"Flawed, but still the last great wrestling game for N64"

WWF No Mercy represents the end of an era where the four greatest WWF/WCW games were made for the Nintendo 64 by THQ. With new and better technology coming up, wrestling fans can only expect the best to only get better. No Mercy is a great big hurrah by THQ for the N64 (unless of course they make one last title next year!), with both really great and really bad points.

The Good:
-The revamped season mode is absolutely incredible. Branching storylines from the WWF title to the Lightheavyweight Title means that you almost never play the same game twice for at least a couple of months. For most matches, winning or losing determines where the angle heads next. You can even aquire the services of the APA, or sell out to Shane McMahon and the Corporation. There is so much that can happen, it actually makes you want to go back and see what happens if you lose, or what would happen if you refused Shane McMahon's help or Acolyte Protection. Even better is each belt is multiseason, and you can choose to change wrestlers after the end of each season.

-The CAW is undisputably the greatest of all time. The problem with Wrestlemania 2000 was that it didn't offer the sheer amount of clothing, faces, and other options for how the wrestler looks. Not this time. The CAW is so huge you can spend an hour just creating one player. And unlike WWF Attitude or Smackdown, you actually want to play as the Create-a-Wrestler as soon as you make it.

-The environment really immerses you in the WWF world. The arenas from the RAW to Wrestlemania are very realistic, and the backstage areas like the parking lot and dressing rooms are extremely fun to fight around in.

-The Gameplay is easy to pick up for the new player, and for Wrestlemania 2000 fans the new moves like the running grapple are fun to try out. The movesets, like always, are incredibly large and detailed. Everything's in here, from The Rock's JUST BRING IT TAUNT, to Triple H's facebuster, to Scotty's Worm, and of course, the 3-D.

-The Smackdown Mall and shop with TONS moves, clothing, weapons, and wrestlers to buy is a GREAT incentive to go out and win matches in the season mode or play the survival mode. Much more fun and adds more replay value than the usual ''find the secret wrestler and beat him'' in every other wrestling game.

-N64: $99.00, WWF No Mercy: $60.00 (plus Tax), playing against a friend in a Ladder match w/ Jeff Hardy and Shawn Michaels: PRICELESS

The Bad
-Horrific slowdown during the Tag team, Royal Rumble, and Fatal Fourway matches. It gets even worse for Tag Team Ladder Match, which was the huge selling point in this game. Fortunately you can turn off the music which speeds the game up a little bit, but it is still slower than the tag team matches in WM2000.

-The AI in No Mercy is really strange no matter what difficulty setting its on. Sometimes your opponent is so easy you can easily beat him in less than a minute, but sometimes they are so incredibly hard that it seems like nothing you do will mean anything. This is seriously frustrating. There are times where you can hit all the moves in your moveset, do a taunt immediately after knocking them down and still only have a light orange spirit meter, while your opponent hits five moves, no taunts, and gets SPECIAL. Not to mention the excessive countering that gets really annoying when you are trying to mount a comeback. This means that you have to get cheap and start resorting to sneak attacks which is no fun at all. THQ has to really tweak its system so that matches are challenging and it seems that both players have a chance to win.

-Can't change anything in edit mode except for appearance and profile. This is incredibly stupid and I'm surprised they didn't fix this flaw that was in Wrestlemania 2000. This means that instead of being Stone Cold Steve Austin's newest enemy, Rikishi will still be dancing with Too Cool. Instead of feuding with Chyna, Eddie Guerrero will be protecting her. Changing moves may have conflicted with WWF rules, but at least allow for changing of taunts and alliances/enemies.

-The entrance music is better than WM2000, but still far from great. The graphics are good but the N64 is really starting to show its age.

The Ugly
-Pat Patterson doing the stinkface.

Overall:
No Mercy is flawed, but still a fun game. The good easily outweighs the bad, and is still an incredibly fun game with a long shelf life. With THQ's unmatched brillance in the world of wrestling games and the technology that is out now, it's safe to say that things are only going to get better.

NORMAL REVIEW SYSTEM
Graphics: 8.0
Sound: 6.5
Replayability: 10
Features: 10

WRESTLING GAME REVIEW SYSTEM
Season mode: 10
CAW: 9.0
Modes: 9.5
Wrestler Moveset: 10

OVERALL SCORE: 9.1

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/18/00, Updated 11/18/00