The Simpsons wrestling is a wrestling based video game developed by Big Ape productions in the year 2001.

Origin:
The Simpsons wrestling is based off of an animated American television show called "The Simpsons". "The Simpsons" Were first aired in the year 1989 on the television channel called "Fox". This show follow the numerous stories and adventures of an American family which lives in the city called "Springfield". The art style this show has to offer is unique. Most of the characters are yellow in color, which sets them apart from real people. These characters all have their own personalities and characteristics. The most notable characters are:

Homer Simpson - The father of Bart, Lisa and Maggie, the husband of Marge and the son of Abe. Homer Simpson works in the Nuclear Power Plant of Springfield, although (to put it politely) he's not the brightest person in the world. He is also overweight.

Marge Simpson - The mother of Bart, Lisa and Maggie, the wife of Homer and the sister of Patty and Selma Bouvier. Marge is a very kind and light-hearted mother, but she is short on temper. She also has very strange hair that almost looks like a tube.

Bart Simpson - The son of Homer and Marge, the brother of Lisa and Maggie. Bart is a mischievous child that likes to play tricks on everyone. His best friend is Milhouse van Houten.

Lisa Simpson - The daughter of Homer and Marge, the sister of Bart and Maggie. Lisa is the exact opposite of Bart. She enjoys learning at school and often prevents Bart from getting into trouble.

Maggie Simpson - The daughter of Homer and Marge, the sister of Bart and Lisa. While Maggie is so young she doesn't even know how to talk, she is much smarter than what she looks like. Maggie often gets the family out of trouble when anyone would expect it the least.

Ned Flanders - The neighbor of the Simpsons. Ned is hated by Homer, as Ned leads a better life that Homer. Ned is generally good-hearted and offers help to anyone in need (even people he doesn't know). He is very religious.

But wait! This isn't a television show review. This is a video game review, so let's get talking about the game itself!

Story:
There isn't much of a story in this game. The main idea is that there's a tournament in Springfield and that the characters are competing to see who is the best wrestler. I don't know if this is even considered a story, so I decided to leave the story rating blank.

Gameplay (depth/addictiveness):
The Simpsons Wrestling is a wrestling game (hence the title). The game offers several modes: "Story" mode (circuits), "Multiplayer" mode (battles) and "Training" mode.

Circuits: This mode has the player fight against other characters. The circuits are required in order to unlock unlockable characters. The circuits are fun to play at first, but they get repetitive later on.

Battles: Multiplayer battles that require two players and two controllers. This mode has two players face off against each other.

Training: This mode offers a singular battle against a computer controlled opponent

The battles themselves are unique from any other fighting games. The goal of this game isn't to deplete the opponent's HP nor to launch the opponent out of the battlefield. The goal is to pin the opponent down. The characters have three separate "meters":

The health meter: Depletes each time the characters gets hit. Can be refilled by collecting healing items.

The stamina meter: Depletes each time the characters uses an attack or jumps. Can be refilled automatically over time or by collecting stamina refilling items

The stun meter: Only appears when the character is stunned. This meter shows how long will the character stay stunned. If the health meter is low, the stun meter drains slower. The player can speed up the draining by pressing buttons.

The only way to pin down an opponent is to deplete his health meter and stun him. While the opponent is stunned, the player has to pin him down by pressing the "L1" button while being near the opponent. The player's character will then start counting. If they successfully count to three before the opponent's stun meter completely drains, the attempt to pin down the opponent is a success.

The attacks the characters can perform are determined by the stamina meter. The stamina meter has icons representing the PlayStation controller buttons above it. Once the stamina meter reaches that icon, the character can perform said attack by pressing the indicated button. Most of the attacks are the same across the characters, but they each have different strengths and weaknesses.

Most of the attacks are as follows:

Square button - Standard attack. Doesn't do much damage but doesn't drain the stamina meter too much.
Triangle button - An attack unique for each character.
Circle button - An attack unique for each character. These attacks are usually very strong or affect the battlefield in some way.

Mid-air square button - The character drops down on the opponent (if near enough), then bounces back into the air.
Mid-air triangle button - The character drops down on the opponent while doing a somersault, then bounces back into the air.
Mid-air circle button - The character drops down on the opponent with all of its might, stunning the opponent and itself in the process.

Attacks while bouncing off of the walls - All of the attacks are similar, but they vary in strength.

Another unique aspect of this game is the "taunt" function. The characters have to collect five letters (either by performing combos are collecting letter items) and press the "R1" button to activate the taunt. Once the character taunts its opponent, the taunter becomes temporarily invincible, while the taunted gets stunned. This is a great way to turn the tides if the player's health is low, or to finish a worn out opponent.

There is a total of twelve playable characters, four of which have to unlocked in order to be playable. There are also two boss fights. Here is a list of all playable characters and their main characteristics:

Homer: A balanced character, but relies on close combat.

Bart: A fast character. Bart uses his toys to make up for his lack of strength.

Lisa: Another very fast character. Her circle button attack involves Lisa playing her saxophone, which can't be avoided and hits the whole battlefield.

Marge: A character with very good range, but her attacks are weak.

Barney: A strong character, but lacks speed and stamina. His attacks are often connected with beer.

Krusty: Another balanced character. His attacks are often connected with his clown tools.

Apu: A character with a below average strength, but he has good speed and stamina.

Ground keeper Willie: Willie uses gardening equipment to stop his opponents from moving around too much.

Bumblebee man (unlockable): Another balanced character.

Moe (unlockable): A pretty fast character. His attacks are often connected to makeshift weapons.

Professor Frink (unlockable): A hard to control character who relies on his gadgets.

Ned Flanders (unlockable): A weak character with low health, although he has the capability to unleash the strongest attack in the game. His special ability is the fact that he has to be defeated twice in order to win a round against him.

Mr. Burns and Waylon Smithers (boss): Smithers fights while Burns throws explosives (which can't harm Smithers) into the battlefield. Smithers may also throw a three-eyed fish onto the floor, which will follow and instantly stun the player.

Kang and Kodos (boss): Kang fights against the player, while Kodos throws random items into the ring.

Itchy and Scratchy (cheat only): They use cartoon-like booby traps and weapons. They can only face off against each other.

Difficulty:
This game is easy to pick up, but difficult to master when playing against later computer opponents. There aren't any sharp difficulty spikes and the learning curve is just steep enough.

Graphics:
The Graphics in this game are pretty okay looking, but it's nothing too outstanding. Though I like the fact that the backgrounds are taken straight out of the television show. If you look closely, you can even see other "Simpsons" characters spectating the battle!

Sound:
The music in this game is completely original and fits the atmosphere quite well. This game's music is difficult to describe in words, so I recommend listening to it for yourself.

Overall:
This game is pretty unbalanced, but still manages to stay fun. The game stays faithful to the original "The Simpsons" television show, which is a big plus. The game is definitely fun and I recommend playing it as soon as you get the chance.

While it's a good first review, I want to suggest a few improvements.

- Consider regrouping similar subjects (like describing the characters) in the same paragraph with sentences that follow each other. I found your bullet enumeration a little difficult to follow.
- About half your review sounds like you're writing an instruction manual. I don't think there's a need to describe what the buttons are for, how you can win against your opponent nor what the life bars are for.
- You spent so much time describing the game mechanics that you wrote only a few sentences for the rest. I would have liked to know why the graphics were not out-of-this world (compared to what?) or how the music fit the atmosphere. For example, Carnival Night in Sonic 3 really sounds like a carnival.