WrestleMania 21 Review!

[Webmaster]

20th April 2005 - So here we are, another year has passed and another effort for the title of best wrestling game over the consoles, can THQ make WrestleMania 21 the champion? Let's find out!

From the first announcement gamers all over the world were excited at the prospect of this title, a mixed variation of both the gameplay of the Smackdown! series and the graphics of RAW 2 was what fans were longing for and from the first screens of the game you could clearly see studio Gigante had gone all out with the graphics to match those of RAW 2. However this seemed to be the main problem that led to the demise of both RAW games, as too much time was spent tweaking the graphics and not enough on the gameplay engine. Surely studio Gigante wouldn't make this mistake also would they? well it seems as though they have. Yes, they've created a fine "looking" wrestling game, but they've also fallen in to the same trap that anchor did last year. As fans all over cry out "how hard is it to make a wrestling game?!", let's take a look and see how this effort pans out.

Graphics - 8/10

Without a doubt the game is looking devilishly good, better than the amazing graphics we seen in RAW 2, with more than twice as many polygons more per character. This increased polygon count makes each wrestler look just like their real life counterpart, this with the facial animations are simply breath taking. The wrestlers actual look like there in pain when you see their expressions mid moves and this is a very nice touch to look at. Although the wrestlers do look amazing, there is still one thing that in my opinion spoils the look, that is the gleam effect on each character. I wasn't too impressed with this in RAW 2, where I thought it looked quite out of place but I could live with it.

However this time around, it seems to have gotten even worse, now when you head up to the stage area with red lights, your superstar has a white grow around him. In some cases this looks really bad, if it is essential to keep in future games it needs to get sorted out.

Gameplay - 6/10

Well they say Wrestlemania is where it all begins again and the gameplay in this game has started over again from scratch after the change of developers and it turns out "the gameplay is where it, all went wrong again". Don't get me wrong, the gameplay isn't unplayable and is actual quite simple to pick up, like other games it favours the one button for a striking attack, one button for a grapple attack method, this means it's easy for gamers to pick up and get used to quite easy.

However the gameplay does have problems and it's main problem seems to be the collision detection system, this is what determines whether you hit your opponent or not. For example whenever you climb to the top rope to perform an aerial move and your opponent is downed, if he starts to get up and I mean only just starts to get up when your in mid air, although you'll actually hit him and go through him the move does not register and you crash into the mat hurting yourself from the impact, this then allows your opponent to come back at you while your injured. Another problem seems to be that when your downed in a submission move and move ends, you sometimes find that once one move has ended and your writhing in pain on the canvas, your opponent is already up and ready to pull off another move. This means your continually stuck in submission moves until you get a lucky break, this tends to happen more against submission experts, such as Bret "The Hitman" Hart as they are programmed to go more for grappling moves, where as others will strike you and you can get up easier.

It's not all bad though as there is some good parts to the gameplay, for example the weight detection system stops smaller superstars such as Rey Mysterio from lifting heavy superstars like Kane. This allows for the larger superstar to perform a counter move to escape or reverse the move.

Create-A-Wrestler - 8/10

This is one of the main saviours of WrestleMania 21, although the menus can prove to be a little tricky at the best of times, the sheer amount of clothing, accessories, tattoo's, etc. make this one of the best CAW modes you'll find anywhere. This is a great part of this game and is very detailed, allowing you to create any of the missing superstars form the game that you want to play as. Also you'll find the ability to use a custom soundtrack song as your wrestlers entrance theme that you have ripped to your XBOX Console.

Sounds - 6/10

Unfortunately the sound in the game is a little lacking to say the least, every year fans complain about the custom themes and ask THQ to add new themes or old classic themes, however THQ have failed to do this again this time around and instead just used the EXACT same custom themes from Smackdown! vs. RAW. Surely it cant be too hard for them to add one or two new themes right? Anyway the game does have a saving grace in the fact that you can use a custom soundtrack from song's you've ripped from CD to your XBOX, meaning you can create a wrestler who is not on the game, then download their real theme music and copy it to your XBOX and have them use it for their entrance music. This make your CAW's entrance's that much better. You can also use this method to update the current superstars themes when they change. (Check out our forums as I'll be posting classic themes to download for your CAW's!)

Replay Value - 6/10

The replay value of the game in my opinion is pretty good, this is mainly down to the excellent CAW mode which will let you constantly keep your roster up to date and the ability to add all the new music tracks used in the WWE. The XBOX Live option also makes the game's replay value a lot better as you can play online against your mates and keep a record of your world ranking. It may not be as we imagined it, but at least all match types but the Royal Rumble are available to play online.

As for the season mode, you'll only really want to play it once as the same season is repeated upon playing through the season mode again. It seems that THQ wanted to stick to the method of better storylines instead of mixed storylines depending what the user does. All in all you'll get a total of 52 matches to play through in season mode, it may not be a great amount but the storylines are good along the way, seeing you start out in the business to becoming a WWE Legend.

Final Score - 6.8/10

The game may not be the best game on the market but it's still a decent first time attempt from Studio Gigante, although whether they'll stick around to have a go at a sequel we'll have to see. Overall the game is average and still a fun game to play, the gameplay may be annoying at times, but it still seems to be the best gameplay out of the WWE Series on the XBOX. If your still unsure on it, rent it before you buy it, but I think if you do buy it, it'll turn out to be a good buy.

Paul Lynn (Smacktalks.Org)

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So what'd you think of the game?

[Fozy]

Tried out Live yet?

Wait, how the hell have you played it, Paul?

[Smacktalks]

Good question... the answer?... http://www.packetnews.com/search.php?type=...estlemania+xbox

Can't go online though, need to wait for the UK version

[Fozy]

Awesome, I'll be waiting to play you on it and LAYETH THE SMACKETH DOWN!

[HbK DAn]

I hope its worth 40 quid not about 20 quid(in value that is)