There’s a lot that the everyday person does not understand about pro wrestling, and with this lack of understanding comes the unfortunate harsh criticism of the sport, as well as the video games based on them. As a result, some pro wrestling video games such as SHOWDOWN: Legends of Wrestling will often be criticized harshly by the gaming press, even though true wrestling fans will find much to love about the game. However, during a generation where it becomes truly difficult to find a worthwhile pro wrestling game title, SHOWDOWN: Legends of Wrestling stands tall amongst the pack.
Satisfying Wrestling Fans
SHOWDOWN: Legends of Wrestling has much to offer pro wrestling fans. The game features seventy-three superstars from the sport’s history, spanning from the 1970’s till the late 1990’s, including “The Immortal” Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior, and “The Excellence of Execution” Bret “The Hitman” Hart, along many more… Chances are that fans of the sport are sure to find at least one of their favorite superstars. Along with this monstrous line-up comes the inclusion of color commentary courtesy of former WCW Monday Night Nitro commentators Tony Schiavone, “The Legend” Larry Zabysko, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. The color commentary provided by this trio is without question some of the best heard in any pro wrestling video game. This trio manages to add tons of history to the game, discussing feats and controversies of the superstars featured in a specific event, and even add a little bit of humor. However, I’ll have to admit that this humor, coming way of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, may only appeal to wrestling fans with broadened knowledge of the sport’s history. Also, the commentary may get very repetitive during matches, as well as a bit d e l a y e d. I’ve experience more than a handful of instances where a move had been called almost five seconds after its actual execution.
Speaking of “execution,” let it be mentioned that, to my delight, “The Excellence of Execution” Bret Hart plays a heavy role in the SHOWDOWN. Not only is he deservingly one of the headlining and most well balanced superstars in the game, but “The Hitman” also provides newcomers with a tutorial in order to learn the game’s basics. Now who wouldn’t want to learn the game’s basics from the greatest in-ring technician the sport has ever seen? Bret’s voice is also sure to come as a great comfort to “Hitman” fans.
Tried and True Gameplay
When it comes to gameplay, SHOWDOWN isn’t the best pro wrestling video game. That title, if anywhere, should go to one of Aki’s Nintendo WCW or WWF licensed games. However, in recent times I’ve come to realize; that THQ’s latest wrestling games are some of the most un-enjoyable games that I’ve ever played in my life. With that said, let it be known, that SHOWDOWN is slightly more enjoyable than any of THQ’s recent efforts.
SHOWDOWN takes a drastic turn away from its predecessors in favor of mimicking the gameplay featured in Aki’s N64 wrestlers and the recent Def Jam Vendetta for the PS2 and GameCube. This is favored move since the grappling system featured in those games is a gameplay formula that has been tested time and time again, proven to be the most efficient and enjoyable one for games of this nature. Additionally, SHOWDOWN implements a combo system which allows you to link grapple maneuvers with pins and submission techniques, both of which depend on the maneuver performed. This combo system helps the momentum of matches, quickening the pace and adding to the overall enjoyment. Of course, the game’s blocking/reversal systems can also become a momentum changing factor within matches. With the proper timing, by the press of a button, every attack/maneuver can be reversed in the game, and then once again reversed by the opponent who had his own move initially reversed. For the most part, the game’s reversal system works well. However, it will take plenty of practice to execute reversals properly.
Now, things can’t all be that great, can they?
Sadly, there exist plenty of gaming issues in SHOWDOWN: Legends of Wrestling that may not be overlooked by some gamers. Most of these issues concern the game’s AI and animation. For the most part, the game’s AI is fairly intelligent and quite an imposing threat on the highest difficulty setting, but at times I have seen characters get “stuck” near ring posts, continuously walking towards it and not doing anything else. In another instance, I performed a Sharpshooter with Bret Hart on the “Perfect One” Curt Henning, and while Bret was locking in the submission hold, Henning was lying no where near “The Hitman,” and then preceded to tap out; an odd occurrence for sure. Unfortunately, these are not rare occurrences and can be witnessed quite often.
As for match types and gameplay modes, the wrestling game standard can be found in SHOWDOWN. You’ve have your traditional pinfall matches, your ladder matches, steel cage matches, table matches, battle royales, iron man matches, hardcore matches etc… Enough variety to keep players satisfied; just don’t expect to see a “Hell in a Cell.” Although, what won’t keep players satisfied are the amount of gameplay modes found in the game… Sure, tournaments are sure to provide some entertainment, but I must say that SHOWDOWN’s “Story Mode” is a bit lacking to say the least.
The game’s story mode, dubbed Showdown Challenge, is a watered down career mode in which you must take a superstar through three of the most important eras in pro wrestling history: the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It’s an interesting concept, however, any true story element is nowhere to be found. In all truth, both of SHOWDOWN’s predecessors featured more creative, longer career/story modes. Consider yourself if you by chance take longer than two hours to complete Showdown Challenge.
Additionally, there’s one other interesting gameplay mode found in the game, and that’s Classic Match. In Classic Match you’ll relive some of the greatest match-ups in wrestling history, including Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage vs. Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat, and WrestleMania X’s Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, each of which take place in the actual event’s respective arenas. While this is an incredibly unique concept, it’s quite unfortunate that players are tossed midway into the match instead of playing it from the start. Also, only a very limited number of matches can be found in this mode, and with the massive size of the game’s roster, dozens, upon dozens of other classic matches could have been set up for our nostalgic pleasure; although, fans could just reenact historic events themselves through other gameplay modes.
The game’s Create-A-Player, or Create-A-Legend, is a bit lacking as well. While, there’s plenty of depth when determining the size of the wrestler and his body parts, including biceps, thighs, calves, etc…, it’s unusual to find out that you cannot change the color of most of the selectable attire and gear. Also, for some reason I experienced incredible difficulty attempting to get my created legend’s hair to be a simple shade of black or brown. Although, even with these mentioned difficulties and nuisances, I still managed to create semi-believable version of the classic Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Scott Hall, but this can partially be thanked to the actual inclusion of their in-ring attire, amongst the attire of many of superstars not included in the game, such as Steve Austin, Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley (both his Mankind and Cactus Jack personas), and even Kane.
The last thing I will mention concerning the gameplay portion of SHOWDOWN is the game’s multiplayer aspect. Simply put, if you’re playing with two or more persons things just don’t work out to well. I find that most wrestling games become too chaotic in multiplayer battles consisting of two or more persons and things are bit worse than usual in SHOWDOWN. You often end up attacking someone which you had not intention of even touching, and frequently end up running into others, causing things to look as if the squared-circle is filled with the mentally challenged. Detracting from this experience is the fact that double team maneuvers do no exist. However, with all of this said, in one on one match-ups things work smoothly.
Larger than Life
Visually SHOWDOWN: Legends of Wrestling keeps that over exaggerated, larger than life style of its predecessors. Most of the superstars featured are much larger than their true selves, as if they were jacked up on some intense anabolic steroid, or in the case of King Kong Bundy, on some sort of weight gain supplement that causes the man to push the limits of obesity. However, there are some character models that do seem to do justice to their real-life counterparts (i.e. Curt Hennig and “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner). Nice little details such as hair movement also add to the look of the characters, giving them a generally good look.
The game’s arenas are also very well designed; all of which are replicas of licensed arenas, including New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Detroit’s Cobo Hall, amongst a few others. Many wrestling fans may even recognize some of the arena set-ups. For example, the MSG arena is set up to mimic 1994’s WrestleMania X, where Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels made history in the first ever ladder match for the WWF Intercontinental Title. The only downside to the arenas are the fact that, just like every other pro wrestling game before it, SHOWDOWN features those paper cutout crowds. Only a handful of 3D animated persons in the crowd can be seen. Nevertheless, paper cutouts are always an eyesore.
One of he last few visual details worth mentioning is the game’s dynamic camera. Much like Aki’s wrestlers, SHOWDOWN’s in-game perspective moves around the ring in attempt to give the game a dramatic, TV style presentation to itself. For the most part, this is pulled off excellently and players will even see a few blur effects tossed in from time to time. With the addition of a rock solid framerate (presumably sixty frames per second) SHOWDOWN runs smoothly at all times, and that can only add to the game’s unique visual presentation.
Always Great to Imitate
Entrance themes have always been an issue that fans have always cared about… You’re bound to run into someone who will express their distaste towards the lack of all the proper licensed entrance themes, or some other issue that’s similar enough in a wrestling game. Well, this newest Legends of Wrestling title doesn’t feature any of the actual licensed wrestler entrance themes, and although it allows player’s to upload ripped song tracks from their hard drive, those tracks can only played during match-ups, replacing the game’s fitting hard rock beats. However, the entrance themes included have been composed to mimic each wrestler’s classic entrance theme. For instance, you’ll hear an obvious knock-off of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” as one of Hulk Hogan’s themes, and luckily for some wrestlers, such as the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, and Curt Henning, you’ll come across themes that are pretty much identical to their classic entrance themes.
As already mentioned, the commentary featured in the game is pretty entertaining, even though it becomes a bit repetitive at times. As for the other audio aspects of the game, they’re… decent. The crowd acts as nothing more than ambience, not really adding to the game’s atmosphere and intensity. However, the sounds of punishment (punches, slams, etc…) are pretty intense and pulled off extremely well.
Catering Only to the Fans
Sure, SHOWDOWN isn’t the best wrestling title around when it comes to gameplay, but it plays well enough to experience some degree of enjoyment. SHOWDOWN caters to the wrestling crowd, and in truth, solely to the wrestling crowd, as they are sure to find much to love about the game. The game’s massive roster of some of pro wrestling’s greatest superstars is enough on its own to grab the attention of fans. The way I see it, if you can’t see them at a live show, the next best thing is to play as one of your favorites in a videogame. Also, the amount of nostalgia packed into this game is sure to make fans smile. With that said, I wouldn’t suggest SHOWDOWN to anyone other than a member of the wrestling crowd.
The GamersMark Network reviewed SHOWDOWN: Legends of Wrestling with a copy of the title purchased from retail.
