A Bit Too Easy
Multiple WWE titles in a single year tends to concern me. I get unpleasant Crush Hour flashbacks and, man, NOBODY wants that.
THQ decided to go for a slightly different path than they have taken for the venerable SD v RAW series. LoW is certainly more arcade-y in feel and, honestly, are "baby" easy. Easily the easiest wrestling game I've ever played. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it is hard to ignore that you can pretty easily win a match against ANYBODY in less than 2 minutes.
I like the more cartoony look of the characters here as they both look good and provide a nice alternative to the attempts at more realistic player models in the main series. The guys look close (Dusty looks less fat than he really was --- but did anybody expect anything else out of his model?) enough for gov't work, but the stylized look will make certain that this game looks less dated than a SD v RAW game from, say, 2 years ago.
The game is based around the Legend Killer mode where you can't play as Randy Orton --- but you can import your created guy from SD v RAW or create a new one. You must go through the ranks and defeat legends of WWE history in marathon gauntlet matches, ending with a LONG 38 match stretch to end. For me, the choice of legends is baffling. Koko B. Ware made the cut --- but Steamboat DIDN'T? Why did Neidhart make it, but they couldn't find a spot for Dynamite Kid? Brutus Beefcake is a legend how? JYD?
The other major mode is one they cribbed from the excellent Saturn Giant Gram games where you have to re-enact famous matches from WM history. You can re-do the matches, re-write the matches (where you play the loser and have them win) or re-define, where the match is done is a different manner, such as Andre v Studd at WMI being a HITC match. It's actually a really cool little mode, but not very deep.
This is one of those few games were achievements redeem it. Without them, you'd be done with it in an hour or so. Achievements give you something to shoot for because the developers forgot to include a reason without them.
It's a decent game, but I don't think it warrants a separate release. It'd be a great mode for future SD v RAW titles, though.
