WWE: Crush Hour – GC – Review

Vince McMahon has taken over
all of television and instead of what passes for regular network programming,
McMahon has decided to populate the tube with versions of contemporary
shows but with WWE stars in place of the ‘reality’ folks and other actors.

So viewers are treated to
a steady diet of the familiar faces and bodies of the WWE superstars. Kane
hosts a cooking show (would that be throw another shrimp on the barbie,
or throw a lightweight wrestler on … oh never mind, you get the idea),
there seems to be a “Survivor” show with some of the women wrestlers frolicking
on the beaches of some remote island.

To add to the mayhem there
is the bash ‘n crash antics of highly armed stylized vehicles in WWE Crush.

WWE Crush is a GameCube release
from THQ and Jakks Pacific. This is an arcade-style car shooter. You drive
a vehicle around an environment with a variety of obstacles, pick up weaponry
and blast your opponents into submission. Successful play unlocks new WWE
superstars and their armored cars. From Trish Stratus and Stacey Kiebler
to Undertaker, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Test, The Rock and Rakishi
­ to name but a few of the 30 superstars featured ­ this game features
a variety of different automotive looks (you will not see these on the
roadways), which seems to be indicative of the personality of its driver.
As you zip around the track, you can pick up Atomic Drop (a guided bomb),
grenade launcher, laser-guided rockets, twisty rockets, mines and VRF gun.
You can also run over and enjoy the benefits of addition armor, health,
turbo boosts, ramming power and double damage power-ups.

The venues used emulate some
WWE events, Raw, SmackDown, Survivor Series, King of the Ring, and Royal
Rumble. You also have a Lumberjack event, and an Ironman. Some of these
are merely racking up more kills of your human or CPU opponents during
a time limit.

Other game options include
an exhibition match, or season mode, free-for-all or tag team. You can
select the number and toughness of your AI opponents as well as the number
of kills you need to win.

The control elements have
been kept simple, and the sound it average, even with veteran WWE announcer
Jim Ross doing the commentary.

The game looks nice and smooth,
with solid special effects. If you take gunfire, your ride starts to look
like Swiss Cheese. The environments, though, are not interactive. You can
lay down a grenade attack inside a building with little impact to the structure.

This is an arcade game, pure
and simple. WWE fans may get a kick out of the action, but hard-core driving
fans may want to pass on this title.

This is one of those games
that does a nice job, but never really seems to hook the gameplayer. Yes,
in multiplayer action, the game is much more enjoyable, but against the
CPU, it borders on being mundane.

Much like McMahon’s XFL,
WWE Crush is a show that may not have staying power. It is arena-driving,
shoot-‘em-up action, but the game fails in the department of chills or
thrills.

This game is rated Teen for
mild language, suggestive themes and violence.

Gameplay: 7.5

Load times are incidental,
and the game moves well within the confines of a match. Mapboards are understandably
finite, and the third-person follow camera does a nice job.

Graphics: 7

The camera is locked in
the third-person follow mode, which does a nice job of following the action.
The special effects, like the explosions, are merely averages and don’t
really seem to take full advantage of the GameCube’s capabilities.

Sound: 6.5

This is an average player,
and adequate support for the video portion of the game.

Difficulty: Medium

The game does have some
challenge to it. However, the control elements are simple to understand
and within 7 minutes, most players should be able to negotiate a car in
the arena.

Concept: 6.5

Some of the cars look ridiculous,
and the overall game is not all that exciting.

Multiplayer: 7.5

Going head-to-head against
another human is where the true excitement of this game is.

Overall: 6.9

This is a decent arcade
game, but in the scheme of motorized mayhem, this game really isn’t that
good. There are shooter games that provide more action within the first
five minutes of gameplay than this one does in the confines of a match.