Showdown: Legends of Wrestling – XB – Review

Wrestling games haven’t been
able to wield the same kind of power that they had during the 32/64-bit era.
Maybe game developers have lost interest in designing titles that are based on
the sport.  Or maybe gamers lost interest in playing yearly installments of
wrestling games when they fail to include major enhancements.  Whatever the
case, we don’t see enough WWE in gaming anymore.

Ending the drought of
wrestling games is Showdown: Legends of Wrestling, a game that combines
classic moves, classic fighters, and more male skin than a Vincent’s Secret
catalog.

The whole purpose of this
game is to bring together dozens of the world’s most beloved wrestling icons,
including Macho Man, Jake the Snake, Bret Hart, Diamond Dallas Page, and a
personal favorite of mine, Hulk Hogan.  Each of these wrestlers are playable.
Most of them can be accessed from the beginning of the game!  And, in typical
sports game fashion, you can always do a "quick play" game and let the
computer pick everything for you.  That’s actually a good way to get used to
wrestlers you’re less fond of or less familiar with because it forces you to
play as them.  You can never learn enough different moves to perform.

A wrestling game wouldn’t
be a wrestling game without the appropriate arenas.  Showdown: Legends of
Wrestling features Madison Square Garden, Cow Palace, The Onmi, and two
Michigan arenas that people who don’t live in the state have actually heard
of: Cobo Arena and the Pontiac Silverdome.  There are other arenas in the
game, like Skydome and the L.A. Sports Arena, so if you have a favorite
well-known spot, chances are it’s included in Showdown.

The game provides an
acceptable selection of play modes: Showdown Challenge, Tournament, Tag Team,
Classic Match and Create a Legend.  The Create a Legend mode is cool but isn’t
quite expansive enough.  Many aspects can be altered, from the wrestler’s head
to his body, gear, and movement, etc.  Players can also adapt those changes to
the pre-existing wrestlers.  That is, the real wrestlers you know and love (or
hate, as the case may be).  Nothing like making Macho Man not-so-macho!

Tag Team is more likely
to hold your attention, especially for the multiplayer games.  As is the case
with real wrestling, the tag team can and almost certainly will turn into a
"let’s kill everybody now!"-style brawl.  Whether in or outside of the ring,
the wrestlers will go at it like wild animals.  It’s unlikely that you’d ever
see a tiger pick up a chair and bash his prey over the head with it, but that
won’t stop Eddie Guerrero from doing so.

Classic Match is exactly
what it sounds like – a mode where you get to relive a real contest between
legendary wrestlers.  Believe it or not this mode isn’t as exciting as it
sounds.  Other sports games have attempted to do this sort of thing, and every
time it ends up the same.  You’re restricted by default since you can only
play as the wrestlers that were in each particularly competition.  Besides
that the game is pretty much the same.  In other words, no fireworks go off in
your head.  However, you might hear the sound of a lullaby.

Showdown’s controls feel
like any other wrestling game on the market: the athletes move slow, the
gameplay emphasizes button holds, and button-mashing rules all when you’re
stuck in a jam.  While nothing particularly special is presented here, the
reverse moves were pretty fun to pull off.  You’d have to be a gaming novice
with absolutely no hand/eye coordination to fail consistently.  All you have
to do is press a single button at the right moment.  Opponent reversals mean
that they will get their revenge, and the AI is tuned to not lot every
reversal in.  But that hardly makes them a challenge to execute.

Since the controls are
generic and so easy to learn that you can’t even call it learning (how can you
say you "learned" something that feels like it came naturally?), gaming
experts will lose interest pretty quickly.  They’ll tire of the lack of
challenge.  However, I’m happy to say that they won’t be bored by the
wrestlers’ moves or their speed.  Wrestling is expected to be a slower type of
fighting game, but Showdown moves a little bit faster than its competitors.
It’s surprising how far a little extra speed can go.

Showdown would have
stayed appealing for a much greater amount of time if the challenge was more
real.  Wrestlers act tough, talk tough, and look tough, but this game rarely
makes you feel afraid.  There’s enough entertainment here to keep you and your
buddies busy for a weekend, but that only constitutes a rental.  If this were
a budget game I’d say go for it, but with an MSRP of $49.99 most gamers would
be better off sticking with what they got.

Reviewer’s Scoring Details

Gameplay: 6
Playing Showdown:
Legends of Wrestling for any length of time makes one thing crystal clear:
this game is more fun when you have real competitors.  Xbox Live isn’t
supported, so you’ll have to call up your friends (even the ones who don’t
bathe!) to get the most out of the game.

If
you’re on your own, or want to practice before your friends arrive, don’t be
surprised by the boredom that ensues.  The basic controls and easy difficulty
do not make for a long-lasting experience.

Graphics: 7
Way below Xbox
standards.  However, when compared to the market as a whole, Showdown looks
pretty good.  The wrestlers have a fair amount of realism, and some of the
background effects (like the projection screen) are very eye-catching.

Sound: 7
Showdown’s
rock-oriented soundtrack isn’t half bad.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Like a workout
program for your fingers, just mash – mash – mash your way to thinner thumbs!

Concept: 7
It’s great to
have so many wrestlers crammed into one game.  It would have been great to
have gameplay that wasn’t typical.

Multiplayer: 7
Best part of the
game: button-mashing with friends.

Overall: 6.5
Here’s the
lowdown on Showdown: wrestling games usually differ in subtle ways that become
apparent after playing many different titles.  Showdown differs in its
wrestler lineup and in its gameplay modes.  That’d be okay if there was
something revolutionary about one or more of the modes, but since there isn’t,
Showdown ends up playing like a typical wrestling game.  It’s fun but the
difficulty is weak, almost to the point where button-mashing can create
instant success.  That kind of thing can’t be entertaining forever.  Rent it
if you love the wrestling legends – pass if you don’t.