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"Shoryuken!"
Moderator
on 18/04/2009 at 11:32:58PM
Total Posts: 10173 |
I remember 90’s TV, watching Sky while spandex clad heroes met in a square ring and pitted themselves against giants, lizard men and Warriors. It was wrestling of course, but it was all different back then.
The new game WWE Legends of WrestleMania attempts to recreate the 80's and 90's eras of WWF and early WWE, in particular the huge Wrestlemania events that went down in wrestling history. It features many of the famous faces from the 80’s and 90’s, the all-American Hero Hulk Hogan, the huge Andre The Giant, The Ultimate Warrior, Jake the snake and many more as well as later wrestlers like the cool Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The options for fights vary from a straight forward match to reliving famous Wrestlemania fights. Presentation-wise it all seems very authentic; entry music, authentic moves and very detailed graphics provide good first impressions. The graphical glitches in crowd detail are annoying at times, especially when they are up close, but the main characters look great, sweat dripping of their bodies and every hair on Hogan's floppy tache rendered perfectly (well, maybe not quite!).
The fight mechanics are far removed from modern wrestling games, On PS3 Square punches, X throws and Circles exits the ring while holding down buttons provides power moves. It harks back to the 16-bit days of WWF Wrestlemania on the SNES and while those who grew up with only the last 2 generations of consoles may find it a tad simplistic, it does allow for some impressive fights without remembering 101 combinations. In fact the control system owes more to 2D fighters than other wrestling games and a few fights in you'll be grappling in style. Some may find this is a bit too basic and certainly if you enjoy more control over the fighters in any of the more recent wrestling games it might come as a shock, this more than anything will change the way you feel about WWE Legends of Wrestlemania.
The most interesting part of this new game is the Relive mode where you get to relive actual matches and try to maintain the outcome, as well as gaining points for mini objectives during the fight. There is a great video before the match, showing highlights from the event and this gets you in the mood for the fight itself. In addition to special moves, you'll find objects available for you use (chairs, tables etc) outside the ring. The options here aren’t just to relive and recreate the matches from past Wrestlemanias, but you also get the chance to re-write them by changing the outcome. This mode will be of interest to those of us who think certain wrestlers were hard done by in the pantomime that is Wrestlemania. At last we can re-write history for all to see (well, maybe the dog).
Playing online is fun, if a little annoying with finding matches you want to play. The fights are fluid and the matching is fairly easy to get to grips with, if a little basic.
A last option is to play against wrestlers from modern times if you already own the latest WWE game. As I don’t own this myself I can’t test it out, but it’s a great idea which links 2 games together in an interesting way.
In summary, WWE Legends of Wrestlemania is an interesting idea with some great character models and a fresh idea of gameplay. It’s obviously been written by fans of this classic era of wrestling and it translates in to a game that other fans will enjoy playing. At the end of the day, if you get on with the control system and can put up with the less than spectacular background graphics then this is a great trip down memory lane for old WWF fans.
7/10
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pb
"Shoryuken!"
Moderator
on 18/04/2009 at 11:32:58PM
Total Posts: 10173
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I remember 90’s TV, watching Sky while spandex clad heroes met in a square ring and pitted themselves against giants, lizard men and Warriors. It was wrestling of course, but it was all different back then.
The new game WWE Legends of WrestleMania attempts to recreate the 80's and 90's eras of WWF and early WWE, in particular the huge Wrestlemania events that went down in wrestling history. It features many of the famous faces from the 80’s and 90’s, the all-American Hero Hulk Hogan, the huge Andre The Giant, The Ultimate Warrior, Jake the snake and many more as well as later wrestlers like the cool Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The options for fights vary from a straight forward match to reliving famous Wrestlemania fights. Presentation-wise it all seems very authentic; entry music, authentic moves and very detailed graphics provide good first impressions. The graphical glitches in crowd detail are annoying at times, especially when they are up close, but the main characters look great, sweat dripping of their bodies and every hair on Hogan's floppy tache rendered perfectly (well, maybe not quite!).
The fight mechanics are far removed from modern wrestling games, On PS3 Square punches, X throws and Circles exits the ring while holding down buttons provides power moves. It harks back to the 16-bit days of WWF Wrestlemania on the SNES and while those who grew up with only the last 2 generations of consoles may find it a tad simplistic, it does allow for some impressive fights without remembering 101 combinations. In fact the control system owes more to 2D fighters than other wrestling games and a few fights in you'll be grappling in style. Some may find this is a bit too basic and certainly if you enjoy more control over the fighters in any of the more recent wrestling games it might come as a shock, this more than anything will change the way you feel about WWE Legends of Wrestlemania.
The most interesting part of this new game is the Relive mode where you get to relive actual matches and try to maintain the outcome, as well as gaining points for mini objectives during the fight. There is a great video before the match, showing highlights from the event and this gets you in the mood for the fight itself. In addition to special moves, you'll find objects available for you use (chairs, tables etc) outside the ring. The options here aren’t just to relive and recreate the matches from past Wrestlemanias, but you also get the chance to re-write them by changing the outcome. This mode will be of interest to those of us who think certain wrestlers were hard done by in the pantomime that is Wrestlemania. At last we can re-write history for all to see (well, maybe the dog).
Playing online is fun, if a little annoying with finding matches you want to play. The fights are fluid and the matching is fairly easy to get to grips with, if a little basic.
A last option is to play against wrestlers from modern times if you already own the latest WWE game. As I don’t own this myself I can’t test it out, but it’s a great idea which links 2 games together in an interesting way.
In summary, WWE Legends of Wrestlemania is an interesting idea with some great character models and a fresh idea of gameplay. It’s obviously been written by fans of this classic era of wrestling and it translates in to a game that other fans will enjoy playing. At the end of the day, if you get on with the control system and can put up with the less than spectacular background graphics then this is a great trip down memory lane for old WWF fans.
7/10
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