WCW Mayhem

"A good first outing by EA"

This was a very good game in my mind. EA tried really hard with it and while there are some flaws it's a very enjoyable game.

Graphics: 7/10 The moves are done really well and the arenas look nice, even though more of the crowd could have been shown. Some character models are really well designed while others look nothing like their real-life counterparts. The backstage areas are nice in some parts like the parking lot but some are very ugly like the locker room.

Sound: 9/10 The sound is really good in this game. Tony's announcing isn't repetitive at all (even though I wish they would have added Bobby The Brain Heenan to the N64 version). The sound affects are very good as well. I like how you can turn up the volume of the crowd to make the crowd seem bigger. And the music is great even though I wish they could have included some more real themes.

Control 6/10 The control is kinda a mixed bag. It has a good control setup like the THQ AKI games but it sometimes takes a while to preform the action. Like sometimes when you want to dropkick someone by the time you actually do the dropkick they have moved away. But in this the good outweighs the bad.

Gameplay 8/10 You can choose from almost 40 wrestlers at the beginning but you can unlock a lot more as you go through the championship mode (called The Quest For The Best). The champion mode is basically just winning as many matches as you can which gets boring after a while. But you can have some verry fun matches with this game. There is singles, tag, battle royal, 4 way and 3 way, pinfalls count anywhere, no dq and even Raven's Rules matches. There are also(for the first time in a wrestling game) backstage areas which have wepons. Having multiplayer games with these modes are very fun. There is also a create a player mode but that mode lacks a lot of functions that made WWF No Mercy's so great.

Overall 7/10 It's a very enjoyable game for all wrestling fans. A definite must have for big WCW fans and an enjoyable game for a weekend or two for casual wrestling fans. Good modes and a great selection of wrestlers make this game a very good addition to the WCW line of video games that started all the way back in 1989 with WCW Wrestling for the Nintendo Entertainment System (which is a very cool game by the way).

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/12/01, Updated 05/12/01