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WRESTLING VIDEO GAMES
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Showdown: Legends of Wrestling
by Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. (for PlayStation2)
Description:Me as a fan of old school wrestling was very excited about this game. After playing Legends of Wrestling 2 for ages, I had high hopes for this one. Things turned out a little bit different.
MATCHES & MATCH TYPES:
A decent mode in the game, allows a variety of different matches:
Hardcore - A 1-on-1 match which allows the use of weapons.
Ironman 30 - A match that lasts for 30 minutes and the person who gains the most decisions (pinfalls or DQs) in that time frame is the winner.
Ironman 60 - The same as above but for an hour. (who's crazy enough to do this?)
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First Blood - The first person to bleed is the loser.
Best 2-out-of-3 Falls - The first person to gain 2 falls is the winner.
Standard Tournament - Pick 4, 8 or 16 players for a 1-on-1 tourney.
Tag Team Tournament - Pick 4 or 8 teams for a tag tourney.
Classic Match - re-live some of the greatest matches of all time
Tag Team - Just two teams duking it out for supremacy!
3-Way-Tag - Three teams (6 wrestlers) fighting.
4-Way-Tag - Four teams (8 wrestlers) fighting.
6-Man-Tag - Two teams (6 wrestlers) compete. A little like Survivor Series
8-Man-Tag - Two teams (8 wrestlers) compete. Almost like SS.
VS - Standard 1-on-1 match, the same as "Quick Play", really.
3-Way-Dance - 3 wrestlers competing in an elimination-style match.
4-Way-Dance - The same as above, but with four guys.
Battle Royale - Its actually spelled wrong in the game, but its a fun mode to play, just a Royal Rumble match
Cage Match - Two men inside a 15-foot high steel cage. Ways to win are either climbing over and out of the cage, or simply asking the ref to unlock it and climb out through the door. I recommend the latter, as it saves so much time, as long as you call to the ref to unlock the door BEFORE the knock your opponent out.
Ladder Match - a belt is suspended 20 feet above the ring and the only way to get to it is to get the ladder (which is at ringside), set it up in the middle of the ring, climb it and grab the belt. Could've been as good as cage, but spoilt by the horrible ladder physics and the unrealistic size of the ladder
Table Match - Smash your opponent through a table. Simple as.
3/5
STORY MODE/SHOWDOWN CHALLENGE:
In this mode you choose a legend of your choice, battle with him trough three decades (The 70's, The 80's and The 90's) hoping to become the ultimate World Champion. This mode is very short compared to LOW 2 where it took you years to actually get al the unlockable stuff.
First time playing this mode with Sting, every decade you fight for a title without a name (sup with that?) With in the end fighting against Hulk Hogan for the World Title.
It comes down to this, you just play match after match with some cheesy storyline added to it.
Plain and simple.
2/5
SOUND:
The annoucing is being done by Tony Schiavone, Larry Zblysko and Bobby ''the Brain'' Heenan. This addes another WCW mix into it which I love.
By far better than the Smackdown series announcing, this is something Acclaim is actually good in. Even Tony calles the moves by the wrong name, how realistic.
4/5
GRAPHICS:
Another good aspect of this game. The Graphics are really great. The wrestlers have a more real-life look compared to the cartoonish looking wrestlers frome the last two games.
The presentation is very well done, It has a old early 90's WCWstyl look, which is a good thing.
4/5
GAMEPLAY:
Now this is where they went wrong. I enjoyed last years gameplay where you could link moves into new moves or submissions, but they almost took it out completly this year. Offering just a minor set of moves to use.
By pressing one of the directional buttons + a square ect you can do a few moves.
Another bad thing is the glitching. It happens to much, I had glitches where I was performing a Piledriver on somebody and I took the beating of it.
Somethings wrestlers are just random teleported, really really bad.
And why is Andre The Giant moving at the same speed as Eddy Guerrero?
2/5
ROSTER:
This is by far the best roster for a wrestling game ever. Name it and he's in. Great work by Acclaim on this aspect of the game.
Abdullah The Butcher |
Andre The Giant |
Andy Kaufman |
Animal |
Bam Bam Bigelow |
Baron Von Raschke |
Big John Studd |
"Superstar" Billy Graham |
Bob Backlund |
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan |
Bret "The Hitman" Hart |
Bruno Sammartino |
"Cowboy" Bob Orton |
Brian Knobbs |
"The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman |
Captain Lou Albano |
"Mr Perfect" Curt Hennig |
Diamond Dallas Page |
"The Rock" Don Muraco |
Dory Funk Jr. |
"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes |
"Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert |
Eddie Guerrero |
Fritz Von Erich |
George "The Animal" Steele |
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine |
Hacksaw Jim Duggan |
"The King" Harley Race |
Hawk |
Hulk Hogan |
Ivan Koloff |
Ivan Putski |
Jake "The Snake" Roberts |
Jerry "The King" Lawler |
Jerry Sags |
"The Mouth Of The South" Jimmy Hart |
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka |
Kerry Von Erich |
Kevin Von Erich |
Killer Kowalski |
King Kong Bundy |
Koko B Ware |
Mil Mascaras |
Mr. Fuji |
Nikita Koloff |
Nikolai Volkoff |
One Man Gang |
"The Rocket" Owen Hart |
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff |
"The Macho Man" Randy Savage |
"The Model" Rick Martel |
"Ravishing" Rick Rude |
Rick Steiner |
Ricky Morton |
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat |
Robert Gibson |
Rocky Johnson |
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper |
Sabu |
"Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner |
Sid Vicious |
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams |
Sting |
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DeBiase |
Terry Frunk |
The British Bulldog |
The Dynamite Kid |
The Grand Wizard |
The Iron Sheik |
The Sheik |
The Ultimate Warrior |
Tito Santana |
"Mr. USA" Tony Atlas
There are real life arena's, some examples are the Boston Garden, Madison Square Garden, Tokyo Dome and many more.
5/5 Stars
CREATE-A-LEGEND:
Another big disapointment compared to last year. This game offers a worse CAL mode than last year. Although there are some new clothes/attires like Cactus Jack, Goldust and the Undertaker, the overall thing is just bad.
2/5 stars
OVERALL:
A must for the old school wrestling fans, but only I've you can get it for a cheap price. Haven't seen any of the oldschool wrestling? Don't bother to pick it up.
RATINGS:
MATCHES & MATCH TYPES : 3/5
STORY MODE/SHOWNDOWN CHALLENGE : 2/5
SOUND: 4/5
GRAPHICS: 4/5
GAMEPLAY : 2/5
ROSTER : 5/5
CREATE-A-SUPERSTAR : 2/5
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewed by Robin van Stenis on February 15, 2005.
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