WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game

"A great port of the arcade game."

WWF Wrestlemania:The Arcade Game was released in 1995. Midway, the developers of Mortal Kombat, developed it, Acclaim distributed it. Not surprisingly the game din't sell too well (that was a bad year, sales-sise for video games) despie its high-quality graphics, sound, and gameplay. This game features 8 WWF wrestlers:
Yokozuna
Bam Bam Bigelow
Doink the Clown
The Undertaker
Razor Ramon
Bret Hart
Shawn Michaels
Lex Luger
It also features commentary and animation straight from the arcde game.

Graphics-10/10- The large, digitized wrestlers are all very well animated (almost all of the wrestling moves are perfect) and the game never slowed down (even with 4 of the larger wrestlers on-screen at once), truly an amazing feat.

Pros- Large characters. Well animated wrestlers.
Cons- Minor amounts of slowdown.

Sound-9/10- The theme music is decent enough, it's not of the best quality, but it gets the job done. The in-game commentary is amazing, Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler provide witty comments that rarely repeat. The sond effects are exceptional, they all fit their actions.

Pros- Great commentary. Sound effects fit.
Cons- Theme music is dissapointing.

Control-8/10- The button taps are a lot like Mortal Kombat (this can be a good or bad thing depending on your preference), personally I like it and it really suits this game well,the controls are very crisp and accurate most moves can be done very easily,howver some of the more complex moves (mostly trademark moves) cannot be.

Pros- Super-responsive controls.
Cons- The game's more complex moves can be a pain to excecure.

Gameplay-8/10- The game features 2 modes of play, InterContinental and World Title modes. In the I-C mode you face opponents in one-on-one fights until the last few fights, which turn into two-on-one, the final fight is a three-on-one match. The World Title mode pits you in two-on-one fights for most of the tournament, then pits you in several three-on-one fights, the final fight is a Royal Rumble in which all the wrestlers in the game come out at different time intervals to beat you. This game also features a ton of unique and crazy moves that are good for a laugh. Among them are the Undertaker's Jumping Chokeslam, and Doink the Clown's Joy Buzzer attack.

Pros- Fair amount of modes for an arcade port. Crazy moves.
Cons- The gameplay is too shallow.

Challenge-6/10- The difficulty is adjustable and the AI patterns are predictable. The I-C mode is as easy as one could possibly imagine, the only time it will pose problems is when you have two-on-one fights. The World mode is difficult, the two-on-one fights are hard, and the three-on-one fights are even harder.

Replay Value-6/10- Once you have seen all of the moves and won the title there really is not any reason to play, this is the game's only serious shortcoming.

Rent or Buy?-Buy- Buy this game if you see it for a good price(under $20) it is very unique and is a game purchase that few will regret.

For Nomad Owners- This game works perfectly on the Nomad, the blurring is kept to a minimum(ironically the worst case of blurring in this game ocuurs during the credits), the commentary is still crystal clear and the moves are just as easy to execute, overall a great game for Nomad owners.

Final Thought- If you're a wrestling fan looking for a quick fix, and you don't mind that it's a five year old game, buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/00, Updated 11/07/00