely brutal match-ups.

While I'm still on the subject of environments, the locales you'll visit in Backyard Wrestling 2 are just as varied as they were in the first game. Of course, you'll duke it out in backyards, but trailer parks, an office, a restaurant, and a miniature golf course are just a few of the places you'll get to fight in, and each looks fantastic. In general, the game's graphics appear slightly improved over the prequel's, and that goes for the character models as well. Speaking of which, I'm very excited about the game's roster. Yes, some old faces have returned (Insane Clown Posse...yuck), but there are a host of new wrestlers including Tera Patrick (who I'm sure some of you are very familiar with), and New Jack. The announcement of New Jack in particular raised my eyebrows because I used to watch ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) and miss seeing the hardcore wrestler dive off balconies and bring his signature trash can to the ring (that was always filled with all sorts of goodies, like a cheese grater). It's certainly good to know that he's still around, but he's just one of the over 20 characters you can play as. Mad Man Pondo, Masked Horn Dog, Rude Boy, Supreme, and Sunrise Adams are some of the other people you can select from.

Also new to the gameplay are submission holds, body-specific damage (you may be able to seriously injure an arm, for example), and a defense system, though I'm not sure how the defense system will work, though I certainly hope it can easily counter the AI's aggression if the sequel plays like the first.

To compliment the game's intensity, Eidos has crafted a soundtrack with songs from various genres including hip hop, rock, and metal. While smashing in your opponents' faces, you'll be listening to music by Kool Keith, AWK, Body Count, Hazen St., T.S.O.L., and many more.

If you're not a fan of the game's characters, you're more than free to create your own. Backyard Wrestling 2 features a revamped Create-A-Wrestler that allows you to create and edit tattoos, face paint, and text and stick it anywhere, which is unprecedented in a game of this type.

When crafting a sequel, it's all about packing it with more features than the first game, and Eidos has definitely done that with Backyard Wrestling 2. It's more intense, more violent, and certainly more hardcore than its prequel, and I can't wait to go crazy. I got a trash can full of glass and a bloody sledge hammer and I'm not afraid to use them! Come mid November 2004, the fight's on!