 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Sport Developer: Yuke's Publisher: THQ |
When “WWE: Legends of WrestleMania” was first announced, fans the world over were excited to see a lot of their favorite wrestling
legends back in action in the squared circle. For years classic WWE Superstars have been showing up as characters that can be
unlocked in the WWE SmackDown vs. Raw franchise, and everyone has been happy with the arrangement. THQ decided to shake
things up a bit by making a game dedicated to the WWE Legends, but many fans of WWE games from the past will be somewhat
disappointed.
With 38 legends from the past and present, including Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, The Ultimate Warrior and Jake “The Snake”
Roberts, as well as four managers, “WWE: Legends of WrestleMania” aims at giving players a large dose of nostalgia. The nostalgia
doesn’t end with the legends included in the game, it continues with the 16 classic arenas to battle in, loads of historic video clips and
a variety of game play modes to fight through.
While WWE SmackDown vs. Raw games have always had complicated controls, “Legends of WrestleMania” sticks to a four button
control system. This game aims at pulling in all WWE fans, no matter what their gaming past may be, from casual to hardcore. The
only problem with these new, easier controls is the fact that it pulls out all of the intensity that has been seen in past wrestling games.
Also, the addition of chain grapples slows down overall game play. Players will start a chain and be asked to hit certain buttons as they
appear on screen, it equates to a mini game in the middle of a match.
Rather than packing a career mode into this game for the legends, there is a Tour Mode instead, a three tiered section that asks players
to Relive, Rewrite and Redefine historical WrestleMania moments. For players attempting to Relive a match, players need to win the
fight like it really happened. If it is a Rewrite, players play as the original loser of the match and players have to win the match to change
the outcome of the match. In a Redefine match, players can be whomever they want but now a stipulation is added to the match, such
as making it a Hell In A Cell match or adding ladders.
On top of all of the content that goes along with the Tour Mode, players will also work towards gold medals for each match. In order to
earn the medals players have to complete a handful of objectives that each have a point value. Before the match players can check out
all of the goals, most of which consist of key moments of the matches for the Relive section. When it comes to Rewrite and Redefine,
the goals are just made up events like landing five blows in a row. As players perform milestones in the ring, a meter shows players
their progress towards the gold medal.
Like many other wrestling game on the market now, there is a Create A Superstar option in “Legends of WrestleMania.” For those
players who have played with the option in SmackDown vs. Raw games, the setup should be easy to work through. The PS3 and Xbox
360 have an equal number of maximum layers and there are actually a few new costume choices so fan can create very accurate
versions of the legends that didn’t make the cut for the game. Overall, there aren’t a lot of options for entrances for the newly created
superstar, no original songs and the typical Create A Finisher didn’t get moved over either. It turns out to be the same old thing again,
plus a lot more neon spandex. The mode isn’t anything spectacular and doesn’t add much to the game.
Players will find that the Create A Superstar feature in “Legends of WrestleMania” is somewhat pointless to the game. Players aren’t
able to take their newly create character and move them into the historically driven Tour Mode, instead the non-exhibition option for
created superstars is Legend Killer Mode. Here players will choose from six lists of wrestlers and fight them in a gauntlet style match
that only gives players a little bit of health back from one match to the next. Most of these give players ten superstars to face off against
and players go down the line and are then awarded experience point that they can put toward the newly create character’s attributes.
Players will have to max out their characters attributes in order to easily move through the legends. If the player quits halfway through
the match, everything is lost. That might not sounds too bad, but when players unlock the final tier there is a total of 38 superstars that
players will have to work their way through, which takes a lot of time.
“WWE: Legends of WrestleMania” isn’t a great addition to the wrestling genre, but it does add a lot of legends into the already popular
genre. The historic videos are great, Road to WrestleMania tour Mode is a great idea and who is excited to be able to player as Jake
“The Snake” Roberts? Sadly, the actual game play falls short in this game because the matches aren’t very exciting, the controls are a
little lacking and this title just doesn’t feel like a solid WWE offering that players have come to expect.
legends back in action in the squared circle. For years classic WWE Superstars have been showing up as characters that can be
unlocked in the WWE SmackDown vs. Raw franchise, and everyone has been happy with the arrangement. THQ decided to shake
things up a bit by making a game dedicated to the WWE Legends, but many fans of WWE games from the past will be somewhat
disappointed.
With 38 legends from the past and present, including Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, The Ultimate Warrior and Jake “The Snake”
Roberts, as well as four managers, “WWE: Legends of WrestleMania” aims at giving players a large dose of nostalgia. The nostalgia
doesn’t end with the legends included in the game, it continues with the 16 classic arenas to battle in, loads of historic video clips and
a variety of game play modes to fight through.
While WWE SmackDown vs. Raw games have always had complicated controls, “Legends of WrestleMania” sticks to a four button
control system. This game aims at pulling in all WWE fans, no matter what their gaming past may be, from casual to hardcore. The
only problem with these new, easier controls is the fact that it pulls out all of the intensity that has been seen in past wrestling games.
Also, the addition of chain grapples slows down overall game play. Players will start a chain and be asked to hit certain buttons as they
appear on screen, it equates to a mini game in the middle of a match.
Rather than packing a career mode into this game for the legends, there is a Tour Mode instead, a three tiered section that asks players
to Relive, Rewrite and Redefine historical WrestleMania moments. For players attempting to Relive a match, players need to win the
fight like it really happened. If it is a Rewrite, players play as the original loser of the match and players have to win the match to change
the outcome of the match. In a Redefine match, players can be whomever they want but now a stipulation is added to the match, such
as making it a Hell In A Cell match or adding ladders.
On top of all of the content that goes along with the Tour Mode, players will also work towards gold medals for each match. In order to
earn the medals players have to complete a handful of objectives that each have a point value. Before the match players can check out
all of the goals, most of which consist of key moments of the matches for the Relive section. When it comes to Rewrite and Redefine,
the goals are just made up events like landing five blows in a row. As players perform milestones in the ring, a meter shows players
their progress towards the gold medal.
Like many other wrestling game on the market now, there is a Create A Superstar option in “Legends of WrestleMania.” For those
players who have played with the option in SmackDown vs. Raw games, the setup should be easy to work through. The PS3 and Xbox
360 have an equal number of maximum layers and there are actually a few new costume choices so fan can create very accurate
versions of the legends that didn’t make the cut for the game. Overall, there aren’t a lot of options for entrances for the newly created
superstar, no original songs and the typical Create A Finisher didn’t get moved over either. It turns out to be the same old thing again,
plus a lot more neon spandex. The mode isn’t anything spectacular and doesn’t add much to the game.
Players will find that the Create A Superstar feature in “Legends of WrestleMania” is somewhat pointless to the game. Players aren’t
able to take their newly create character and move them into the historically driven Tour Mode, instead the non-exhibition option for
created superstars is Legend Killer Mode. Here players will choose from six lists of wrestlers and fight them in a gauntlet style match
that only gives players a little bit of health back from one match to the next. Most of these give players ten superstars to face off against
and players go down the line and are then awarded experience point that they can put toward the newly create character’s attributes.
Players will have to max out their characters attributes in order to easily move through the legends. If the player quits halfway through
the match, everything is lost. That might not sounds too bad, but when players unlock the final tier there is a total of 38 superstars that
players will have to work their way through, which takes a lot of time.
“WWE: Legends of WrestleMania” isn’t a great addition to the wrestling genre, but it does add a lot of legends into the already popular
genre. The historic videos are great, Road to WrestleMania tour Mode is a great idea and who is excited to be able to player as Jake
“The Snake” Roberts? Sadly, the actual game play falls short in this game because the matches aren’t very exciting, the controls are a
little lacking and this title just doesn’t feel like a solid WWE offering that players have come to expect.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
