| Product: |
WWF No Mercy (N64) |
| Date: |
29/01/02 (106 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Keeps the old control system with a few tweaks, all of which improve the game, Lots of options, nice new credits/money idea, The 3D (double grapple off the ropes) looks fantastic!
Disadvantages: Backstage area brawls a big disappointment, Billy Gunn is in it, but Raven and Regal aren't....???, Some moves have unrealistic damage ratings
It's obvious, even before No Mercy was released, that AKI dominates the wrestling computer games market, not only in terms of sales but in terms of quality. Acclaim and others have tried and failed, WWF Attitude was appalling, and nothing on the excellent WWF Wrestlemania 2000.
Therefore, even though this is a new game and some fans might like to see a total change from the prequels (WCW/NWO World Tour, WCW/NWO Revenge, WWF Wrestlemania), it's actually much to my glee that they chose to stick with the tried-and-tested formula used in aforementioned games. Basically, No Mercy uses the same control system, except with a few little tweaks here and there, and all for the better. Now you can execute front grapple moves by pressing L from a back grapple, you can perform back grapple moves on the turnbuckles (including a nasty-looking backdrop and frankensteiner) and you can put your opponents through the "spanish announce table" (a long-running wrestling joke/gimmick). Also, you can now battle in backstage areas, but unfortunately this is probabaly one of the few downsides of the game - there simply isn't enough goign on in these backstage areas, and in fact i personally prefer the ringside. Fans of the "hardcore" style of wrestling might be disappointed with this, but it is a start and hopefully later versions of this series (please THQ/AKI!) will expand on this so that we can see people being powerbombed through 3 tables from a balcony (oh how i miss ECW!)
However there are plenty of upsides I haven't mentioned yet, like the much-improved "career" section, which now takes the form of championship challenges for any of the sacred WWF titles (as well as the Hardcore, Tag Team, European, Light-Heavyweight and Intercontinental ones). Compared to WM2K, well it doesn't compare - THQ/AKI did this bit just right, and I still haven't managed to find all of the storyline paths in this mode.
Another
big change is the idea of earning credits which can unlock new weapons, moves, clothes and even wrestlers in the "Smackdown Mall" - this really does add to the addictiveness factor as you stay up all night just to get enough for the Armageddon arena.
Of course, wrestling is all about the moves though (oh it's not? well i think it is anyway....) and in No Mercy there are yet more tasty moves to execute upon your poor unsuspecting opponent. However, there are some problems in my opinion - first of all, most of the WWF wrestlers who have pre-programmed, non-editable moves have too many similarities. Maybe, on the upside, this stimulates the creative part of your brain to create some kickass wrestlers to destroy those WWF jobbers in Championship mode, the create-a-wrestler bit of the game is very user-friendly.
The other problems with the moves is that some seem to have unrealistic damage points -piledrivers can be done from a weak grapple and only give D damage at best (surely wrong!) This really needs to be sorted out in future releases, because I like a realistic bout! The damage ratings themselves though have improved somewhat, now going all the way down from A to G (G being weakest moves) with an S for some Special moves, as opposed to WM2K's A-E.
The inclusion of ladder matches is welcome although again it'd be nice if ladders could be used backstage for some ECW style action. Maybe the weapons in the game could be used more effectively, rather than just being used to hit the opponent or thrown at them. It'd be nice to see an Air-Sabu (see Hardyz' Poetry in Motion) or the beautiful Van Daminator (and please the Van Terminator too:))
All in all, No Mercy is really addictive, has a good range of options, but the main problem is that most fun will come with it from your own ingenuity with creating wrestlers. That said however, it's still the game I play most of the time on my N64, even after 14 months. If
you like wrestling, buy it.
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