Legends of WrestleMania Review

Ah… the 80′s and 90′s: a time when wrestling was pure

by Lame360Gamer

© 2009 Warren Marshall:

The Wrestling of the 80′s carries some fond memories for me. Some of the best gimmicks, matches and feuds took place back then. Every month I would race down to the local video store to see if the latest Coliseum Video hosted by Lord Alfred Hayes, focusing on what was then known as the World Wrestling Federation, was out.  I remember spending hours in front of the television with my sister cheering for the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Rockers and Brutus Beefcake.

I am proud to say that I never grew out of Wrestling and followed it throughout its transition to what sports entertainment is today.

With this years 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, fans have been given the opportunity to take a look at the first fifteen years and see where it all began.

Every year THQ-Yukes release a new wrestling installment trying to capture what we see on television today. Smackdown vs Raw 2009 had managed to bring a solid wrestling title to the next-gen consoles, however with Legends of WrestleMania it was time to focus on the foundations of the WWE and what made it what it is today. It was time for the legends to shine.

Making a game which concentrates on the 80′s and 90′s, a time when wrestling was a different form, where the audience could be captivated by the glitz and glamor rather than the high-spot wrestling, meant the overall control system was in for a change.

Many who played the demo where thrown off by the very simplistic control scheme. However before you scream bloody murder, I must say it grew on me. It has its flaws but still captures the old school wrestling feel well.

Now we are faced with a new grapple system and your wrestler has three level meters.  As you work on your opponent and momentum builds, you move up to heavier hitting moves and grapples with the third unlocking the option to perform your finisher.

The actual button layout has been streamlined to focus on the four buttons rather than using the entire controller to perform a different action like the SVR series. Tapping the grapple performs a weak grapple while holding the button longer will perform a larger move but opens your character to an attack.

Having the use of only four buttons certainly does feel like it restricts the player and while it may in some aspects, this game has been designed to play and feel like an arcade game rather than a realistic wrestling title. While it feels a bit simple at times, it works well.

It’s arcady, simple and easy to jump into.

While you will certainly be spamming the strike button to begin with, a seasoned player is going to utilize the easier reversal system and set-up moves to quickly take advantage.

Moves now are also incorporated into a chain-style system. Successfully pulling off one move, sets it up for the next and so forth. My only complaint with this style is that moves like finishers take time to build up.  If you are unsuccessful in pulling one off because you didn’t hit ‘X’ quick enough, you are sent back to the start of your level two momentum.

Some will find this easier than others, but I struggled and found myself having to repeat a lot of the match due to this needing to complete the finisher in order to achieve the objective.

Gone this year is the Wrestler Career modes and this has now been replaced with the new WrestleMania Tour mode. Here you are presented with some of Wrestling’s most memorable matches with the task to either Relive (replicate the original match), Rewrite (change history) or Redefine (a classic match featuring modern stipulations).

While it sounds easy, each match also has a series of ‘match objectives’ for you to complete to be awarded a gold medal match. Some objectives are simple tasks such as punch an opponent five times in a row or reverse three grapples, while some increase the difficulty to where you are asked to take out an opponent a certain way, sometimes using the arena environment itself.

If you manage to achieve enough objectives and win the gold, you are rewarded by unlocking an item that can be used in the game (alternative attires, wrestling matches, cages etc).  They have put a lot of work into this aspect of the game.

Before each match you are also treated to some wrestling footage showing the back story and build-up to the match you are going to participate in. This is not only great for people that don’t know the history but I found some of the footage shown I hadn’t seen before.

Legend Killer is the Create a Legend career mode where you take your newly created superstar and run a gauntlet of unknown legends. Each legend you can beat, you advance to the next while developing experience to boost your own character’s abilities.

While the Create a Legend features many attire pieces from the era it is focusing on (with many pieces available for you to create other characters not included in the game) it is much the same as their previous attempts. Solid but certainly nothing groundbreaking. Create A Moveset and Entrance are featured in this game as well.

If you have purchased Smackdown vs RAW 09 you can simply import the roster that was provided into Legends of WrestleMania along with your created wrestlers (taking up a new slot on LOW). This is a fantastic and simple addition that lets the player firstly expand the roster they have available but also create even more dream matches.

Now Big Show can face Andre the Giant, The Rock vs Cena or any combination you can choose. The ’09 moveset is seamlessly integrated into the Legends of WrestleMania format and is a fantastic optional extra for those who have both games.

Graphically they have opted for an arcade look rather than the realistic approach, and sometimes this can let the game down. The crowd looks great from afar, but throw an opponent close and you’ll shudder at how basic and duplicated it really is.

Sound-wise we are treated once again to commentary that before long will repeat itself quite often and very little in the way of actual wrestlers talking or sounds during the match. The crowd knows when to chime in and start chanting for the good guy though, which is a nice touch.

It is hard not to like this game. There is so much that they have managed to achieve with this title that the previous Smackdown vs RAW games couldn’t replicate with the televised product. This game was aimed at those who grew up watching Hulk Hogan take on Andre the Giant or the classic Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels match and it was going to take a lot to keep the hardcore wrestling fans happy.

While this is far from the realistic approach Smackdown vs RAW has taken, it can be forgiven. I can only hope that they treat this as a fresh series. There is no reason we can’t have two wrestling titles a year and I think by the time the next installment of this or Smackdown is released, I would have played this game so much more than SVR ’09.

It certainly is difficult to make a perfect wrestling game but this comes close.

Hardcore Wrestling fans are going to appreciate the small touches that have been put into the game to add to the authentic WrestleMania feel. From the footage, the use of managers that will go out of their way to make sure their client wins and even the surprises thrown into matches themselves, it will have you re-visiting those times where you sat in front of the television as a child, captivated by what wrestling is all really about.

“8.5/10

© 2009 Warren Marshall:

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Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console gaming, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Game Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, Brutus Beefcake, Hulk Hogan, Legends of Wrestle Mania Review, Legends of WrestleMania, Legends of WrestleMania Review, Smackdown vs Raw 2009, The Rockers, THQ-Yukes, WWE, Yukes