"Not Perfect, But A Decent Attempt At A Wrestling Game To Say The Least."

Ever since the Gamecube came out, wrestling fans have been waiting for a wrestling game to appear. There is finally one for gamecube wrestling fans, new and old alike. While taking the legends of yesterday, and popular sport of today, Acclaim managed to come up with Legends of Wrestling. While there is also Wrestlemania(in which I have not had a chance to play yet), not long after the XBox and Playstation 2 releases comes LoW for the Gamecube. It's far from a perfect game, and far from a purchase, but if you want a quick rental and are a wrestling fan in the least, you might want to give this a try.
Graphics-7
The graphics are somewhat a mixed bag. The character models look like they have been sculpted out of clay, or look like the old (then)WWF action figures. After a match, usually the faces of the characters that were used in the match appear on the screen, and they look quite impressive as well as detailed. The ring looks well made as well. The crowd, while not flat cardboard cutouts, look as if The Sims came out for a night of wrestling action. One thing that could have been done was to have people hold up signs, as it would have just given a rather-dull crowd a little bit of excitement, and given gamers a slightly nice touch. The wrestlers themselves somewhat look like their real-life counterparts (some more than others), but sometimes have an overly cartoony feel to them. Some of them (Hulk Hogan for example) don't even look like the wrestler they are trying to portray, while others (Bret Hart or Rob Van Dam for example) do.
Sound-5
The in-game music itself is rather quite annoying. There isn't much variety, and after awhile you may just want to turn the sound off. The wrestlers do the normal grunts and groans as well. The wrestlers themselves don't sound that bad either (managers advice in example here). The crowd really doesn't say anything or cheer, (which is why it doesn't really make sense to have the crowd levels up when it doesn't make a difference). Overall, the sound department could have been done quite a bit better than it was, as it is nothing special.
Gameplay-4
The actual *wrestling* part is sort of a let-down. Personally, after playing the game for 4 hours or more, the game gets quite boring. I know the point of the game is wrestling, but it feels glitchey and un-finished at times. I remember playing while my game glitched twice, and I also remember once coming out with Bret Hart with him having blonde hair and someone elses ring attire on while I didn't even touch the Create-A-Legend feature. I also found that there would be other times that the game got confused and gave glitchey or odd things that happened on the screen. I also found that the colision detection was O.K at times, but other times was off, ESPECIALLY around the ropes. I one time while I was playing, Sabu whipped my character into what was supposed to be the turnbuckle (which was even shown as if it had been effected by the turnbuckle), but was quite a ways away from one, and looked like I was just against the ropes, but standing dazed in a corner. With weapons also, it looks very un-realistic with the wrestlers and the weapons. Some of the moves I find also don't actually *hit* you, but rather look as if they were hit into the air. Sometimes, you also hit 2 people if they are close to you, which I find odd. The moves part, isn't that impressive either. There's only a few moves per person, and half the time don't respond to your commands. Reversals are easy, but on legend, the computer reverses WAY too often. The camera angles make for a nice touch for some things, but for others, it is either pointless, or makes playing the game harder. Sometimes, I experienced a bit of a glitch from a few camera angles, and other times they were a nicely done. Because this game is motion-captured, it also suffers from a slow-down. If there are 3 or more people in the ring, I also noticed a slowdown, as well as a framerate drop. Overall, the Gameplay is actually probably the most boring part of the game.
Career Mode-5
Bland. Although it's a wrestling game, the career mode could have been done a bit more interesting. You hear a manager squabble about how talented you are every few matches. Other than that, you wrestle long, boring matches, to either un-lock wrestlers after a belt you win etc, or just to win a belt. You can't just win a match, either, You have an ''Excitement'' meter, which basically means that if you do things(bump the ref etc.), you get a certain level of excitement, which goes towards your popularity, which determines whether or not you get belts or not, and un-lock characters. The meter is actually quite un-even,and you have to do the same ''exciting'' tasks over and over again in each match to get them. Bump the ref, do ''High spot/damage''moves, ''Move variety'' etc. For victories, you get about 10-20 % more, but if you don't go combos, you get 9% deducted. Overall, the career feels like a streched version of exhibition mode. Hooray, let's have a party.*hint hint, note the sarcasm*
Replay Value-0
After you've un-locked everyone and won all of the belts, what's the point?? A lot of gamers who are casual wrestling fans (or picked up the game because they thought they could do worse) won't even want to finish doing that task, as it is boring. Each match usually goes from 5-15 minutes, depending on the match. Depending on your popularity, you wrestle 7 or more matches(after you get to be 100%, you usually wrestle 2 or 3 matches after that, which means 10-11 or MORE) before you even get a title shot. Matches are usually repetitive as well, so many will feel like they are wasting their time.
Create-A-Legend:N/A
I browsed through the Create-A-Legend, but I didn't really have a desire to create one, but from what I've seen it's the best feature in the game (seeing as we all know the wrestling part isn't). But since I didn't really take the time to create one, I cannot give nor deduct points in this catagory.
Overall-5.3(rounded to a GameFAQs score):5
Final Statements:Overall, this game feels bland, rushed, boring and repetitive. I really, really tried to like this game, but honestly, it felt like it was a waste of time. Acclaim, I usually at least think your wrestling games are decent, but this time, I had to let you settle for an average score, because you produced an average game. Although in games such as ECW Hardcore Revolution or WWF Attitude the moves were also motion-captured and the moves were slow compared to No Mercy, it was actually a good engine, for me personally. This one though, really does nothing for me, except makes me yawn at it's utter repetitiveness. Acclaim, this time you really let down a big wrestling fan. While others may have enjoyed this game, I certainly did not, and I gave it 4 or more hours as well, and I got used to the engine, and also played it over 2 days (a few hours each day not to rush to judgement), but this game isn't a classic at all. I do give it points though, for being the first time. Now though, we have to wait for round two to see if Acclaim fixes any of their mistakes from the first time around. This game was also obviously rushed to get out onto the shelves within the same time-frame as the other LoW games already released, as well as THQ's Wrestlemania. It is to me a let-down, but also a game that can be fixed for the next time around.
Buy Or Rent-Rent. If you like it, buy it, but I sure wouldn't fork up the amount of money that this game costs, but that's just an opinion of mine. Definitely rent first, then buy if its' your cup of tea.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/02, Updated 06/29/02