WrestleMania 2000, the best there is...
The three faces of Foley in WrestleMania 2000.
|
By JOHN POWELL -- SLAM! Wrestling
WrestleMania 2000 packs more punch than a Stone Cold Stunner. THQ has
blended the very best aspects of the finest wrestling games ever designed:
WCW / nWo Revenge and the Japanese import, Super Fire Prowrestling X
Premium. Take Revenge and insert WWF superstars like The Rock, Mankind,
Steve Austin and Triple H and you've got yourself the game play and look of
WrestleMania 2000.
THQ has put to use the same "engine" with some minor tinkering here and
there. You can't spin the analog stick like a madman to kick out of any
pinning combination or submission move as you did in Revenge. There's real
video and audio (albeit the video quality is radically degraded) spliced
into the life-like ring entrances. There's more taunts and moves than in
Revenge. Everything in the game is bigger and better than THQ's previous
contributions.
The fun part of WrestleMania 2000 is in the editing. Disagree with Mankind's
pre-programmed moves? Do you want to create your own wrestlers and title
belts? Do you wish your game reflected the current WWF alliances and
storylines? Problem solved. An indespensible editing feature puts the power
in the player's hands to alter and add to the game. Be warned, though. The
create-a-wrestler mode is a long and involved process. On the plus side,
you can select from an expansive arsenal of moves and looks for your
creation. The drawback is it can take up to 30 to 40 minutes to assemble
your wrestler. I, myself, spent well over half an hour to draft each of the
Dudley Boyz for my copy.
The game itself can be broken down into five different areas of play. In
Exhibition play you can have "practice" matches locking horns with the
computer or beating the bejesus out of your unsuspecting pals. Matches
featured in this portion are singles and tag team competition, three-way
bouts, steel cage, first blood and lumberjack matches. King Of The Ring and
the Royal Rumble modes are modeld after the annual WWF pay-per-views
providing tournament and battle royal play. As in Revenge, there's an
abundance of illegal objects outside the ring to get your grimly little
hands on.
See what a little "creative" editing can do?
|
You can build you own card in the Pay-Per-View area punching in the event name
and location. You can either watch the matches take place (you can choose
this option throughout the WrestleMania 2000 game) or wrestle in them,
yourself.
The best feature by far though is the Road To WrestleMania selection.
Borrowing a tried and true staple from other sports video games,
WrestleMania 2000 permits wrestling fans to play an entire WWF wrestling
"season" starting in the month of April through until WrestleMania in
March. As you make your way through the ranks of the WWF, you can appear on
the flagshio Raw and Heat shows (sorry there's no Smackdown in the game),
WWF pay-per-views and if you do exceptionally well, title matches are
waiting in the future too. Singles, tag (you must pick a partner of your
choice from the outset), three-way and specially themed matches like King
Of The Ring and The Royal Rumble must be survived in order to build a
successful carrer.
Worked into the Road To WrestleMania are some storylines involving your
wrestler of choice and Cactus Jack, Shawn Michaels and Dude Love, who are
hidden characters in the game. All of your statistics - the belts you've
held won, win and loss records, tag team percentages - are contstantly
updated and saved for future review.
WrestleMania 2000 is the best there is and best there was. Will it be the
best there ever will be? Sure, until the talented THQ programmers come up
with another mind-blowing pro-wrestling game.
Full WrestleMania 2000 Roster
- Stone Cold Steve Austin
- Billy Gunn
- X-Pac
- Val Venis
- Kane
- The Undertaker
- Ken Shamrock
- Gangrel
- Al Snow
- The Godfather
- The Big Boss Man
- Road Dogg
- Mideon
- The Big Show
- Jeff Jarrett
- Triple H
- The Blue Meanie
- Edge
- Viscera
- Meat
- Prince Albert
- Test
- Droz
- Hardcore Holly
- D'Lo Brown
- Bradshaw
- "Too Sexy" Brian Christopher
- Christian
- Farooq
- Steve Blackman
- Shane McMahon
- Vince McMahon
- Gerald Brisco
- Pat Patterson
- "Too Hot" Scott Taylor
- Michael Hayes
- Matt Hardy
- Jeff Hardy
- Chris Jericho
- Mankind
- "Sexual Chocolate" Mark Henry
- Chaz
- Thrasher
- The Rock
- Jacqueline
- Chyna
- Debra
- Terri Runnels
Hidden Characters
- Shawn Michaels
- Paul Bearer
- Stephanie McMahon
- Jim Ross
- Jerry Lawler
- Dude Love
- Cactus Jack
Hidden Belt
