By Elias Dounis on September 17th, 2003

Genre: Wrestling
Developer: Yukes
Publisher: THQ
# of Players: 1 - 4
Memory: 20 blocks
ERSB: Teen
Released On: September 9, 2003
Supports: Progressive Scan, Dolby Pro Logic II
MSRP: $49.99
Also On: None

The entertainment industry is one of a massive size. Movies, television, sports, toys, magazines, video games etc… are all part of this industry. Even though it can all be considered part of one huge entity, many of these divisions stay within their respective territories. Board games stay as board games. Some video games stay as just video games. However, some things can branch across them all. World Wrestling Entertainment (or the WWE) is a powerful example of an entity in the entertainment business that has done it all. Colognes, action figures, movies, clothing, restaurants, video games… those are just a few things that come to mind when people think about the WWE (aside from the actual pro wrestling aspect). Of course, we’re here to talk about the video games.

The WWE line of video games has seen some good days and some bad days… Ever since the company lost its court case against the World Wildlife Fund and changed its name from the WWF to the WWE, things have seemingly gone down hill for the infamous Pro Wrestling organization, and the same can definitely be said about the video games bearing the WWE’s name.

Last year THQ released WrestleMania X8 for the GameCube… With THQ’s previous batch of wrestling games developed for the Nintendo 64 by Aki, many expected WrestleMania X8 to continue the tradition of great wrestling games on the GameCube. But with developer Yukes of SmackDown! fame at the helm of WrestleMania X8, all GameCube owners and WWE fans received was a big slap in the face. WrestleMania X8 couldn’t even hold a candle to any of Aki’s wrestling games, whether it’s Def Jam Vendetta or the classic WCW vs. nWo: World Tour.

Aki’s wrestling game formula worked, and very well. It offered easy pick up and play gameplay and responsive controls that everyone could have fun with. Knowing this, Yukes began development of WrestleMania XIX with thought in mind of ripping Aki’s formula even further than what was with its predecessor. Now, the finished product has become available on store shelves across the nation… Does WrestleMania XIX stink like a rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over -- like a syrupy sweet?*

Presentation:

For as long as I can remember, pro wrestling has always been about the glitz and the glamour. Some performers made grand entrances with all these explosions and blistering hot pyrotechnics, hyping up the crowd for the forthcoming match-up, and others just wanted the crowd to hate them, making things much more interesting depending on the outcome of the match. More or less, wrestling hasn’t changed much over the years. It’s just as big a spectacle as it was during the mid 80’s, if not bigger, and the biggest spectacle (the granddaddy of the all!) -- WrestleMania is where they made themselves known; made themselves stars to the public, and icons to wrestling fans across the world. While there isn’t much Yukes can do in order to get that message across, they make a good attempt with WrestleMania XIX.

The introductory FMV is a good way to start. With highlights and commentary from the actual event and promos, the emotion that fuels WrestleMania is apparent, but like I mentioned earlier the entrances of the wrestlers is what really gets the crowd going. Personally, I love watching Hulk Hogan’s entrance in the game... Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” begins to play and making the always grand entrance, the Immortal Hulk Hogan begins walking down the ramp, wearing red and yellow feather boas, playing his air guitar, and of course -- when the Hulkster actually goes into the ring, utilizing the strength of his “pythons” he tears his shirt off. I can’t help but smile whenever I see that. Perhaps, it’s my love of the Red and Yellow, vitamin eating, prayer saying, near sixty year old man that brings that smile to my face, but I guarantee that all other superstars featured in the game, such as the Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels, HHH, and the Nature Boy Ric Flair, are recreated excellently, doing justice to their real life counterparts from their entrances to in ring taunts.

In terms of menus, load times and all of that technical mumbo jumbo, WrestleMania XIX wins some and it loses some. The menus themselves are a bit reminiscent of something you would see in an Electronic Arts sports game, except more bland and featuring music you’d find in a budget porn film. The load times on the other hand are brief enough that you’ll barely notice them.

Gameplay:

Yukes has quite a bit of experience in the territory of wrestling games. So when GameCube owners received their first Yukes developed wrestling title, many were wary of what the end result would be. What they got was watered down Aki-inspired grappler with shades of SmackDown! gameplay. While it was (and is) a great concept…combining grappling gameplay with the speed of the SmackDown! games didn’t work. With WrestleMania XIX most of the problems found with its predecessor have been fixed. This was done by copying Aki’s formula even further, by including the ability to perform quick weak grapples and strong grapples.

Pressing the A button will perform a weak grapple. Press and hold to perform a strong grapple. Performing a strong grapple allows you to press either A or B (and a direction) to perform different sets of moves, whereas you only use A with the quick grapple. It’s an easy to learn control set up, and with the assignment of actions such as running and picking up items to separate buttons, this will all be second nature to fans of Aki wrasslers. However, things can become much more complicated and unfortunately hectic. This is a result of the reversal actions. The L and R triggers are assigned as the grapple and punch counters, and in all honesty it isn’t too difficult to perform any type of reversal. But seeing how the game’s AI can become unbelievable cheesy at times, nothing can compare to the frustration you’ll experience in triple threat match-ups or any type of match with two or more opponents. Everything you’ll throw at your opponent will be countered and then you’ll be ganged up on, getting stomped on repeatedly, never even getting a chance to get up. Hopefully, at some point you’ll be given enough time to get back to your feet and fight back, but until that opportunity comes -- you’ll want to scream in agony.

The gameplay modes featured in the game are you standard fare in a modern wrestling game…You have your Exhibition match, which from there allows you to pick the gimmick match of your choosing, whether it’s a TLC match, or the Hell in the Cell. Similar to Exhibition is King of the Ring. The only difference between the two is that King of the Ring puts you in tournament like brackets for your chance to earn WWE gold. Of course, you have the always fun Royal Rumble, which to most shouldn’t be anything new… it’s a battle royal where you must toss your opponent(s) over the top rope and become the last man standing after going through thirty different opponents. Aside from these, you have ShopZone and Create-a-Wrestler. ShopZone uses the money you’ve earned in the REVENGE story mode to buy all these cool little extras and goodies included in the game, most of which is used for the game’s Create-A-Wrestler. A Create-A-Wrestler which is almost as deep as SmackDown!: Shut Your Mouth for the PlayStation 2, allowing you to basically create any well known superstar in wrestling history or your own custom character.

I mentioned something earlier called Revenge didn’t I? Well, it’s not worth mentioning. While the bulk of the gameplay could be found in this gameplay mode it’s best that you stay away from it. REVENGE is basically Yukes’ pathetic attempt at making an action game with the WWE license. The story behind it goes as follows… Vince McMahon has terminated your WWE contract unfairly. His daughter Stephanie (Daddy’s little princess) then offers you a nice proposition, which is to basically stop WrestleMania XIX from occurring by destroying the site of the event, etc… Personally, I find the story behind the whole thing ridiculous, but nothing compares to the agony you’ll endure when actually playing it. You choose from one of the game’s 40-some wrestlers and take them across 5 different scenarios spanning over 30 missions…30 incredibly dull, repetitive, and arduous missions. Problem number one is the camera view given. A third person over the top isometric view never really worked for any 3D action game, so why would it now? It doesn’t. Now, problem number two… The missions are just too repetitive for their own good. Most involve you throwing a specific number of security guards (oddly skilled in wrestling) off a ledge, or destroying a car within a certain time limit. Gameplay like this may have worked in classic 2D beat ’em ups, but the controls in WrestleMania XIX (which seem to feel incredibly bulky in this mode) don’t help much at all. Most of the time, you’re being attacked by two or more guards or skilled enforcers of McMahon (others wrestlers in other words), creating absolute chaos and giving you a good reason to curse THQ to Hell. Of course, you don’t have to play REVENGE at all, and simply just occupy yourself with some multiplayer bouts. However, that doesn’t leave much to do in the game, now does it?

Graphics:

Sharing similar visuals to the PlayStation 2’s SmackDown!: Shut Your Mouth, WrestleMania XIX isn’t too impressive as a GameCube title. While wrestler models are nicely textured and accurately depicted, one couldn’t help but ask for more when looking at the rest of the game. The handful of arenas featured are poorly designed…nothing too impressive about them at all, except for the amount of hideous sprites found in the crowd. Although, there are a few nice particle/lighting effects used (often in character entrances) and some excellent character animations found in the game, although it won’t be too hard to find wrestlers who move like robot gimps.

Sound:

The big thing with WWE games when it comes to sound is the entrance music. Often wrestling games don’t feature all of your favorite themes from TV. However, WrestleMania XIX ends up being one of the best attempts in recent memory. Most superstars in the game come out to their official themes, such as the always awesome “Voodoo Child” and Motorhead’s “The Game”, while only a handful (such as Victoria and RVD) come out to simple instrumentals of their official entrance music (Due to fact that THQ could not resolve all the proper licensing agreements in time for the game’s release). As far as that goes, things are looking pretty good for the audio portion of the game… But then you must take into consideration the other “big thing” when it comes to sound in wrestling games… the crowd. From all my experiences with past wrestling games, the crowd has never sounded like anything other than static. There’s no real emotion, absolutely nothing that gets the adrenaline rushing like watching the WWE on TV. It’s a shame really, but someday I hope to see a future wrestling game that features Hulk Hogan…and when he points that finger towards his opponent -- I want to hear the crow say “YOU!” just like they do in real life. Though, aside from the crowd there’s not much to complain about other than the background music during matches, since everything else, such as the entrance themes and the thuds and bumps of bodies hitting the mat, all sound great.

Final Thoughts:

My previous experience with WrestleMania X8 left a sour taste in my mouth…but for some odd reason, I had high hopes for the sequel in WrestleMania XIX. That hope was in vain... While the gameplay mechanics have been improved significantly (thanks to the addition of the strong and weak grapples), the simple inclusion of the REVENGE story mode practically kills a person’s overall experience with the title. REVENGE is a piss poor attempt at making a WWE action game. It’s far from anything a normal human being would consider fun, and something you’ll want to stay away from completely if you want to enjoy the game at all. The meager amount of gameplay modes doesn’t help the game’s value either, since it only justifies a weekly rental instead of that worthwhile purchase WWE fans would have liked.

There’s not much WrestleMania XIX offers as a wrestling title that a far superior game like Def Jam Vendetta doesn’t. Only fans of the WWE will be remotely entertained by what’s found in Yukes’ latest GameCube offering, but aside from that little roster upgrade, it would just be wiser to wait for the PlayStation 2’s SmackDown!: Here Comes the Pain.

* a reference to Langston Hughes “A Dream Deferred”