ECW Hardcore Revolution

"Should have been called "ECW Attitude""

Well, one day, I went to my local Hollywood Video, to rent, you guessed it, a game. I spotted ECW Hardcore Revolution, and decided to try it out. After playing it, I almost went back to Hollywood Video to tell them I had gotten Attitude by accident!

Graphics
It's on DreamCast, which has the best graphics on any console currently out, excluding the PlayStation 2. It's no exception with this game. It has excellent graphics. It's one of the only good points of this game to me. They look nice and crisp, unlike the pixelated look of some other systems.
Score: 8/10

Control
Now, lets get one thing straight. I do not like Acclaim's combo system. Guess who developed it. Acclaim. Guess which control scheme it uses. The combo system. In plain English, I don't like this game's controls. For some reason, they think I'm nuts, because I don't like the combo system. They love it, and can do it flawlessly. But then I have fun playing against them in No Mercy or WrestleMania 2000, while they don't understand it's controls. Anyway, in this game, you must press certain buttons on the D-Pad, a different number of times (depends on what move you are trying to pull off), then one of the 4 main control buttons (A, B, X, Y). This has many problems. First off, sometimes, your guy won't do the move, causing major frustration. Second, let's say a guy is playing it for the first time. First off, it will take a while to get a hang of the controls. Plus, not every character uses the same combo for moves. Unless he's playing one player, he won't know what any of the character's combos are. The control is bad, and this game suffers because of it.
Score: 2/10 (It gets a 2 instead of a 0, because it's possible that some people, like my friends, are very good with the controls)

Sound
The game has commentary by Joey Styles, one of the ECW announcers. He isn't that bad. He says the names of the wrestlers' finishers, which was left out of Attitude. It adds a touch of realism. But, as do most commentary in video games, it gets old. The wrestlers talk, much like what they did in Attitude. There is strong profanity in this game (ex. Rhino says the s-word in his pre-match taunt). The bumps and such sound like what you would expect in a wrestling game. Acclaim apparently didn't want to pay for the rights to use the wrestlers' theme music, which are done by real bands. So you end up with bastardized versions of the songs. Acclaim should have shelled out for the music rights. The ECW crowds were well known for their chants. They only have a few, like ''E-C-Dub!'', ''RVD!'', etc.
Score: 6/10

Gameplay
The gameplay is exactly like in Attitude. The career mode is just like Attitude's, just with different belts, including a fictional one (the Acclaim belt). All the matches from Attitude were included, along with a brand new one: the barbed wire match. The CAW is just like in Attitude. The Custom Arena Builder is just like it was in Attitude. But it's gameplay comes off more WWF style than ECW style. Wrestlers leap out into the crowd. They go all over the arena in matches. They use weapons as major parts of moves (ex. Van Damninator). None of this is represented in the game.
Score: 6/10

Replay Value
There are plenty hidden characters and cheats to unlock, but afterwards, what else? Matches aren't really fun, due to the lousy controls.
Score: 5/10

Final Score: 5/10
Acclaim if had improved the lousy controls, and changed the gameplay to a more hardcore ECW style, this game could have been great. But, they didn't, and this game suffers for it. It's like Attitude, with ECW characters. The best thing you could do is just create the ECW guys in Attitude. It's almost the same result.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/01, Updated 07/11/01