WWF No Mercy

"Wrestling With Attitude"

Wrestling games were quite frequent at the peak of the wrestling craze back in the day. One wrestler that I can think of that has probably made into most all of these games is the Undertaker. I really am scared to wonder how old he actually is. WWF No Mercy is the finale for the THQ/AKI wrestling game series and it goes out with a bang on this one. All of your favorite types of matches are included into this game along with championship storylines, the ability to create your own pay per view event, and fully customizable characters. No Mercy has it all. The only improvements that it lacked from the previous games are the repetitiveness of the championship mode and the graphics on the audience crowds surrounding the ring. However, the game play for No Mercy is most definitely the best there is and this is a game still enjoyed by fans due to the relative ease to creating and updating the original roster.

The Championship mode still suffers from repetitiveness, only this time it is not exactly with the wrestling, but the encounters you have in the story line of the game. You will have to win a 100% finish before you fully complete a championship and not only could this take a while to do, but you only have three continues before you have to go back and restart a particular part of the championship. It is very possible to win a particular belt in the game championship early on, but you will have to defend the title in many different circumstances to actually complete the title as reigning champion. This will carry you through a couple of grudges and you will have to win each match at the pay per view events. This can become especially challenging if you are playing by yourself in a handicap match against the Acolyte Protection Agency. The matches can vary, but the storylines usually follow a repetitive plot and will repeat certain situations over and over. I found this to be the case in the Hardcore Championship. You will earn money for the matches you complete and you can lose some of the matches and still remain in the game. The money can be put towards custom items like props and apparel or to buy characters, moves, and other pay per view venues.

There are many more options that come along with the game play. There are more matches than you can come up with that make this game get very interesting. Your standard exhibition matches may include ladder matches, three way matches, hardcore, and includes a royal rumble. The wrestlers can be traded for computer players so you can watch a match-which is always fun or you can play up to four human players for some excellent multiplayer wrestling. The taunts are much more reflective of the characters and all of them have their special moves to perform no matter where your opponent lies or stands on the mat. You can even do the Rock's Peoples' Elbow on an opponent. The mayhem can also go outside of the ring into the parking lot, the locker room, and the boiler room as well as at the entrance to the stage. All of the matches go to about a normal five minute time limit so you can do plenty of matches in a day. The Smackdown Mall features lists of things you can buy and you can also create and save your own fully customized character in the game. There are a variety of appearance options, but you also get to choose which moves the character will perform so that you can create some very unique characters or update the roster with other wrestlers that are not on the original roster. No Mercy gives you an incredible array of options to play around with.

The graphics once again run into some trouble. Being this far into the series of wrestling games it would be about time some obvious corrections needed to be made. The first is cardboard cut out crowd. You have a 2-D crowd that seems to have been cloned and copy and pasted all around the arena so that you see the same sign every two people. It does not work for me at all to see that. The characters are still the blocky bodies that make this game what it is, but that I can deal with. The second correction that was not made was the repetitive music. The music is very generic and unfortunately you will have to suffer through it while fighting match after match. The titantron entrances are mostly well coordinated with the music of the wrestlers so that is a major improvement from the days of WCW/NWO Revenge.

Replay value is simply outstanding. There is just so much you can do with this game that I could not possibly list them all out. You can create your own pay per view event even using the Smackdown or Raw arenas as well as test your created character against the WWF's, er, I mean WWE's best talent. Some characters can be unlocked and who would not want to save up money to buy one of the Godfather's escorts? So there are not only a lot of options as far as match settings go, but also plenty of things to unlock, create, put together, and simply replay to enjoy.

Final Recommendation 9/10

WWF No Mercy is not perfection, but it is the best way to end the THQ series of wrestling games that put the old school style of fighting games to bed with the simple control scheme. Would No Mercy be worth the buy today, some eight years later? Well considering most all of the talent in the roster in this game is now gone or retired from wrestling you would just be buying this game for the game play that it offers. It is the best of the series and gives you a unique playing experience and no doubt is the best wrestling game for the N64.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/08, Updated 09/09/08

Game Release: WWF No Mercy (US, 11/17/00)