Wrestling gets the Sega treatment (WWF Royal Rumble (DC))

Member Name: Charliew

Product:	WWF Royal Rumble (DC)
Date:	16/10/00 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Inovative Gameplay

Disadvantages: Not enough modes, gets a bit boring

WWF Royal Rumble is one of a trio of new WWF endorsed games brought out this year, this game along with No Mercy and Smack Down 2 (know your role) are all new titles that have a varied degree of anticipation.

Royal Rumble contains two main modes, Exhibition and Royal Rumble, while previous wrestling games flaunted Hardcore, Cage, Boiler room etc. matches you are far more limited in RR.

In the Exhibition mode you compete in five matches in order to hone your skills, you select your wrestler and take them as far as you can. The choice of wrestlers isn’t awesome you have the main stars, Stone Cold, Undertaker and of course the Rock with addition of newcomers like Kurt Angle and Taz.

There are also some disappointments for wrestling fans, The Undertaker is still in Lord of Darkness mode and worst of all no entrance music!! Tantalisingly people like Jericho and Road Dog come out with a microphone and don’t use it. The introduction of the Titantron that came in with SmackDown is sadly absent in Royal Rumble and the little victory dance at the end is really no substitute.

Royal Rumble mode mirrors the WWF event where 30 wrestlers compete in trying to throw each other over the ring, one ridiculous thing is that you only have 12 or so wrestlers to choose from so you get frequent repeats. Your character gets the chance to last as long as they can and to throw as many opponents over.

The controls are also far more basic than previous games, the characters moves are pulled off in an almost random fashion as a combination of punches and holds. Additionally you build up specials that you can use to increase the power of an attack, reverse a move or once you have three specials perform your characters signature finishing move.

Another frankly odd feature is that while you cannot choose the match location all of a sudden you will be transported into the parking lot (complete with “who hit Austin”
style cars) or some other mystery location. While this feature is a bit weird as it seems to be unconnected with much else it does take the sting out of the lack of selectability.

One rather neat feature is the “Interference” factor, when you select your player you can also select a run in partner, you can then select the way they interact with your player. When in game you can select a series of button presses that enables a double team mode. For example the only way you can use weapons in a match is to have your out of ring partner chuck it at you, then you need to be able to catch it and use it (not always easy with the ring steps).

This feature is I think the saving grace of this game, it turns what would otherwise be a poor relation into a game with its own style. And it does have loads of style though Royal Rumble is basically an arcade game details like the faces of the wrestlers and in fact the crowd have obviously had some work and are fairly slick.

While it will be I think over shadowed by its cousins on Nintendo and Playstation it does stand on its own as being a unique and interesting game.

Summary: