The sequel to Konami's erotic wrestler for the PS2, Rumble Roses XX for Xbox 360 may only reinforce the popular wisdom that, in fact, nobody fights dirtier than a girl -- although "dirty fighting" may take on some new angular momentum here.

Rumble Roses XX retains the slick visuals of the original, the openly fetishistic subject matter, tight control and fluid gameplay, then adds the undeniable goodness of online multiplayer. What it lacks, however, is an overall sense of sequelism, of a fully overhauled, buffed and expanded, second-generation game on a next-generation console that lives up to it's brand-new-plus-$10 X360 price tag. It's more like a streamlined port or tweaked re-release.

Of course, the rosey rumbling women are still here in all their irresistible raunchiness (the butt-kicking, spot-chapped cowgirl, the generic hot Asian warrior, the naughty school-girl, the Britney wannabe, etc.) which gives it a certain familiar charm, but more than not, that's part of the problem. Ultimately, you wind up with the same characters you've played before on PS2, albeit with unlockable "super-star" variants on each fighter's good girl/bad girl persona, plus some stronger moves, new outfit options and elaborate, WWE-style entrance sequences.

One notable change is the game's total lack of the nutzoid, B-grade "story lines" of its predecessor, hideous dialogue and all. Some players will doubtless miss the catty, cheesy charm of said storylines, but most will be vastly relieved.

Thus, eschewing all that drama-queen preamble, Rumble Roses XX basically dumps the solo player into a free-form menu where you mold your fighter's future, choose the matches in hopes of building up her popularity which leads to a shot at a title bout -- but without typical ladder or ranking structure, so it can be a bit confusing. At least a girl can shop around for new costumes in the meantime (you are not here for the compelling single-player story elements).

Developed by Yukes, the same team responsible for the critically acclaimed Smackdown! wrestling games, Rumble Roses XX's fighting mechanics are clearly top-tier, even boasting some improvements over the first offering.

There's your typical match mode options, including singles, tag-team, three-way, four-way, etc., plus "Queens" and "Street Fight."

Queens Match is a straight-up, one-off brawl where the loser gets humiliated in some predetermined fashion: forced to dance, strike an embarrassing, compromising, panty-exposing pose, take a dive into the nearest body of water, what-have-you.

The Street Fight match type tries to add some variety but comes off as just plain cheap. The game's already a dumbed-down wrestler at heart, but the designers decided to include the further simplification of best-of-three match ups as seen in way too many knock-the-daylights-from-the-damage-bar-to-win arcade fight games.

Still, in the main, the game is all about grapples, strikes and reversals with glibly sexist strategic elements making for an unapologetic ode to girl-on-girl action. Flagrant sexism, sure, but artistic-merit (or lack thereof) aside, the visuals are undeniably, uh, impressive. Moreover, submission moves are localized to individual parts of the body and features a "humiliation" scheme allowing for all kinds of sexy/sexist/gratuitous "finishing moves" that are the primary reason most guys/dogs play this game in the first place.

Speaking of which: justifying ownership of this game to your mom, sister or girlfriend is almost a mini-game in itself -- and if you enjoy that bonanza, just wait until you get caught modifying the actual measurements of your fighters, or trading posed pics of your scantily-clad virtual girls online.

If you liked the first Rumble Roses or were at least titillated by its premise of admittedly oink-infused gameplay, there is just a bit more to like in this sequel -- not a lot more, just some. And though the online element is completely fresh, the single-player aspect could have used more work (given the intended audience, it should have been a priority, eh Yukes? Eh?! Some new characters maybe?!).

At its core, Rumble Roses XX is a solid but somewhat-simplified, intentionally over-sexed do-over with some supplemental panty-shot afterthoughts. Even if you haven't played the original, it's just feels like a rehash job with a 2-year back-date.