TheGame
09-19-2003, 02:50 PM
-This Color represents how I would have rated SD:SYM
-This Color represents how I would have rated WM x8
This Color represents how I would have rated WWF No Mercy
I'm gonna give comparison ratings just to give you an idea how it compares to other games. Also, I haven't played XIX yet, so if I say something that you disagree with "because XIX's is better," please try to understand that XIX isn't taken into the equations.
Graphics:
IMO this game has the best graphics ever featured in a WWE game. The models look very... um... sweaty (no other word to describe it). But even though it looks like that, they still look more realistic than any other WWE game to date.
The Animation is perfect. The way the superstars walk in their enterances, the way they walk backstage, and they way they carry themselves are just like thier real counterparts. In the intros, the camera views are done very well. The lighting effects cause a bit of slowdown when you combine too much for a CAW.
As for in match animation, I would also have to say it's the best I have seen to date. How the overall match is presented and how it flows is as close to reality as you are going to get this gen.
Score:9.5 9.0 8.0 7.5
Sound
The sound in this game is very good. There are problems, like no voice acting, but I don't see why I should hold this game to a higher standard than x8 and SD.
Also, as you well, know, you can rip music from your Xbox Hard drive to get custom music for an entrance. While I can diss the game for some of it's missing music for some superstars, it recovers quickly because you can update the superstars with whatever music you want. Buy a CD like WWE anthology and WWE Forceable entry, and you can do many things.
Score:9.0 8.5 8.0 8.0
Gameplay
In a match you have 3 basic buttons that control your hand to hand fighting.
X=Punch, A=Graple, and B=Dodge (block)
The way you punch is effected by both how long you hold the button and what direction you press while hitting. I played with Orton and The Rock, and they have a wide variety of punches they can do.
As far as a graple you can do up to 15 moves once you grab a guy. You can press either X or A to do a move, then X or A + Up, down, left, or right to pull off a move. You can also press X+A and a direction to pull off a move. You also can pull off specials by pressing X+A.
The beauty of this system is the fact that you can graple people in lot of different situations... and they all do different moves. You can grab them in the corner, or against the ropes, and from the head or the feet while laying down.
The block/dodge button is good, but it isn't as cheap as one may think. It really only has a good block effect on punches and kicks, a well timed graple can easily get around the block. To walk around the ring you have to use the D-Pad, and to run you have to use the Stick, there is no button here, just your decision.
Another button that's important is the black button, which is the climb button. This is used to get up on the turnbuckle, up the Cell, and up a ladder. There is also a specialty move it can do... set up a chair and run toward it, press the black button and your guy will use the chair to launch themselves up for a flying attack. After this, there are all the basic moves you would expect, pretty much anything you can find on No Mercy you can do in this game (cept a strong graple).
The AI in this game is awful, it's the perfect multi player game, but not a very good Single player game. The AI isn't terrible at all times, but for the most part they have some major flaws. The gameplay is good enough to hold a 20-30 minute match with a friend... good enough to hold a 10-15 minute match one on one with the CPU (but once I get good at the game I doubt this will be true)... but not good for any 3 way or tag matches with the CPU.
The ladder matches are very confusing, and I have still yet to find a way to come down with the belt. It almost comes down to a holding on game. Once you get up, your opponent will come up and hang on too... (trust me, I have never gotten away with hanging w/o someone else hopping on). When they start hanging, whoever is willing to tap buttons the longest will win... but wait... the CPU taps forever!!! So you pretty much hang there until the time is up, or if you chose to drop, they always come down with the belt right after. I have no suggestions on how to win a match like this. All I can say is, pray for a rematch.
The Hell in a Cell matches are the most entertaining. It's like smackdown when it comes to getting out of the cage, just do a running move into the door. It's more like x8 when putting someone through the cell, it takes either a powerful slam or multiple hits to knock out the top. I think there are 4 panels that can be broken, but there may be more. It's impossible to simply walk off the top of the cage like in Smackdown, and it's also impossible to do a suplex or something of that nature off of the side of the Cell... you can toss a person off the side though, but that causes a automatic KO and victory. You can jump from the cell to the outside (apparently) but you can't jump to the inside. Outside there is limited walking space, you can only stay in a little area by the door and by the announce tables.
Tag matches, 3 way matches, anything that has to do with more than two people fighting isn't really that fun with the CPU. They continue to break up moves that you attempt all match, and it gets very annoying.
Overall this game's gameplay is a hard thing to rate. It has a technically great wrestling engine, but it also has bad AI... fun with friends, not with CPU. The game generally plays well though, the game is technically good vs. human or CPU, it's just the CPU that sucks. (thus the reason many sites are confused when coring this game)
score: 8.9 8.5 7.0 10.0
Season/Career Mode:
This season mode happens to be the best I have ever played. I'm not saying that some won't prefer how SD does it, or how No Mercy does it, because they all have thier advantages. But personally this game's season mode is my favorite. The basic thing to do in this mode is, well, anything you heart desires.
Before the show there will be a listing of matches, I think there is normally 8, and you can select from a number of things to do before any match. You can:
Interfere-What this does is obvious, you attempt to get in the way of a match. You get one of two cut scenes, one is you being blocked by guards, and the other is you knocking out two of them then staring Sgt Slaughter in the face, then he lets you pass. Then you get the chance to do some damage in the match.
Set Trap- You pick this option, and a superstar, and you set up a trap (falling box) for them to walk into. A number of things can happen.
Encourage- You go to the locker room to try and find someone to encourage, and either they accept your help or deny it.
Complain- I haven't used this much, but it's a good way to get someone mad at you for no reason.
Select Manager-This action is hard, first of all you go to the locker room and hope the person you are asking is even there, if they are, then your guy has to ask, and chances are they will say no.
Sneak Attack- Just like it sounds, you have to go to the locker room and hope the person is there, if they are, you attack them and have a minute to beat down on him. The gameplay controls are different back there, but in a basic sense the same. It's the first to get five successful grapple moves off, then a finisher. The thing with this is... it only hurts both people's spirits. If you lose you really lose a lot, if you win you still lose a little.
Call out-You can come out at any point in the night and call out anybody, but there is no guarantee that it will workout the way you want... sometimes a person you don't even care for comes strolling out and challenges you.
Rest-This will build up your spirit, but... be warned, resting puts you in the back locker, and can cause you to get beat up. If you are playing as a superstar like The Rock, resting is hard to come by, and even sometimes a less popular guy has a hard time resting. I was Orton one night and Nash attacked me three times, and beat me 2 out of 3 times. When my match came up Orton was already burned out.
The nice thing is, you have to pick your actions before the show starts... not that it's very user friendly, but eh, it makes the game more interesting. It's almost like gambling. The night Nash attacked me three times were during my three resting periods... for the rest of the night I was causing havoc and that also kills spirit. Not being accepted, or any plans not working out for your good cost spirit points. It may seem free and easy, but if other guys are out to get you can have an awful night.
I'm glad there is no text or voice acting in career mode because it would be hard to do. You have your own reasons for your actions and other people have thier own. I could see text or voice acting getting a bit more repetitive then your imagination.
While there is tons of positive, there re some little things I don't like about season mode. The booking of matches is down right confusing sometimes. Also, there are many occasions where someone weak either feuds with or beats someone who is established and popular... like John Cena beating Goldberg on Smackdown... Or Ric Flair beating Brock at the PPV for the WWE Championship. But without text it makes it make more sense because you can formulate it in your own head what happened or why Flair got the belt.
Sometimes I wish they could show everything that's happening to the guys involved in the main event, because from the looks of things, when Brock lost to Flair, he had been attacked multiple times.
I'm not going to rate this part of the game, so let's just skip to the final score.
Closing comments
Steph has monstrously big titties, the game plays well, the graphics are great, and the presentation is the best ever. What more could you want?
Overall score: 9.0 9.1 7.5 9.9
I suggest any hardcore WWE fan at least rent.
-This Color represents how I would have rated WM x8
This Color represents how I would have rated WWF No Mercy
I'm gonna give comparison ratings just to give you an idea how it compares to other games. Also, I haven't played XIX yet, so if I say something that you disagree with "because XIX's is better," please try to understand that XIX isn't taken into the equations.
Graphics:
IMO this game has the best graphics ever featured in a WWE game. The models look very... um... sweaty (no other word to describe it). But even though it looks like that, they still look more realistic than any other WWE game to date.
The Animation is perfect. The way the superstars walk in their enterances, the way they walk backstage, and they way they carry themselves are just like thier real counterparts. In the intros, the camera views are done very well. The lighting effects cause a bit of slowdown when you combine too much for a CAW.
As for in match animation, I would also have to say it's the best I have seen to date. How the overall match is presented and how it flows is as close to reality as you are going to get this gen.
Score:9.5 9.0 8.0 7.5
Sound
The sound in this game is very good. There are problems, like no voice acting, but I don't see why I should hold this game to a higher standard than x8 and SD.
Also, as you well, know, you can rip music from your Xbox Hard drive to get custom music for an entrance. While I can diss the game for some of it's missing music for some superstars, it recovers quickly because you can update the superstars with whatever music you want. Buy a CD like WWE anthology and WWE Forceable entry, and you can do many things.
Score:9.0 8.5 8.0 8.0
Gameplay
In a match you have 3 basic buttons that control your hand to hand fighting.
X=Punch, A=Graple, and B=Dodge (block)
The way you punch is effected by both how long you hold the button and what direction you press while hitting. I played with Orton and The Rock, and they have a wide variety of punches they can do.
As far as a graple you can do up to 15 moves once you grab a guy. You can press either X or A to do a move, then X or A + Up, down, left, or right to pull off a move. You can also press X+A and a direction to pull off a move. You also can pull off specials by pressing X+A.
The beauty of this system is the fact that you can graple people in lot of different situations... and they all do different moves. You can grab them in the corner, or against the ropes, and from the head or the feet while laying down.
The block/dodge button is good, but it isn't as cheap as one may think. It really only has a good block effect on punches and kicks, a well timed graple can easily get around the block. To walk around the ring you have to use the D-Pad, and to run you have to use the Stick, there is no button here, just your decision.
Another button that's important is the black button, which is the climb button. This is used to get up on the turnbuckle, up the Cell, and up a ladder. There is also a specialty move it can do... set up a chair and run toward it, press the black button and your guy will use the chair to launch themselves up for a flying attack. After this, there are all the basic moves you would expect, pretty much anything you can find on No Mercy you can do in this game (cept a strong graple).
The AI in this game is awful, it's the perfect multi player game, but not a very good Single player game. The AI isn't terrible at all times, but for the most part they have some major flaws. The gameplay is good enough to hold a 20-30 minute match with a friend... good enough to hold a 10-15 minute match one on one with the CPU (but once I get good at the game I doubt this will be true)... but not good for any 3 way or tag matches with the CPU.
The ladder matches are very confusing, and I have still yet to find a way to come down with the belt. It almost comes down to a holding on game. Once you get up, your opponent will come up and hang on too... (trust me, I have never gotten away with hanging w/o someone else hopping on). When they start hanging, whoever is willing to tap buttons the longest will win... but wait... the CPU taps forever!!! So you pretty much hang there until the time is up, or if you chose to drop, they always come down with the belt right after. I have no suggestions on how to win a match like this. All I can say is, pray for a rematch.
The Hell in a Cell matches are the most entertaining. It's like smackdown when it comes to getting out of the cage, just do a running move into the door. It's more like x8 when putting someone through the cell, it takes either a powerful slam or multiple hits to knock out the top. I think there are 4 panels that can be broken, but there may be more. It's impossible to simply walk off the top of the cage like in Smackdown, and it's also impossible to do a suplex or something of that nature off of the side of the Cell... you can toss a person off the side though, but that causes a automatic KO and victory. You can jump from the cell to the outside (apparently) but you can't jump to the inside. Outside there is limited walking space, you can only stay in a little area by the door and by the announce tables.
Tag matches, 3 way matches, anything that has to do with more than two people fighting isn't really that fun with the CPU. They continue to break up moves that you attempt all match, and it gets very annoying.
Overall this game's gameplay is a hard thing to rate. It has a technically great wrestling engine, but it also has bad AI... fun with friends, not with CPU. The game generally plays well though, the game is technically good vs. human or CPU, it's just the CPU that sucks. (thus the reason many sites are confused when coring this game)
score: 8.9 8.5 7.0 10.0
Season/Career Mode:
This season mode happens to be the best I have ever played. I'm not saying that some won't prefer how SD does it, or how No Mercy does it, because they all have thier advantages. But personally this game's season mode is my favorite. The basic thing to do in this mode is, well, anything you heart desires.
Before the show there will be a listing of matches, I think there is normally 8, and you can select from a number of things to do before any match. You can:
Interfere-What this does is obvious, you attempt to get in the way of a match. You get one of two cut scenes, one is you being blocked by guards, and the other is you knocking out two of them then staring Sgt Slaughter in the face, then he lets you pass. Then you get the chance to do some damage in the match.
Set Trap- You pick this option, and a superstar, and you set up a trap (falling box) for them to walk into. A number of things can happen.
Encourage- You go to the locker room to try and find someone to encourage, and either they accept your help or deny it.
Complain- I haven't used this much, but it's a good way to get someone mad at you for no reason.
Select Manager-This action is hard, first of all you go to the locker room and hope the person you are asking is even there, if they are, then your guy has to ask, and chances are they will say no.
Sneak Attack- Just like it sounds, you have to go to the locker room and hope the person is there, if they are, you attack them and have a minute to beat down on him. The gameplay controls are different back there, but in a basic sense the same. It's the first to get five successful grapple moves off, then a finisher. The thing with this is... it only hurts both people's spirits. If you lose you really lose a lot, if you win you still lose a little.
Call out-You can come out at any point in the night and call out anybody, but there is no guarantee that it will workout the way you want... sometimes a person you don't even care for comes strolling out and challenges you.
Rest-This will build up your spirit, but... be warned, resting puts you in the back locker, and can cause you to get beat up. If you are playing as a superstar like The Rock, resting is hard to come by, and even sometimes a less popular guy has a hard time resting. I was Orton one night and Nash attacked me three times, and beat me 2 out of 3 times. When my match came up Orton was already burned out.
The nice thing is, you have to pick your actions before the show starts... not that it's very user friendly, but eh, it makes the game more interesting. It's almost like gambling. The night Nash attacked me three times were during my three resting periods... for the rest of the night I was causing havoc and that also kills spirit. Not being accepted, or any plans not working out for your good cost spirit points. It may seem free and easy, but if other guys are out to get you can have an awful night.
I'm glad there is no text or voice acting in career mode because it would be hard to do. You have your own reasons for your actions and other people have thier own. I could see text or voice acting getting a bit more repetitive then your imagination.
While there is tons of positive, there re some little things I don't like about season mode. The booking of matches is down right confusing sometimes. Also, there are many occasions where someone weak either feuds with or beats someone who is established and popular... like John Cena beating Goldberg on Smackdown... Or Ric Flair beating Brock at the PPV for the WWE Championship. But without text it makes it make more sense because you can formulate it in your own head what happened or why Flair got the belt.
Sometimes I wish they could show everything that's happening to the guys involved in the main event, because from the looks of things, when Brock lost to Flair, he had been attacked multiple times.
I'm not going to rate this part of the game, so let's just skip to the final score.
Closing comments
Steph has monstrously big titties, the game plays well, the graphics are great, and the presentation is the best ever. What more could you want?
Overall score: 9.0 9.1 7.5 9.9
I suggest any hardcore WWE fan at least rent.