Every little boys dream is marching down to the ring and beating up countless groups of evil bad guys, but usually all the gym work involved leaves many people short of the neccessary attributes to get the chance. So this game is truly an outlet with which we can stop mindless lager lauts like Stone Cold Steve Austin from eating solid meals again.

My experiance of wrestling games is quite broad, when I first got my Nintendo 64 I purchased WWF Warzone, and was delighted at it's realisim and brake through into the relm of "create a wrestler" Although this was nothing but an appitite teaser as I was constantly thinking "If only I could......" and "he's changed his angle now, but he's still the same here....." and the limited array of moves really began to dig at me after a while, nevertheless I completed the game and never really tired of playing the odd match, until WWF Attitude came out. And this game was the same engine but with a whole wealth of new options. The expanded on the create a wrestler option by realising my dream of allowing you to choose individual moves for my grapplers. But I soon completed that, and still wanted more. So I turned to the already released WCW vs NWO world tour, which had been out for a while and quite slated in magazine reviews. But this showed me another type of game with the game really based at an arcade style. This game (the first to use the WWF No Mercy Engine) was limited graphically and the options were a bit minimal, but there was something in the game that kept me coming back. So when wcw vs nwo revenge came out, they had added to te options, much the same as the WWF series, and had a small dabble in the create wrestler mode. But in my oppinion didn't really surpass the quality of WWF Warzone. So my loyalties were firmly with the WWF Attitude style set up. So imagine my annoyance when the wwf license was sold to the people who made the WCW games. I thought that they would
just change the charactors and stick it on the shelves. But they didn't, they obviously had seen the market for the WWF logo, and wanted to produce a game that surpassed all others, and as they had quashed the compitition they had no pressures to get it out there to steal sales. So they really worked on it, and delivered probably the N64's best beat em up game and definately the best wrestling game. The options were vast and deep, the modes were enjoyable, the graphics were much improved, and the whole game had a more polished feel that was absent from the previous THQ incarnations. I however was going through a bit of a cash flow crisis, and could only briefly borrow it from a friend, so I wasn't treated to the full experience. After a while my money problems had cleared and I was ready to enjoy the game, but I read in a magazine that the next wwf game was well underway and ready for buying in under a month. So I with held from my wrestling games for over a month so that I could fully appreciate this one when I finnally bought it.

And did I enjoy it! I turned it on and was greated with a visual treat as to what was in store. For wrestling fans this demo/intro was superb. For years I have not understood why advertising for wrestling games didnt' show a clip of actual footage and then after show the same type of thing in the game. (EG Rock bottom on Stone Cold through a table) As this would show the fans that it really was in tune with what they were watching, and they'd buy it. Well this intro showed loads of difining moments in the recent wwf shows as in game moments. The rock running into the ring and laying the smack down on the macmahons. Stephanie slapping Test, and then Stepanie attempts to slap linda and she blocks and returns the favour. Jeff Hardy winning a ladder match. The Dudley Boys 3-d'ing Edge. Triple H pedigreeing Mick Foley in a cage. The Rock, Rock Bottoming HHH through the announce table. The Rock doing the peopl
es elbow in the middle of the ring. The list goes on. I have never tired of watching it. And it certainly leaves you ready for action and you are not kept waiting.

The matches themselves are very realistic and the carnage you can cause is very "grin-worthy." I thought that I'd start by using The Rock, as almost everybody knows his moves and style. So I did, and after a severe pummelling of Grandmaster Sexay I was very happy indeed at my purchase. The moves are absolutely spot on, the music, the taunts, the walk, everything. Not only that, but during my match, HHH interfered!! I was half happy that the game could manage it, and annoyed that I was getting teamed up on. One pedigree later and I was convinvced that the people who made this game were generally wrestling fans and knew what they were doing. I then had a little explore of the other features. The array of matches took me some time, as I just couldn't leave them untried. Ladder triple threat matches. Hell in a cell first blood matches. Iron man matches. and guest referee matches. Where you actually get to be the referee and count a pin, call a submission, and interfere against anyone you wish. I finally got to a stage where I thought I was able to switch over to the next menu. and was presented with career and survival matches. I guessed about the career, but had a go at survival. It is, as it's name suggests, a survival of the fittest. It was set out like the royal Rumble, and the rules were the same, but this time you had to try to stay in the ring as long as you could, and 100 wrestlers will come in, in turn, and try to get you out. And it isn't easy. I managed 14 before Rikishi kicked my in the chin and toppled me over the ropes backwards. Then after the match, you were rewarded WWF money for your efforts. I was oblivious as to its use until I turned the menu again. I went into the "Smackdown Mall" and seeing a rather strange option in a wrestling game, went i
nto the section marked Shop. Inside was a huge amount of costumes, tatoos, glasses, gloves, moves, weapons, secret wrestlers, arenas and more. I was truly like a kid in a candy store. And my $4000 I got was quickly gone on a fire extinguisher weapon, and a pair of boxing gloves. Happy as punch I went in search of the "Create a Wrestler mode" I also found such options as, edit a superstar, name stable, edit stable, al of which seemd to hold more than the name suggests. But I stayed loyal to the cause and got into the create a wrestler mode.

This mode is by far the best I have ever seen. No exaggeration. You get to name him, dress him, choose his favourite weapons, choose his moves, choose how often he is likely to bleed, high tall he is, how heavy he is, the shape of his head as well as his face, which wrestlers dislike him, and which ones would accompany him to the ring, which parts of his body are good at recieving hits, and which parts are good at delving them out, how good at submission moves he is, how far he can jump. I will stop there because I think you get the picture. It was the moves that took the longest, as there are moves for the unlikliest situations. And there are thousands to choose from, even with specially created moves which aren't in use by any other wrestlers, but look just as deadly. Infact I think if there was a special move that you wanted then I bet it is on the game somewhere.

The depth of this game is still astounding me, almost a year after I bought it. I still haven't bought everything in the shop, and there are many career paths that I haven't taken. The caree is set up in a type of flow diagram style. You start off trying to get a certain belt. You fight a match, if you win you will go one way, and if you lose you will go another. If you win that one you will go one way and lose another and so on. You also get money from winning these matches, and each match is different. One match you might ge
t a lucky win over D'lo Brown. And next you could be in a bar room brawl against the accolytes (not adviseable). The flow of these matches is also very good, with each one usually tying in with the last in some way. And the variety of stipulations for matches are almost as varied as the WWF. Another example I recently tagged up with Shane Macmahon, and he told me to try to injure The Rock, and in order to do this successfully I had to put him through a table. Also, while I'm here, I would like to express my happiness that when you do a move on a weapon, like a chair of steel steps, the noise rattles out and extra damage given off, really like that.

Anyway. I love this game, I play it religiously, I have created all of the new wrestlers since it came out, and moved them in in place of the ones who have left. (And with the recent WCW/ECW Invasion that wasn't easy, I can tell you!) But this game has everything. I cannot praise it enough. I did have problems with the bug in the past but got it exchanged for a bug free one with no extra cost. The depth, the graphics, the moves, and the fluidity make this an absolute must for wrestling and beat 'em up fans alike. And thats the bottom line.....