WWE WrestleMania XIX

"Yuke's Yuke's! Troublemakers!"

Another wrestling game from Yuke's seems good in some areas while lacking in many others. Trying to emulate gameplay from past wrestling games, while excluding some balance and polish, proves to be a failure, especially when past wrestling games offered more and are so much better than Wrestlemania XIX. I can say now, after playing this game, I know now why some refer to Yuke's as ''Yucks.''

Now, I really don't watch wrestling, as I'm more of a fan of the (past) games on the N64, so I can't be very accurate with the roster, intros and such, but I'm sure other reviewers will fill you in on what may be missing. For myself, playing this was more looking for fun gameplay than whether or not a wrestler has proper attire. That's why I have to say upfront that I am not a fan of the "Smackdown!" series of games (I still feel burned for wasting ten bucks on the first). No, I much more prefer the AKI wrestling games for the Nintendo 64. After being lied to about Wrestlemania X8 being similar to those, I was hesitant about this game, as I know many others were. Well, let's just say I regret giving this game a go after all.

I haven't even looked at another stateside wrestling game since WWF: No Mercy (by AKI), and find it amusing when I hear others state to "get over" No Mercy and AKI's previous wrestling games, because they appear to be outdated. Sorry, I'm not a whore for graphics and flash, so I can't get over the satisfying feeling of decimating an opponent in those game and having it mean something. I will admit, this game comes close to No Mercy's ease of control with a great grapple system (although with an unfortunate button layout), but it just doesn't give the same feeling AKI's games did.

You see, when you beat upon an opponent in AKI's games, they ''lose it'' and stay down for a long time with the damage being somewhat consistent throughout a whole match. Well, they stay down in this game, but thanks to the Yuke's patented: "I-just-got-my-ass-handed-to-me-but-forgot" engine, consistency is rather off. Opponents will reflect damage until you touch them, or continue with a long match where their ongoing "pain" will be noticeably absent many times. Having just obliterated - according to this game - an opponent, I would go to pick them up by grapple, or I would grapple to walk with them to position them near the edge of a platform, only to have them escape fairly fast for someone who just got beaten to a pulp - very annoying. You can now work on body parts for submissions, but when I worked on an opponents head, arms, body, and legs until they held their parts they still were quick to escape. Even when I threw them off the cell in a Hell In A Cell match they would often cling to the cell even after being ''worn down.'' I would oftentimes go to pick up an opponent to have them ''out'' on their feet and found I couldn't do this many times when my opponent was facing up; I would have to turn them onto their stomachs then pick them up.

I also cannot tell you enough how much I hate being hit from all sides at anytime. When you are down, when you are getting up, when you are about to perform a move on someone - I hate it! Trying to perform a move only to be knocked down along with the opponent, on whom you were going to hurt, is just horrible. Do a big move near others and people go flying.

As for the much talked about No Mercy-like spirit meter, it's no more than a strip at the top of your Adrenaline Gauge, turning colors to tell you how close you are to being taken. You fill up the Adrenaline Gauge by taunting, or performing and escaping moves. Build up enough and you can perform a finisher of which three you can store and even use at once for a more powerful finisher. While Yuke's did implement the No Mercy finisher method of being able to do as many finishers as possible in the time allotted, the time appears not to be very long here. There is unfortunately no tug-of-war in the these finishers, either. Each character is guaranteed a finisher - no preventing your opponent from getting one to keep the upper-hand.

At least the new grapple system is great. Press the A button with up, down, left, or right and you do a quick grapple; hold the A button down and you will enter into a strong grapple; press the A button again along with up, down, left, or right and a stronger move can be done. Grapples with weapons are fair to pull off, and you can perform and steal your Finisher with a grapple, or just by standing. The same for striking can be done: different directions with a light tap or strong hold of the B button can result in weak and strong attacks. I was quite surprised how good the control was.

The new way of control has surpassed AKI's for me, but the downfall of the system is the button layout. You must target with the Z button, which makes it difficult in selecting multiple opponents in the heat of battle. Equally annoying is accidentally pinning an opponent, because now to pin you must press Down + A. If you are still walking you will pin instead of picking up to grapple. Performing a Finisher is disturbing as well, as you must - must - press A + B at the same time. If you don't, you will perform another move instead. The layout should have been better thought out.

All of the above problems come to light and scrutiny in the horrid story substitute called Revenge Mode. To horribly cover up the fact that there is no story mode, Revenge Mode was thrown in. Oh, but there is apparently a nugget (of what, I'll let you decide): You have to sabotage Vince McMahon's wrestling empire after you get kicked out of his World Wrestling Entertainment. As I stated, it is just dismal, for the missions to accomplish this include throwing generic construction workers, security guards, bosses, and WWE Superstars off ledges (essentially killing them) to busting up property like a mall and cars. Granted, the wrestling story lines I've seen are usually bad, but horribly done wrong, I would have accepted some fan-fic, or more Hollywood than this. No more branching paths for our Nintendo WWE games. Nope. We get this tripe.

What's also worse is that Revenge Mode doesn't know if it wants to be a platfomer, beat-'em-up, or wrestling game (I still don't know). With a horrible camera, that sometimes obstructs your view, you basically go through mission-based levels set in places like a construction site, with no ring action for the most part, with a horrible timer (I loathe cheap difficulty in games) and sometimes unlimited number of generic idiots to beat up. Throw in some jumping, add being hit from all sides at anytime (good luck blocking, countering, and not getting knocked down by others), and mix in a gluttony of generic idiots who won't stay down for a lengthy period - there is no K.O.! - and there is a level of cheapness that will make controllers be thrown and hair pulled, if not completely ripped, from you in frustration.

Would you like a more detailed example of horror? In one mission you must jump-swing across chains to reach two ''generics'' to wear down. If you kill them, endless more will take their place then you will have to restart wearing them down again. So you have to hurry to climb a pole and cross more chains just to face a rather generic boss. Sounds so innocent right? Seen often enough in games right? Here it is just awful. Make it to the generics and wear them down, then hope they don't try to knock you off the pole you must climb, to reach more chains, to make it to the boss, while time is running out. And you better hope you're perfect, because if you make a wrong jump on the chains you will fall and be hit by numerous cars that are bizarrely going around and around your surrounding of a...parking lot (?...!!!) and be instantly killed. Fail anywhere here and its back to nauseam, or the beginning all over again. You better believe when I finally made it to that friggin' boss I gave it to him like nobody's business.

I could have enjoyed Revenge Mode if it had just been fair. It appears Yuke's just added these for a cheap hike in difficulty, for even they knew this would be unfair. You see, before a match a hint is usually given; one basically states to isolate one enemy so you don't get overwhelmed. Nice in theory, but if you are defending or protecting something you must stay close to that object. So you must stay in close proximity to others who can gang up on you and knock you about very cheaply. How anyone - anyone - thought this was fun over at Yuke's is beyond me.

You have to unfortunately go through the mess that is Revenge Mode for money to spend in the ShopZone where you can buy outfits, moves, intro effects, weapons, ability points that you can use in your Create A Superstar (Create A Wrestler, that is fairly decent), and weapons. The methods of mayhem for purchase can include a fluorescent light-bulb that shatters, and other assorted hardcore items to make the male wrestlers bleed. Oh, blood is back, but not for the ladies. Dismally, when weapons are used in battles the ones that don't shatter stay, allowing for only those to litter the arena for use.

The somewhat redeeming feature of the wrestling for me was definitely the fun, but also flawed, Exhibition match selections which consist of: Single, Tag-Team, Fatal Four Way, Handicap, Revenge Mode Stages (which are mostly mission-based and with that horrible timer), and The Royal Rumble. You can then choose certain match types like: Normal, Hardcore, Ladder, Tables Ladders and Chairs, Hell In A Cell, and IronMan. Fun, but with the problems I had with the gameplay mechanics I was unable to fully enjoy the matches. However, multiplayer was enjoyable, definitely play with others if you can, but with no "pin anywhere" feature you may not get to fully enjoy matches.

Added to my dislike for the gameplay mechanics, are the inclusion of tables and ladders that slide when you or others get near them, and a referee who follows you everywhere. If you mistakenly hit the ref several times, he will turn on you allowing you to get overwhelmed by including himself as another enemy, and you can't target him! If you go to the top of the cell, in a Hell In A Cell match, he follows you! If you do a move through the top of the cell all of you go tumbling down. Since the ref is susceptible to damage as well, there might be a time when you are ready to pin, but he is out of it allowing your opponent to come back to life - very lame.

The Royal Rumble is also noteworthy as not very long lasting. I wish it were more like, yes, AKI's. Sure, it wasn't realistic there, but it was more fun and did last longer. If I didn't like a new wrestler I was assigned in No Mercy, after being eliminated, I would eliminate myself. It wasn't so much winning the Rumble with certain superstar, for myself and others, but winning it period. Or just getting revenge on who eliminated you, computer or other player. In this game, if you are eliminated you are finished. The King Of The Ring, however, I found was like AKI's system, where whomever you beat it with becomes the new defender you have to go after with someone else.

The modes I mentioned will have to do, because the features in this game are ridiculously thin. Only five arenas, and belts don't matter much as you can't even defend them in Exhibition matches. The days of defending titles against friends for fun seem to be over.

I would have to say the best overall thing about the game has to be (sadly) the visuals, as the overall graphics are great. The intros and arenas are well realized with nice sharp detail, with the exception being spectators. Some of the moves looked devastating, with necks being driven into the ground, and the blood seemed fitting; however, some animations were robotic and I doubt that is because you can create a "robut" in the CAW. Some of the people looked off as well. I have no idea the name of the beast that portrays Stephanie McMahon, but feed it well. The FMV looked compressed, and I noticed a little slowdown if there was a lot of smoke in the entrance, but nothing too bad.

The music of the intros, and the chanting of the crowd are the things that made me get into the matches; although, some chants were rather annoying, as they had a habit of repeating quite a bit. The in-game music can be catchy. Some of the music tracks sound like those found in the Wipeout series of games (PS/PS2) in having a Techno tinge.

Overall, I tried to enjoy what was here, but a hybrid of arcade and simulation-like gameplay was disappointing for me. If only this game were more simulation-like, polished, fair, and had more features. AKI's games had faults, they weren't perfect, but AKI knew the little things well, such as how to balance simulation style gameplay along with realizing it was still a game. Here's hoping they return to true wrestling in hopefully a big way someday.

I really, really, tried to give this game a chance. I didn't even want to compare it to No Mercy and AKI's past excellence; however, when Yuke's tries to take an AKI-like approach and apply it with a lot of faults it's hard not to compare: that what has been wonderfully done, and this what should have been. I did have some fun with the game, but it just seems too mixed in arcade and simulation; I would have preferred more leaning towards simulation.

I will say what is here is promising, but I don't think I will follow the series to see how it plays out. There are just too many gameplay elements of Yuke's that I just don't care for like: The Royal Rumble, opponents not staying down longer, lack of a K.O., limited weapons, no tug-of-war finishers, sliding chairs and ladders, and getting hit from anywhere at anytime.

I don't solely blame Yuke's for my disappointment - I equally blame THQ. I blame them for not remembering those who shelled out money for their AKI developed Nintendo system WWF games, and what we liked about them. If they decide to remember, I might consider coming back, but only if gameplay is improved.

I know that some will say in these unquestioning and apathetic times that this is whining and to "get over" No Mercy/AKI, but I just don't eat whatever is shoved in-front of me. I am not a corporate wet dream - I question, I complain. Could I make a better game? In programming, no. In suggesting better gameplay ideas? I think many could offer things better than what is here. And what is more realistic, learning a new trade just to make a better game, or asking professionals to look to features that were well received and implemented years ago?

It is just sad and pathetic that so many gamers let Yuke's slide without complaint (along with a lot of developers, actually). I mean, why do the Smackdown! games get better features? "Be grateful for what we get and stop complaining" the tools usually say, have been saying, and will continue to say. Well, I won't make excuses for a company and wait for features from 1998, 1999, and 2000 to make it into the newer batch of Nintendo system wrestling games (as if that'll happen). I hate it when something old becomes new again and is hailed (dual wielding in Halo 2!).

What?! I'm asking for a better story mode and match types? A CAW mode that has as much customizing as in 1999, and 2000? Getting rid of weapons? Editing characters? A K.O. feature? More areas to battle in? Defending belts? Blasphemy! Why, I should just eat what they shovel in-front of me, right? Because I should be grateful to developers for making...a game, right? Because I should be honored to give them my money, right? Because Yuke's is still learning, right? Because it's not like they make any other wrestling games, or made them before, right? Friggin' idiots.

Wrestlemania XIX just didn't please me in the way past, more fun wrestling games have. And if you also care about gameplay in your wrestling games, then I know you will be let down as well. If you simply must have a wrestling game for your Cube...I don't know what to suggest, even at the bargain bin price this game is at now. Go back and play some AKI greatness and update some rosters instead, for it's in AKI's games where the true gameplay and fun in wrestling games was left.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/18/03, Updated 09/29/08

Game Release: WWE WrestleMania XIX (US, 09/08/03)