WWE WrestleMania X8

"You might not like it at first because it's no No Mercy, but give it another try and it may grow on you"

I originally wrote this review after a couple quick runs through the game but after sitting down to give it a good run, I found it more enjoyable then I original had found it. Therefore, I've revised the review to share my current views on the game.

I'm such a fan of the WWE that I bought a Gamecube just to get this game. Don't get me wrong, there are several other games that I'll be getting eventually, but as of now WWE WrestleMania X8 is the sole reason for me owning a Gamecube. I've always found the Nintendo 64 WWE games more fun than the other systems' games so I was excited about this game. When I heard about Yukes taking part in its development, it didn't seem as good to me but I was still going to give it a chance. So how did it turn out? Read on.

Gameplay: 7/10

Well, it's not as bad as I had originally made it out to be. The controls are very simple, which limits the amount of moves you can pull off, but it shouldn't bother you too much. The majority of your attacks are pulled off with the A button, the grapple button. You have five grapple attacks in each position you can get your opponent into depending on whether or not you just hit the button or if you hold the control stick in one of the four main directions at the same time. That's not as many moves as you may be used to - you will be using the same ones a lot of the time. You should get a grip on it quickly, though.

The B button is your attack button with which you can throw your punches and kicks, as well as clotheslines and such while running. The X button is mainly used to pick up your opponent when they're on the ground, tap it to have them face you and hold it down to turn your opponent's back to you. And the Y button is primarily used to run. Of course the buttons do other things in the specialty matches like the Table, Ladder, Cage and TLC matches.

The modes of play include Single, Tag, Handicap, Triple Threat, Fatal Fourway, Battle Royal and Royal Rumble. Seems we're missing a KOR tournament... oh well. From there you can set the match type - Normal, Hardcore, Cage, Hell In a Cell, Ladder, Table, TLC and Ironman. That's a pretty good variety.

Ladder, Table and TLC aren't without their flaws though, as they're extremely simple to win on the lower difficulties. They're still not that bad on the higher levels, either. For the ladder and TLC matches, all you have to do it knock over your opponent, set up and climb the ladder, and you've got the win in fifteen seconds flat. For the table match, you've just gotta leave the ring and set up the table outside as soon as the match starts. Your idiot opponent will follow you, you just have to face him with your back to the table and give him a suplex. These would be the only bad points in the match types for what should've been the coolest modes in the game.

There are two title modes - Path of a Champion and Battle for the Belts. Path of a Champion is a lot like WarZone's in you just fight a set amount of people moving up in the ranks until you finally win the belt. This is where the hidden characters are unlocked - one for each belt. Battle for the Belts has over 50 belts for your character, whether in-game or custom, to go for. You can have your character on your memory card fight your friend's character on theirs for the titles. You can even combine them into Undisputed titles. This keeps the multi-player replay value high.

This leaves me with the Create a Wrestler mode, and it isn't pretty. There are only a little over 10 options for most of the settings of your wrestler. The faces aren't customizable and they're, like I said, in a limited amount. The same goes for hair (both on the top of your head and your facial hair), shirts, pants, you name it. Not a lot. The faces look like they're for the most part other WWE Superstars that didn't make the cut for the game. So your custom wrestler's probably gonna end up looking like Eddie Guerrero or Maven, rather than you.

I think it's safe to say that you'll have fun in the single-player game for a while, until you've unlocked everything and battled for all the belts you can handle. But the multiplayer is always the strong point of wrestling games, I think, and that'll probably hold you off until next year's release.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics in this game are solid. I haven't experienced any slowdown and everything's as smooth as you'd expect them. The only problems I have with them are the crowd, of course, and some of the wrestler's faces. The crowd has never looked good in any game, it's always just a bunch of cardboard cutouts that have two frames of animation. And every wrestling game has it's share of faces that aren't true-to-life, Triple H seems to always have a problem.

Sound: 5/10

I'd say that the sound is the worst thing in the game. First off, the sound isn't the greatest quality - I'm talking about the wrestler's entrance themes here. Some of the songs are better than the others but a few of them are terrible quality - Rob Van Dam's theme for example. I thought the music would be better since the games are now on a disc but I'd put a few of them on par with No Mercy's quality.

And also, some of the wrestlers don't even use their real music. Booker T, the Hardy Boyz, the nWo, Stacy Keibler, Trish Stratus & Tajiri all use fake THQ-produced music. None of these songs that I've mentioned (the real ones, that is) were produced by the WWE, but they could have easily been licensed as they're the production music that's also used on TV shows and commercials. THQ licensed Lance Storm's and Rikishi's production music, why not these other tracks?

On the other end of the entrance music argument, THQ licensed RVD's ''One of a Kind'' by Breaking Point, Shane McMahon's ''Here Comes the Money'' by Naughty By Nature and Undertaker's ''Rollin''' by Limp Bizkit - that's all cool. But they've again failed to license Edge's ''Never Gonna Stop'' by Rob Zombie, instead opting to use his short-lived summer of '99 theme that he briefly used between the Volumes 3 & 4 releases. It's cool to get an unreleased song, but I'd have rather had his current. Also, Ric Flair comes out to his early-90's theme rather than his current.

The music that plays in-game and in some of the menus is also pretty bad to me. I think they should've licensed the nWo's real music and used the one they use in-game during some of the matches.

Rent or Buy?

If you were expecting a No Mercy-like game then I'd say to give it a rent, this isn't what you wanted. But you may like it after you give it a try - maybe the change was for the better. Personally, I'd recommend the game to any fan of wrestling and I think that it is worth the $50, despite what I said in my previous review.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/15/02, Updated 06/21/02