"A new idea to the wrestling genre" (Legends of Wrestling (PC))

Member Name: ps2update

Product:	Legends of Wrestling (PC)
Date:	18/02/02 (302 review reads)
Rating:

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The Rock, Chris Jericho, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, The Undertaker, Kane – all of these are men you might associate with wrestling, but are any of them really legends? According to Acclaim one of these men is a legend, but it isn’t The Undertaker – a man who’s been in the WWF for over 10 years, it isn’t The Rock or Steve Austin – two of the biggest names in wrestling, and it isn’t the undisputed champion of the world Chris Jericho, it is in fact (all join in now) Rob Van Dam. One can only presume that when making this game RVD was in ECW, as he certainly isn’t a legend compared to all the WWF greats of this day. The title legends of wrestling would suggest it was legends from all over the place; what it really should be called is Legends Of The WWF, or even better American Legends Of Wrestling, for you wont find any legends of the good old British sport. Acclaim have made several successful wrestling games before such as WWF Warzone, and WWF Attitude; let’s just hope they can keep up the good work with this latest wrestling title and not make a mess out of it such as ECW: Hardcore Revolution.

GRAPHICS

Visually Legends Of Wrestling is a nice game. Chunky wrestlers, an equally chunky referee, and 3D fans surround the ring. Bars at the top display the condition of your wrestler, and occasionally captions such as “knock out” appear on the screen in true cartoon style. It is hard to distinguish whether Legends Of Wrestling is trying to be an arcade game or a simulation; the gameplay is methodical and old school style but the graphics are just so cartoon-like. Captions involving weapons and light blood coming off of wrestlers remind one of the days when channel 5 used captions such as “splat”, and “kaboom” in an attempt to censor WCW; that proved awful but the captions in Legends Of Wrestling luckily don’t spoil the fun. Each individual wrestler is
easily identifiable due to the look, and attire, although one can’t help but think they haven’t put as much attention to detail on the actual faces or unique markings of the character as WWF Smackdown 3 has. Like Smackdown 3 angles change views when high moves are executed in a bid to make it appear like the real thing on TV, however a very unusual touch for a wrestling game is when a very powerful move is executed the action stops for about five seconds, the camera spins around and then the move is hit – true matrix style. I wouldn’t say this effect makes the game better than Smackdown but it certainly makes the game interesting so to speak. Blood is very poor in Legends Of Wrestling; it appears that the developers have just put a thick felt tip pen on the head and left it at that. Perhaps Acclaim were just trying to make it as fake as the real thing? Who knows? One thing is sure though, and that is it does not look convincing. Overall the general presentation of the game is nice, with bright menus, chunky wrestlers, and a surprising well-done crowd.
16/20

SOUND

With Smackdown 3 we made the criticism that the commentary let the game down, and with Legends Of Wrestling there is no commentary; one can’t help but wonder how great it would have been with legendary commentators such as; Vince McMahon, Bobby The Brain Heenan, and JR. Then again to get three men like that in to commentate would have cost serious money. Instead of commentary the gamer has some very poor background music, thuds, cheers, and general grunts. Entrance music is played when wrestlers come out but unfortunately it is not the official theme, giving Legends Of Wrestling an almost fake feel to it – at least they tried. The sound is by no means anything special, but it just about gets the job done. Atmospheric? I think not.
10/20

GAMEPLAY

There are no table, hell in a cell, TLC, hardcore, ladder, royal rumble, casket, sl
obberknocker, cage, or battle royal matches. All in all things don’t sound good. However on the positive side there is; Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Jimmy Snuka, George “The Animal” Steele, Koko B Ware, and a whole host of other wrestlers including hardcore specialists RVD, Terry Funk, and Sabu. As this game is titled Legends Of Wrestling it is not surprising that the matches are old school; this game is about good old traditional wrestling; the early days of Superstar Billy Graham. The matches available are; 1 on 1, three-way dance, four way dance, and tag. Not a great deal but considering there is the option to play as referee, and use weapons it isn’t quite as old school as one would initially think.
When in a match the pace is slow and the moves are limited. Legends Of Wrestling is quite the opposite of Smackdown 3. Instead of being fast paced with a wide variety of moves Legends Of Wrestling takes you back to the days of slow paced fights. Although the moves are limited the ability to use weapons definitely knocks the entertainment up a notch or two. Another great feature is the managers; with Smackdown 3 managers would run into the ring or assault from outside; with Legends Of Wrestling we have managers acting exactly how managers should act, getting on the apron and distracting the referee so he doesn’t see the pinning predicament. If you want to play tactfully then managers can influence the match a lot, but if you are just going for a lot of well-timed button bashing then managers aren’t really going to help.
There is the option to create your own wrestler but unfortunately this is not as good as Smackdown’s despite Acclaim genuinely trying. If you can make a decent wrestler then go for it but if you want a more accurate create a wrestler program then use Smackdown 3 a program that can accurately create Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, and Sabu – trust us we have tried.
Gameplay is fun while it lasts but
sadly it just isn’t as big, or sophisticated as Smackdown 3: Just Bring It.
15/25

LIFESPAN

Career, and tournament mode should last you a while and are a lot longer than Smackdown 3’s abysmal story mode. Again the lack of features, and matches means that once completed the game wont last you too long; renting it out would be a good idea, but if you want a more worthwhile investment go for Smackdown 3.
17/25

ORIGINALITY

There has never actually been a wrestling game that has put out a wrestling game with legends from various decades. Acclaim are definitely onto something with this idea but a few more modes, and in-depth story mode that didn’t feel repetitive would be better next time. As for innovative new matches, it isn’t going to happen here, as this is strictly old school.
5/10

OVERALL

Legends Of Wrestling brings a new idea to the wrestling genre but unfortunately it fails to impress fans of pure fighting. For all you wrestling fans out there who remember the old times this is definitely worth a gander – just don’t expect it to be as action-packed as Smackdown 3.

63%

Summary: