Legends of Wrestling

"A terrible game that could have been great"

Legends Of Wrestling is a game that many, including myself had high hopes for. Unfortunately, the game does not live up to them. Worse, the game does little to nothing right and is bathed in mediocrity. Playing the game like I have shows me it's not a case of limitations or anything of that matter, it's just that the programmers did not care.

The most important aspect of the game is the control. The control is very unresponsive in this case. There is a long delay between button press and actual attack, and at times the game does not respond to depressing the D-Pad at all. Many argue this is a sim style control, it is not. Clunky and unresopnsive control does not a sim game make.

The next thing that is most important is the games wrestling engine. On paper, the engine sounds very good, but when using it, the engine fails. The chaining of moves is nearly non existant, as you can only combo moves into pins-big deal. It also seems a little to basic for it's own good after you get used to it, and a little to complicated to pick up and play with-the exact opposite of the great N64 games, FPD, or Giant Gram 2000. Finishing moves do very little damage if at all, the system of strength for moves is terrible. And, there are life bars-a no no in wrestling games unless balanced by a special meter or something of that nature.

The things that I, and I believe most hard core wrestling game fans are interested in is the creation mode. A good creation mode can keep you coming back for and more, long after the game has lost it's appeal. Legends Of Wrestling offers one of the worst Creation modes I have ever seen-

1 Face for creations. Yes, you read that right, 1 face.

Only 10-12 different colors to choose from. Forget different shades, you won't be able to have that. You are stuck with basic colors.

Many of the matching clothes cannot be made the same color or shade of color. Take Kurt Angles outfit for example-it is in there, but the designers changed the trunks color so they would not match to the top, and you cannot change that since there is only 1 shade of blue.

As far as I can tell there is no height adjustment (WTF???), and the weight adjustment is there, but nowhere as large as it should be (Forget about making a huge blob like King Kong Bundy).

The movesets are to openended for there own good. You are FORCED to give your guy top rope moves and topes, you can give your guy finishing moves for near every moveslot as well. There seems to be no power ratings for moves, some are just stronger then the others, some are weaker-for unapparent reasons.

I don't believe there to be any logic programming, I could be wrong.

There are not many moves in the creation mode. Sure, you have some good ones, but what about Mist, Arm screws, dragon screws, one handed scoop slams, axe handles in a weak grapple? Why are there only 20 or so strikes? This creation mode suffers from a deep lack of amount of of moves.

Now, onto the roster. I unlike many people was VERY happy about the roster. Sure, a bunch of legends were left out, but come on-look whos in it. Then, I played it and realized something wasn't right. Why does Ted Dibiase have the Rock Bottom, fallaway slam, and enziguri while he does not have a basic body slam! Yes, He does not even have a body slam! These characters may look like the legends of yesteryear, but there movesets are so off that they are basically a mixture of todays guys. Plus, most have the same pinning animations like standing one foot on the guy for the win.

As far as realism goes, in one of my first matches Jimmy Hart gave King Kong Bundy the last ride at the opening bell.

Forget about teh entrances, they are horrible and frustrating to sit through.

The Load times are very bad.

The only saving grace of LOW is the Graphics and good animation. The characters are very, very well done and the animation is super smooth.

In the end, LOW may rank as the worst wrestling title I have ever played. What's really sad about it is, that it could have been the best. The Programmers did not make a bad game because of their limiatations, but because of carelesness-think about it, 1 face in the creation mode, Bret Harts name is spelled ''Heart'' in the opening movie, delayed action and glitchy movement, Horrible tag team camera angles, wrestlers movsets basically thrown together...This is a game that was done without a care for consumers and fans, it's a slap in the face for anyone who wants to play a decent game.

Avoid it all costs, buy All Star Pro Wrestling 2 or dust off one of the classics while you wait for Raw Is War.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/01, Updated 12/13/01