A Trip Down Memory Lane
Having played pretty much every wrestling game since WCW vs NWO World Tour on the N64 I once again set out on the road to championship gold in this latest installment from THQ. I already have Smackdown vs Raw 2009 and have played that game to death and first off I am glad that THQ did not just put out the same game again but has revamped the engine and put out what is in my opinion a great wrestling game and one that evokes many a happy memory of the bygone era of professional wrestling.
First off the control system has been revamped so that instead of using the right analogue stick to pull off grapples everything is done using the four face buttons. You use the left analogue stick to move your wrestler around the ring, the A button is used for grapples, B for running, pinning, picking up weapons etc, X is for your strikes and Y is used for blocking and reversing. Its a much simpler control scheme that takes a while to get used to if you have played previous Smackdown games but one that works and I certainly found it much easier to reverse strikes and grapples using this system.
The game looks great with arenas from the first 15 Wrestlemanias and a bonus Royal Rumble arena looking authentic and very detailed. The wrestlers themselves look much more beefed up than their real life counterparts but overall their look fits with the rest of the game.
The sound is again very authentic with the tones of hall of fame announcer Howard Finkel announcing each match and Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler providing the commentary. Ok so they did not commentate during the era that the game is trying to portray however it seems they were the only option the WWE had with the commentators of that time being either dead or no longer working for Vince McMahon. The music is great with most wrestlers having their proper theme tunes, hearing Hulk Hogans 'Real American' and The Honky Tonk Man's theme tunes are just two of the highlights.
The modes are great with my favourite being the Relive, Rewrite, Redefine modes as part of the overall Wrestlemania Tour mode. These modes allow you to watch a video package of for example the fued between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant before stepping into the ring as one of the superstars and reliving their classic Wrestlemania 3 encounter by fulfilling certain objectives and making sure your match goes the same way as the original. You also get the chance to change the outcomes of certain matches or even change the type of match they were. A great mode and one that has a brilliantly nostalgic feel about it.
The Legend Killer mode sees you basically fighting a series of gauntlet matches in order to be crowned the greatest legend. I was not so keen on this mode however as you end up fighting 10 other legends in a row within each tier and there is no way to save your progress so you have to fight them all in one sitting!!
Also there are the usual match types in the game although not as many as the Smackdown series and a decent create a legend mode as well.
The only drawbacks I would say apart from Legend Killer modes lack of save is that some notable legends have been left out such as Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana and Rick Martel. Apart from this though the roster features over 40 legends and managers and if you have a Smackdown vs Raw 09 game save on your Xbox then you can import pretty much the entire roster from that game into Legends of Wrestlemania which not only doubles the amount of wrestlers you can use but also allows you to set up matches between current and past superstars. Maybe some DLC would be good but it does not look like the game supports it.
Overall then I have loved playing this game and dont see that changing until the next version hits the shelves. As a wreslting fan and a fan of wrestling games it ticks many boxes in my opinion of what a good wreslting game should be and I applaud THQ for their efforts in recreating what was truely some of the best matches the WWF/E has produced.
