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Don Thomas

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WRESTLEMANIA 2000 for the N64.
The Bad, the Good, and the Indifferent

So Saturday Afternoon I was able to finally get a copy of Wrestlemania 2000, and let me just say that was it as far as being productive goes for the rest of the weekend. Well not actually, some things, like sleep, essential housework etc. did get done, but only while I let my thumbs recover. I broke this up into 3 sections. Section 1, I will allow you to experience the joy, as I did, of playing this game for the first time. Section 2 will be a run down of the Good the Bad and the Ugly. Finally Section 3 will be a general overview, some may want to just jump to that.

However for the sake of those who might be unfamiliar with the previous N64 Games I mention, a very brief recap.

WCW/NOW World Tour, came out a few years ago, and was an okay game. The Big thing I liked was a simple control structure. A button to lock up, and then a direction and A or B to do a Move. The Game looked a little sparse and after you mastered it, and completed the challenges (Won the division Belts) which unlocked extra characters, it was best served as a mild diversion, or when friends came by.

The Next N64 Game was WWF Warzone. This had a Radical feature, Create a character You could customize his appearance, his outfit, choose from one of many preset move sets, set strength ,speed, endurance, etc. Great characters, sounds clips, and a strength meter to show you how close you or your opponent were to being ready to pin. The only problems were based (in my mind) on the controls. Sure you had the ability to have Mankind grab a guy and do a DDT without delay (You don't have to lock-up first) but to do that you have to Press Left, left, right, up, A, A. I played any game with sheets containing the move sets in front of me (For all the characters, it was about 30 pages.)

Then Came WCW/NWO Revenge. The Engine was Identical to World Tour. But the whole look and fell was Jazzed up a bit. More characters, plus a Modify option. You could change the outfit, and edit the names of any wrestlers. Still couldn't create a character in this one, but by dressing a Renamed character differently, its almost the same as creating a new character.

Next Came WWF Attitude, which I actually have never Played, however I understand gameplay is like WarZone. 'Nuff Said?



SECTION 1

First off let me give you my analysis as I played this for the first time. {Put the game in and power on} Okay here we go. All the Logo's, nice. Here's the opening animation. My first time playing it...I'll watch it. Looks good. Characters a Tad Blocky, but it is N64 after all. Hey is that Shawn Micheals? It is...Man is he in this game too. That's cool. Okay its done. Let's start.

I'll play a single match. Let's see. Boy a lot of wrestlers in this one. Hey look its an army of McMahon look alikes. (All the empty slots that you can customize, are, by default, generic Vinnie Macs until you customize them.) And Women. Chyna, Debra, Tori...(Note, I later Tried Debra to see how well she'd play. Well people say she ain't a wrestler, and this game agrees) For my First match, I'll take Jericho (I'm such a Mark). And I'll Fight...Val Venis. (First I made sure options were set to Easy)

Okay Start Match, and pre-match options pop up...No Time Limit, Bloodshed, Hell Yeah. Start Okay my first Time, I'll watch the entrance. I wonder if this'll be like the Music CD where Jericho doesn't have that countdown. Hey The Ring Disappeared...Its Jericho's Intro Graphic (Or a shortened Version of it) And now Jericho comes to the Ring. Wow, nice attention to detail. Now Venis' turn. Shortened entrance...Hmmm, also altered for kiddies I think. Music sounds grainy but almost right on. (Note, I swear for the Rock, You do hear "Do you smell what the Rock is Cooking" as the music starts, but it don't sound like Rock)

Okay Match Start. I won't bore you here, but suffice to say, I learned that While Jericho Runs away from Val and does the right thing at the Rope, he Then Lion Saults Back and nails Val Good. Also by Default, after big moves, there is an instant replay, which can be mercifully turned off (since all action ceases while the replay runs). In the end winner, me, after having a lot of fun beating on a very wimpy Val Venis (It is set to easy, plus the moves are easy, and if you are used to Revenge, Then the learning curve is almost non-existent)

I later learned that when creating a Custom Player, the options for some things are enormous. I estimate easily 60 to 80 moves at least available for grapple attacks alone (From Eye Rakes and different kinds of punches to Suplexes and Powerbombs (With everthing in between)) . Plus there is a preview options so if you aren't familiar with the move (Like a Sambo Slam, which I know as a Rock Bottom) you can watch it. The Only I problem I had with the selection was limiting myself to only a few. ( I didn't see a No-sell Move anywhere, so I guess creating Goldberg and Hogan will be hard to do (tee hee) ).



SECTION 2

I am a big WWF Fan and this game was long anticipated. so here goes, the Bad, the Good, and the Indifferent of it.

The Bad

  • Cage Matches. This is actually a very well done feature...there is just one problem, try escaping the cage. The Trick is your Attitude meter (Spirit for the WCW Revenge fans) decreases as you start to climb out, and if you hit danger before you're over, you fall back down. So make sure your attitude is near special, You'll need it. It was funny to climb the cage, and then fall off for no reason. ( I was Laughing so hard I broke a Coffee Table with my fist)

  • Camera Angles. Another thing that is well done...except for certain times in single matches when the computer decides a panning shot is needed, it can be difficult to orient yourself when things suddenly change, then change back.

  • Midi sound and all.... Not a real big problem in my mind, since I know its a Trade off, great game, lots of features, less sound.

  • Brisco and Patterson. I can not believe they put those two in that (I'm just bitter that in a Royal Rumble While I tried to toss Austin, Patterson hit me from behind (There is an old WWF joke here somewhere I know it), and that one shot sent me to the Floor and I came back as Chaz.)

    The Good

  • The Ally/Rival option. Revenge sorta did this, but it was a hidden characteristic. Here you can choose up to 3 wrestlers who are rivals. These are the ones then most likely to run in and interfere when you dominate a match. (In Career Mode, a really neat thing happened, not only did the Rock Run in on me (As Jericho), BUT when the next night's show started, before the card was shown, Rock comes out, and does a Text interview where he explains why he ran in on me, and this leads to a match that night)

  • Cloning Characters. You Can NOT alter most attributes of the pre-set wrestlers....but you have a clone button which I believe will allow you to copy and alter them.

  • The Cage. A nice touch, despite the difficulty on learning to escape.

  • The Camera in the cage. Never Blocked. When the camera isn't moving around during a big suplex or something, it is actually positioned quite well. (Although I did have a distance gauging problem when I was North and South in the ring (As opposed to the East West)

  • Valets and Managers that do something. In Previous Games I never noticed this because I'm sure it did not exist, but when you dominate an opponent and one of your rivals does a run in, your manager/valet (If you have one) Will come in and eventually attack the run in guy. (It was funny to watch a Ho try and save my Godfather from Droz while I tried to pound on Chaz) So Piece of Advice, maybe you should pick someone to accompany you, just as backup.

  • Options, Options, Options. When you customize, some of the options available to you are quite welcome. I kept noticing them and saying "Damn that's a nice thing to be able to select." (Like Rival/Ally)

  • Taunting options. Yes you can customize which Taunts to use at different times (Preview each taunt as well) . The Best was a Mr. Ass Taunt where you pull down your tights, and the result is digitally scrambled.

    The In Between

    Many of these were little things, some I thought were a bit annoying, but a some people might see these as good things, and some might see them as bad.

  • Dislike CPU Tag partners? Too bad! Road to Wrestlemania (The Career option) requires you to choose a Tag partner, and fight several matches with this person (I say person because there are Female Characters)

  • The Career Option...there seems to be no difficulty setting. As time goes on, opponents just get tough. For me what started as a cakewalk for the purpose of learning the ropes became a serious challenge. Maybe I just suck, but I got a couple of pretty good thrashings, Shamrock and Rock block and reversed just about everything I could throw at them. (I wonder if maybe certain characters have a no sell clause in there likeness contract)

  • Sometimes (Again in Career) you are in the second Player position (You start on the top of the screen and your attitude meter is on the Right side, not the left.

  • For Custom made Characters, you can choose a video clip for there entrance, but there are no generic clips, only ones that are custom for the existing characters. (Unless new ones come once you unlock stuff)

  • Choosing all the moves. When you create a new character, you have to choose some 60 or more different moves. The Default is basically 2 different Grapple moves for all 8 or 10 different grapples. So A Quick Create is more difficult to do.

  • You can create your own belt, but don't get a lot of room to name it.(like only 12 characters or something)

  • Watch other matches. You can do this, or skip them. Not a bad thing, except that according to the results, most matches go 20 minutes or more (I seen several listed as being over 40 and 50 minutes).

  • A little Trick for the sad gamer (Like myself at some points). If the Computer is cheating you (ie You're losing badly when you know you shouldn't be) and you do lose the bout, hit reset, and the match never happened. Mind you if you fight a regular match at king of the Ring, and then fight in the tourny, and you reset while in the tourny, the match you fought earlier doesn't save either.)



    SECTION 3
    Overall Conclusion

  • Well after seveal of hours, that included a few cage matches, trying several preset charaters (Mankind, Test, Jericho, the Godfather, and a few others) plus creating a few of my own charaters, as well as starting down the road to Wrestlemania, I have concluded that this is a lot of fun.

  • As many others have said, gameplay is just like WCW/NWO Revenge (Which was patterned after WCW/NWO World Tour) And, aside from the WWF Logos, characters, and sets, you might in the middle of a match forget it is not Revenge, what really sets it apart is all the little extras.

    Also compared to the previous WWF Games, the THQ version (WM2000) is a lot more fun when buddies show up. A tradition at my place is to rent a PPV then before and/or after, we Battle Royal. The Ease of use (No complex move sets that have to be used. Who here got sick of needing a four page Printout of the moves in front of you just to put on a decent match. Let alone if friends who hadn't played the game before came by.) combined with the great features, and only a few things that could be considered bad, make this a really strong game. I like it as I gamer, I love it as a Wrestling Fan,

    With Warzone, there was a lot involved with just a basic match. It was hard to do moves since they were so complex, and if you do the same move too often, the fans boo you and you can't hurt your opponent. Attitude Used the same engine, so based on that, and what I had read of this game, I passed on that.

    If you are undecided on buying it, my Advice is this: If you already own and like WCW/NWO Revenge, and don't care about the extras like the music, entrances, creating a custom wrestler with custom moves, and you either prefer WCW, or can wait till all the WCW Guys go to WWF, then don't waste the bucks on this game. However If you are trying to choose between them, or you prefer to get a good game with extra options, or just want the WWF, go for it.

    Now if any of you wonder how I'm doing well here it is.

    After being cheated out of Winning the King of the Ring by a no-selling Undertaker, and losing a regular match to the Rock, My Hardcore Champion Chris Jericho is at 94% Win/loss. Of course after a hard fought war with Road Dog and X-Pac, he and Test are still undefeated as a team, and summer slam is just a few matches/weeks away.

    As for my custom character, he (after only a few weeks) is undefeated as a Single, and as a Tag wrestler (Partnered with Mankind).

    What Did I name him some of you ask?

    IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT I NAMED HIM!

    They call me lots of things.
    But you can call me Kwydjebo

    Don Thomas
    freelance

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    Design copyright (C) 1999 Christopher Robin Zimmerman & KZiM Communications
    Guest column text copyright (C) 1999 by the individual author and used with permission