WWE WrestleMania X8

"Is this even good enough to be considered WWE?"

To whom it may concern,

Thank you for giving fans of your products a place and opportunity to voice their opinions and give you feedback on your titles. I have written comments regarding the title, Wrestlemania X8 for the Nintendo GameCube in hopes of it reaching the game's developers. I apologize for the length of my comments, but I hope my feedback will properly address the concerns of fans of your WWE products for the Nintendo GameCube.

My Comments:

Every sequel is judged by the game preceding them. Many fans of your previous WWE titles were greatly satisfied by Wrestlemania 2000 and also it's sequel, WWF No Mercy. Although with some technical problems (due to the cartridge) with the latter, the classic gameplay had been enhanced and even to this day, the game does not lose it's appeal with fans.

I was looking forward to the GameCube transition of your popular title, Wrestlemania X8, and it was for this reason I was excited about owning a Nintendo GameCube. As I was reading the first reviews for this title, I noticed many magazines and fans complaining about being disappointed. I knew I had to be the judge for myself, so I rented a copy of this game before purchasing it. When I had a chance to try out the game, I felt completely alienated by this sequel as it does not play or even resemble your previous accomplishments with Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy. Subsequently, I found myself also being thoroughly disappointed and wondered to myself what went wrong?

Here is a simple rundown of the many problems that I have encountered while playing Wrestlemania X8 for the Nintendo GameCube.

Grappling System:

The grappling system and controls were more influenced by Smackdown for PS1 and PS2 then with Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy for Nintendo 64. I found myself fiddling with the control scheme for a few days just to get the hang of it, and when I did, I did not like what I became accustomed to. There were less grappling moves (Five in the front, five in the back) and I found myself repeating the same move over and over again. Furthermore, the most powerful moves, (some of them KO moves in the original and also on TV) were associated with regular grapples. This made the opponent virtually immune to some of the most devastating attacks. After pummeling an opponent with a grapple or weapon, the wrestler appeared to come back up with not even a limp. I barely found any difference between performing a grapple, and doing a special move. The opponent did not seem even phased and got up as if nothing had happened. This makes the gameplay very tedious and also repetitive.

Wrestlers:

There were 73 wrestlers in WWF: No Mercy and with the Create a Wrestler mode, we could create almost a limitless amount of wrestlers. The Nintendo GameCube has over 100 times more space in their mini-disk then the old cartridge format, yet Wrestlemania has a dismal 42. Although the players do share an uncanny resemblance to their real-life counterparts, their bodies are all hunched over in the same fighting stance and in the create a wrestler mode, I did not find any place to change this.

Wrestling Ring and Accessories:

Another evident flaw was that the new, bigger and better-rendered wrestlers made the ring size smaller. This hindered gameplay during Tornado tag matches where 4 wrestlers are constantly bumping into each other and causing everyone to fall down. What was worse is that the Tables and ladders moved as if they were air-hockey pucks and were a pain to re-adjust.

Missing features:

There were many unique, if not humble characteristics of WWE games on Nintendo that are surprisingly missing from this sequel and make the gameplay mundane compared to it‘s previous renditions on the N64. Wrestlemania X8 is missing the popular Knock-Out feature, which all Nintendo fans greatly loved, as well as the blood. It seems I can hit anyone over the head with a sledgehammer, but the characters are ‘not allowed' to bleed. Some match types were also missing from the game, including: King of the Ring, Tag-Team elimination, First Blood, Back-Stage Access, Story Mode, and Pay per View.

Music/Sound Effects:

The music in this game is very bad, to be perfectly honest. It is repetitive, uninspired, and also very bland. Fans are not asking for a musical score, just something that we don't have to turn off in the options menu. Also, the limited taunts do not even make the crowd cheer at times. The crowd can be unresponsive to even grapples and at other times completely silent. With barely little crowd interaction, the game can get very monotonous and dull.

Create-A-Wrestler:

The Create a Wrestler mode was by far, the most disappointing. Wrestlemania and No Mercy have far superior create a wrestler modes, and it was this feature that in my opinion was one of the most important. With this feature, gamers have an almost limitless amount of wrestlers. The new create a wrestler seems incomplete and also a shame considering how far it was expanded in Wrestlemania and No Mercy. It was ultimately, because of the lack of features in this area, that I made the decision to not purchase this game.

I understand sacrifices had to be made to have this game out as soon as possible, but we as Nintendo fans, are used to waiting for great titles. Fans of your WWE titles for Nintendo, including myself, would gladly wait a little longer, so long as the game could be truly fine-turned. With the GameCube, we were promised a next-generation Wrestlemania game. Unfortunately, what we received in my opinion, was an incomplete, uninspired, and lackluster gaming experience. Instead of improving by great leaps and bounds with the new technology of the GameCube, this product felt inferior and incomplete. Wrestlemania X8 cast aside many of the unique and humble features that made THQ wrestling games for Nintendo a truly pleasurable experience. I hope these concerns can be properly addressed by the product's developers.

Thank you for your time.

Bottom Line - Rent before you buy

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/06