Giant Gram 2000: All-Japan Pro Wrestling 3

"Giant Gram 2000, The Best Wrestling Game Made To Date."

Giant Gram 2000 is a game that blow you away for many reasons and keep you coming back for many more. Its a game that you will apreciatte every time you play it, for its adanced control system, stellar graphics and audio, and overall feeling of quality. Few games come this close to greatness...make no mistake, Giant Gram 2000 is THE BEST, and it is a rareity.

Below, you'll find its pro's, it's cons, and what makes it one of my all time favorite games. Read on and enjoy.

Giant Gram is a wrestling game. It has around 50 wrestlers, giver or take a few, few modes, and a limited, but at the same time IN DEPTH wrestler creation mode.

It is a Japanese wrestling game that features NOAH and All Japan Stars such as Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Vader(My favorite wrestler of all tme), and all time legends such as Jumbo Tsuruta, Fritz Von Erich and Bruiser Brody.

If you are unfamiliar with such wrestlers, Giant Gram 2000 will help you aquaint yourself with them, and probaly make you a fan out of them as well.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Giant Gram is its terrific Graphics. These are some of the very best graphics I have ever seen. The characters are HUGE, the colors are VIBRANT, and the animation is top QUALITY. The Graphics are one of the main selling points of this game, and will make your jaw drop-no dobut about it. I can't emphasise enough how far and beyond the animation is above any other wrestling game out here. The moves are smooth and done just as they ae in real life, many times exaggerated-but in a very good way. What makes the animation even more impressive is the way wrestlers ''tie up'', wrestle to get off moves, and reverse moves. The only poor part of the animation can be said for sme of the kicks, such as Jinsei Shinzaki's hellfire kick-it does'nt look right, very, very stiff and brittle. But, thats a very RARE case, near every move is delivered in such a perfect animation and graphical showcase that you wll find yourself thinking your watching a match.

The next thing that comes to mind is Giant Gram 2000's amazing use of sound. The sickening crunch of flesh against bone, cartelige snapping, bones breaking, wrestlers screaming with their real life voices in terror, anger, and pain is done PERFECTLY. The crowd is also wonderful, screaming out favorite wrestlers names before, and during the match, counting along with the ref, cheering, booing, stomping their feet..they act EXACTLY as a real All Japan crowd does. But all of the above pales in comparison to the announcer. The announcer is AMAZING. e deliver's rapid fire commentary(In Japanese) with such style and inflection in his voice that it actually sways your emotions. If you have ever heard an All Japan match before, it sounds virtually the same. They did a PERFECT job with the anouncer.

The graphics and sound in Giant Gram make you think twice when someone says ''Graphics don't matter''. Yes, they do. Otherwise people would still be playing pong. Graphics and audio are an extremely strong part of any game, and Giant Grams will go above your expectations.

How are the controls. The controls are good, but they are not great. Allow me to explain. The controls are always quick and very responsive, there is no delayed reaction, they do what they are meant to...the only fault is they are'nt meant to do enough. You link moves together, allmost in a combo system, this is done in a wonderful, fluid manner. Certain moves are done by pressing button combonations, but this is USSUALLY rewarding and done well, so worry not. But, on difficulty's such as hard, some moves are near impossible to get off, simply because they take to long to do, or require that you be a certain distance to your opponent. The control is lacking in that way, but it's near PERFECT response and innovative linking sysem make it fun, and rewarding.

The Creation system is also a mixed bag. In one way, the creaion system is themost rewarding I have ever encountered in a wresling title. You teach your character moves, instead of simply assiging them as favorites and whatnot. This is an extremely fun, and timely process, butthere is a severe lack of body types, and clothing. So,m you will find it hard to create anything but a great original wrestler. It's not bad, it's just different than what most are used t, and for that reason, I believe the creation system has been viewed in an poor and incorrect light by the public.

What glares out at me as Giant Gram's main faults are'nt really one thing, but a few things that detract frommaking this game perfection. Below, they are addressed.

The reversal system. This is both good and bad. But, in thiscase I feel the bad outweighs the good. Virtually, every move in GG2K is reversable, what this means is that a game played between 2 well versed players will result in an extremely BORING time. But, on a one player game the matches are by FAR the most REWARDING I have ever had in a single player because of the reversal system. One missed reverse can kill you in a hard match, and sway the tide of things, making for an extremely fun SINGLE player experience. But, the fact that multiplayer games are deemed near useless is just unacceptable, and needs to be fixed.

The second thing that glares out as me as GG2K's main fault is its lack of selling. Ater near any move done, a wreslter wll alomst immediately bounce right back up. That means after 3 powerbombs from Vader they guy can get up within 2 seconds time. The reason for this is Giant Gram is a port of an Arcade title, and fast action is expected. Also, there is selling, when a wreslter breaks an arm for example, if he trys a lariat or punch, he will grimace in pain and fall to the floor screaming and clutching his arm-very cool. But, the realism is lost from the extreme lack of selling that was mentioned before, and that HURTS this game.

The only other thing that glares out at me is the poor tag AI and sometimes single player AI. When fighting outside in a single player match, the cpu will body slam you near every turn, and then immediately throw you into the ring. In a tag match, the cpu will only make a tag once he near his corner, he won't intentionally go for it.

But, all of the above problems don't really take away from the immersive single player experience that makes this game untouchable in my eyes.

COMPARISONS

A comparison is ussually inevitable in reviews, so here it is. Odd's are if you have heard of this game, you have heard of a title called Fire Pro D. The majority of people out there will often pick Fire Pro D over Giant Gram. Their reasons ussually are ''FIre Pro D offer's a level of customization that is unprecedented'', ''Fire Pro D has the most moves, modes, and characters''.

Before I say anything negative about Fire Pro D, let me say this. It is one hell of a game, and a good reason to buy a Dreamcast. It is probaly the greatest mutliplayer wrestling game around(Only VPW2 comes close, but not tha close), and for that reason alone I recommend it. It also has the greatest SELLING I have ever seen in a game.

But, I believe alot of the main reasons given above for it's superiority are ridiculous. Fire Pro D may have more moves, but they are not delivered with gusto, and MANY of them look incorrect. Alot of the time you will cheated with a certain wrestler, Vader's reverse powerbomb looks very poor to me, Akiyam'a exploder looks more like an urunage, and Kawada's single crab is a joke. Many of the wrestler's movelists are somewhat off. As for the level of customization, yes its very good. But lets be honest, Misawa should not have two elbow pad's, UnderTaker should have tattoo'es and Vader should have his mask. Vader should not be as tall as Andre. As for having more wrestlers, yes it does-but how many of them will you actually ever play as? I wold rather have 50 perfectly detailed wrestlers, than 200+ somewhat spot on wrestlers. In all onesty, I have spent more time creating for FPD then playing it. On the other hand, Giant Gram 2000 urges you to PLAY it.

Fire Pro D may have the quanity in the above deparments...but Giant Gram 2000 has the quality. Near eveyone of the wrestlers movesets in this game is perfect. They have nearly every move they have ever done(the only missing move I can think of is Kawada's top rope brain buster), and more importantly the moves are delivered with such perfecton that you will go ''WOW''(Wait till you see Kawada's plumb stretch, Vader's reverse powerbom, or Kobashi's lariat). Giant Gram also offers MAY moves hat FPD does not. The characters also look EXACTLY like they do, more importantly, the act as they really do. Vader lumber's, Misawa holds the guard, Kobashi is insane. Great touces like Vader going insane and pulling off his mask in mid match, or the ability to select older outfits of wrestlers make this game just great. Tere are also great legendary wreslers such as Fritz Von Erich who's perfect, but limited moveset make you appreciatte a whole different style of character to play as.

The hidden characters look nothing like their real life characters for the most part(BEcause of legal issues), but the play exactly as them, and are very fun to use, especially in learning from them in the CAW(Tip to everyone-get Inoki's rear enziguri).

I cannot over-emphasise the overall quality of Giant Gram 2000. It may be the most quality title I have ever played. A great amount of time was invested in this game, and putting exact detail in what was done. Its a game that has the staying power to go the distance with the futur'es and yesterday's classics, its a game worth buying a dreamcast for, and best of all its a game that you will LOVE playing.

I'm sure it will be surpassed sooner or later, but as for now there is no better wrestling title.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/06/01, Updated 05/06/01