WrestleMania turns 25-years old this
year, which means we’re being treated with a special video-game version of the
spectacle. This isn’t just another wrestling video-game; instead this can be
considered a walk down memory lane with some ad-libbing thrown in. If you ever
dreamed about reliving or changing some of the earlier WrestleMania matches this
is going to be the game for you. Unfortunately the gameplay seems to have gotten
stuck in the past along the rest of the WWE legends.
Legends of WrestleMania (LWM) is a
throw back almost 10 years ago since the format of the game starts with
WrestleMania I and only goes to XV. For younger fans of the WWE you won’t find
many of these characters still competing in the WWE. For older fans the cast of
characters will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye. From Hulk
Hogan, Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, Greg Valentine, Curt Henning to The Ultimate
Warrior, the wrestlers included in the game are almost all classic performers.
You still have Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Triple-H
but those characters are based upon younger versions. If you’ve wanted a
“classic” WWE video-game this is probably as close as you’ll ever get with the
default roster and locations.
All of the stages are based upon the
earlier WWE events as well with WrestleMania being the primary backdrop for most
of the stages. The fans are presented in a retro look with plenty of mullets to
be found in the audience. Even the fonts used on the ring introductions are
tailored towards the earlier events with the style adjusting based upon which
WrestleMania you’re competing in. In my opinion, the only area the game didn’t
remain in the past was the commentary. You get JR and Jerry Lawler as your
announcers for all of the matches, which will probably remind most fans of the
modern era of the WWE. It just seemed a little strange hearing JR and The King
do commentary on Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy. Nothing wrong with the
commentary just weird for someone like me who grew up watching wrestling
frequently.
The modes in the game are another
area that should make older fans tingle with excitement. What I consider to be
the main attraction in the game is the WrestleMania Tour mode. The Tour Mode is
broken down into three different sections: Relive, Rewrite and Redefine. Relive
is where you have to replay a particular match in WrestleMania history. It’s up
to you to re-enact the big moves and key moments of these particular matches.
Rewrite lets you try to change WrestleMania history by changing the outcome of
specific matches. If you thought certain matches should have been won by someone
else then now is your chance to make it happen. Redefine takes the Rewrite to
the next level by changing the conditions of some of the historic matches. How
about Big John Studd versus Andre in a Hell in the Cell match? Yep, it happens
along with some others.
Legend Killers lets you take your
own created Superstar in a gauntlet type of match against several tiers of WWE
legends. You have to finish off 10 legends in order to be crown the ultimate
Superstar of that particular tier. For example, the first Tier starts off with
Hogan as the last challenger, Bret Hart for the second tier and the last tier
has The Rock. Exhibition mode lets you wrestle against anyone you want in any
particular type of match available. Online mode lets you compete in Ranked or
Player matches against other players on the PlayStation Network. Finally, one
really nice feature was the ability to import the roster from the latest
Smackdown vs. RAW 2009 game. This gives an impressive bump to the overall number
of wrestlers and brings up some interesting possibilities in your matches. For
example, after importing I played an online match with the current Shawn
Michaels against Bret Hart. That still provided me with a “wow” moment of
fandom.
Even with all of these “fan service”
elements LWM almost falls flat on its face when it comes to the gameplay. This
is button mashing experience that will please casual gamers but frustrate
hardcore wrestling gamers. The game tries to break everything down to two
buttons: Striking with the Square button and Grappling with the X button. Both
grapple and strike have three different levels that can be pulled off by
pressing, tapping or holding down square or x.
For example, you hold down the
square button to perform a strong strike. Reading it on paper sounds easy yet
when the computer is smacking you around just trying to perform a strong grapple
or strike seemed futile. Just pressing square or X more than once would
seemingly make the game read those as a strike combination or quick grapple. The
controls do not have the same “rock-paper-scissor” type of feel that many of us
would love to see implemented again. In no way are the controls comparable to
the old N64 WWF/WCW games or even the cult Fire Pro Wrestling series. No matter
how hard I tried performing a strong strike or strong grapple the matches for me
would always flow better if I just mashed away in the beginning. After I got my
opponent’s health down then I was able to go a little more in-depth in trying to
pull off moves.
The moves you do perform are usually
tailored towards each specific wrestler but many wrestlers have the same generic
moves and holds. You have a grapple meter at the top of the screen that keeps
filling up as you perform more moves. Once you reach a different level your
character will start to perform stronger moves. The character specific moves are
usually associated with the Chain Grapples and finishing moves. Both of these
moves sets are performed in a quick time event setting where you have to press
specific buttons within a brief moment. The screen will quickly pop up an icon
to press the circle button. If you press it fast enough the next icon will
appear. If you don’t press it fast enough the computer will usually counter the
move or the chain will fail. Sounds easy enough but some of icons appear so
un-expectantly at times that you’ll always fail on the first attempt with
certain wrestlers. I was never able to pull off Brutus Beefcake’s finisher
because the icon would appear and disappear too suddenly. Maybe my reflexes
aren’t what they used to be or maybe I thought that I should be able to pull off
my finishing moves with ease.
Even with the issues I had with the
controls I still had fun with Legends of WrestleMania. The WrestleMania Tour
mode was almost exactly what I’ve wanted to play in a wrestling game for years.
Many of us create our own characters to try and duplicate matches that we grew
up watching. The Tour mode gives you the chance to do the same thing but this
time officially within the context of the game. Seeing all of these classic
characters was a treat as well that I’m sure older fans will love. I found that
the more I played the game the more I did enjoy it even with my personal dislike
for the controls. If you’re a huge fan of the WWE and wrestling then you should
definitely check out Legends of WrestleMania.
Gameplay: 7.0
LWM played more like a button mashing fighting game instead of a wrestling game.
Forget about pinpoint precision and accuracy on the controls. Just swing away
until you weaken your opponent and then try to execute some real moves.
Graphics: 8.3
Many of the characters had a very shinny almost rubbery look to them, especially
during the introductions. The majority of the characters looked very similar to
their real-life counterparts just with a massive bump in muscle mass and
definition. Many of these characters never had this much muscle in real life!
The camera angle did an acceptable job of keep focused on the action and I
didn’t notice any slowdown. Occasionally I would notice a tag partner getting in
the way of my view of the match. The various stages all looked very accurate to
their real world counterparts just at a reduced scale. The crowds however did
look very rough with plenty of repeated models and blocky characters.
Sound: 9.0
All of the vintage entrance music for each character is included in their
original forms. Nothing remixed from my perspective. JR and The King do a great
job doing the commentary with only a few parts being repeated during the same
matches.
Concept: 8.5
I loved the WrestleMania Tour mode since you can recreate some legendary matches
or change them up. I only wish we had more matches included in the Tour mode.
Multiplayer: 8.0
Sure, we get the standard Ranked and Player matches we find in most online
games. However, I never found a game that didn’t have a very low-rated
connection status, which resulted in the games lagging. It would have been nice
to have seen a tournament-style mode or Rumble Royal mode included.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The difficulty seemed way too high on normal mode. I was getting knocked down
almost immediately in every match. Even though Easy mode was better I still had
a few matches that gave me some problems.
Overall: 8.2
If you’re a fan of the WWE then you probably already bought this game and really
don’t need this review to convince you. For the rest of you out there I can say
that if you are or were a big fan of wrestling then you should check out Legends
of WrestleMania. The WrestleMania Tour Mode is the one part of the game that I
will keep coming back to. Granted it is a little short but just reliving and
recreating some of these matches was so much fun. Give yourself some time to
adjust to the controls and you should fit right in with the old school motif
just like it was the 80’s all over again.
