Legends of Wrestling

"Legends of Wrestling is the first step to good wrestling games."

Legends of Wrestling

The Legends return one more time!!!!

The first time that I saw screenshots of Legends of Wrestling, I knew this game had something to offer. What way to market a wrestling game when there is only one major promotion remaining in the limelight. Acclaim had a great idea when they decided to sign the Legends of yesteryear. Many of the older and younger fans will be excited to play this game for what it has to offer. For what this game has to offer, it can be seen as a mix between good and bad.
Gameplay
Acclaim learned from their past mistakes from WWF Warzone, WWF Attitude, ECW Hardcore Revolution and ECW Anarchy Rulz control system. By changing the control system it enables the player to have a much more enjoyable game than trying to memorize as many button combinations as the past titles did to pull off one move. The grapple system offers a much more simplistic control to keep the player from frustration. You can do basic moves, grapple, counter and quick grapple. Once you select grapple, you lock up with your opponent and by pressing any of the other buttons different moves can be executed.
The combo system used in this game is revolutionary, but not as effective as Acclaim had hoped that it would be. The combo system operates by creating combos by linking different moves. If you hit the right button after each move, the combo will keep on going. This works the same way if you attempt to do a reversal on one of your opponents as they try to pull off a combo. Next to your combo meter, the next button in your set of moves to press for linkage will appear. This combo system adds something new to the mix, making Legends more of a SIM based game. The combo system can make a match last a long time as some of my matches have lasted over the 15-20 minute match mark. The response time on the move sets appears to be slow at times, which at times can get frustrating. It appears that in LOW everyone shares the same moves, which can get kind of monotonous. I even purchased the hint book to company the manual and that didn’t really help with the moves. I would of thought that Acclaim would of done their homework prior to creating this game when giving moves to the wrestlers. It’s more like the move sets are from the 90’s than the 70/80’s
Modes
Are the gameplay modes hidden somewhere or is there only 5 options for match types. This is where I think Acclaim went wrong in this game when compared to their other wrestling titles. I believe that Acclaim was trying to go for something different with this title, which I think they intended to deliver a stripped down version of LOW. This way Acclaim can test and see if the public like the engine that LOW is running on without having to put in many match modes. Since the grapple system is unique and revolutionary, I think that LOW2 will be the same engine with the updated roster and match types. The only matches that you could have are Versus, Career, Exhibition, Create-A-Wrestler, and Tournament. The one thing that I don’t like about all the matches is that they are standard hardcore matches all the time as you won’t get disqualified for bringing weapons into the match. WWF No Mercy on the N64 would allow DQ’s if weapons were brought into the ring if the DQ option was turned on.
The Career mode is where LOW shines in it’s truest form, when compared to Smackdown 3’s Story Mode. I like what Acclaim did with the career mode in terms of being based on Regional Territories, like the early days of wrestling. You choose your wrestler and select the territory that you want to fight in. Each territory has 3 cities that you travel back and forth by bus. During the matches, your main goal is to build up your Excitement Meter to 100% to receive a title shot for the Territory Championship. Once you have won all the titles (all 5 of them) in the United States, you unify the 5 belts into a United States Championship. Your next goal from there is to head to Japan, Canada and Mexico to battle for the belts in those countries. Once you have won the belts in all the countries, that is when all the belts are unified to make you the Undisputed World Champion. After you win each belt from each territory, you must defend it and make sure to win or else you get thrown back down the rankings. Once that happens, you lose the title belt and you must fight in the territiory from the beginning trying to regain your popularity. A thumbs up goes to Acclaim for their career mode.
Tag Team matches can be fun sometimes, and at other times they become such a drag when it is hard to tag your partner. Then the most reknown problems is the clipping that occurs when one of the wrestlers gets stuck by a manager, you have to hit them to readjust. Other than that, tag mode is standard like the singles matches just pin your opponent or knock them out. Focusing on your opponent can be a hinderence, but nothing like Smackdown’s horrible focus. At least in LOW tag matches, when your attacked by your opponent, you focus on them immediately.
Tournament offers a round robin type of tourney for singles, versus (multiplayer) and tag team matches. There is also a tag team belts round robin tourney to decide who will win the tag team titles. Besides unlocking hidden wrestlers/moves in Career Mode, you unlock them in the tournament mode also.
Versus is the first match type that you can select, which is a two-player mode. Exhibition matches include: Single Match, Tag Team, Three-Way Dance and Four-Way Dance. I don’t know what the heck Acclaim was thinking when they only gave us 5 Match modes to select from. I don’t mean to go as crazy as Smackdown 3 options, since you won’t end up playing most of those matches anyway. I don’t understand on how 3-Way Dances and 4-Way Dances were incorporated into this game as in the 70’s/80’s they were unheard of until ECW came along. The matches that should have been in here and hopefully LOW2 will have them are: Battle Royal, Steel Cage, Scaffold, Texas Death, Barbed Wire (late 80’s), 6-Man Tag, and Flag on a Pole.
Referee mode is standard as you can select a special ref or standard ref during your matches. So far I’ve only seen 2 default refs: one white ref and one black ref. I’m not too sure if you could select the ref as a player controlled ref or not. The ref is great in this game when he gets knocked down and stays down for a long time. The ref will also help get your Excitement Meter up a little also when you run into him. It was a nice addition to have the ref in this game being somewhat realistic. Some reviewers have complained of not being able to do moves on the ref, remember though in the 80’s when a ref was hit, it was either by someone running into him or by getting punched around.
Create-a-Wrestler:
Is it me or has the Create A Wrestler mode gone to hell in LOW, as they put less time and efforts into this portion. Acclaim used to be the leader in CAW mode with Attitude/ECW games, but something went wrong with LOW. It is so messed up that you could only edit your characters head, body and legs. From what I see so far, there is only one head that could be used in CAW. Acclaim dropped the ball in this department, especially on how the back of the game box it says that this is the most innovative and largest CAW mode you will ever have in a wrestling game. The only neat thing about CAW is the addition of the Create a Tattoo stencil that was added. At first it is hard to get a hang of it, but once you have this down it is cool creating some goofy tattoos. I guess they weren’t lying; it’s the most innovative CAW that it reminds me of the WCW Mayhem CAW mode. Finger of Shame to Acclaim.
Graphics/Sound:
I find it that many reviewers out there are bashing on what LOW looks like graphically compared to other PS2 heavy hitters that have come out this year. Acclaim went for a cartoon look for the wrestlers which works for me, and they look nice and clean. This look reminds me of the Fire Pro Wrestling character design and what they looked like, nice and simple. Hopefully in LOW2, Acclaim will end up adding a few textures and some extra detail to give them more of a life like look. While playing the game, I noticed how some wrestlers looked like their real-life counterparts and others looked like they were just slapped together. King Kong Bundy looks outrageous and way to bulky, he looks like the State Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. One area that I despise of the game is that guys either look way to fat or too bulky when they didn’t look like that to begin with.
The arenas are very life like in this game and make it feel like your wrestling a match back in the 70’s/80’s. It feels as if you were there back in the day with the basic looking arenas, that didn’t have glamour and glitz. The arenas that do bother me the most are, the ones that have VIDEOTRON’s in them. Never in the 70’s/80’s were their TV’s in the arena like the Titan Tron.
The sound is one area that LOW needs to work on for the next version of the game. Some wrestlers have their music during the entrances, while others don’t. I understand that there are licensing issues and lawsuits, but Acclaim was able to get The RoadWarriors (Iron Man-Black Sabbath) theme, RVD’s (Walk), Bret Hart & Jerry Lawler’s as close as possible since they did a remix on the actual versions to not get their necks wrung out for it. I also think that the entrances need to be fixed, they are cool as you come down and able to perform your taunts…they need to be more life like. I like how the ring announcer announces the names, hometown, height and weight of the wrestlers. It would be best that in LOW2, that they announce this info as the wrestler makes their way down to the ring. It just takes forever waiting to listen to the long introductions, thank goodness for the Start button. Also, wrestlers like Dynamite Kid and Koko B. Ware should come down to the ring with Frankie/Matilda. At IGN, they mentioned about getting the wrestlers to do some voiceovers, now that would be a cool idea. The music during the gameplay doesn’t get as repetitive as Smackdown.
There has been some debate over some of them even appearing in here and others that have been omitted. I think that RVD and Sabu are great wrestlers and one day be considered Legends in the years to come, but they didn’t belong in the game.

Final Grade:
If you’re a hardcore wrestling fan, I would recommend picking this game up as it will bring back memories. For those that are uncertain, I would go to your local Blockbuster or where ever you rent and check it out. Legends has more to offer than what everyone else is claiming. Yes, this game does have it’s faults and there are problems that need to be fixed hopefully by the sequel. The only thing that has really disappointed me is the tag matches, lack of match modes and limitation of moves until you unlock them. Other than that, Career mode is what makes this game be the standout that it is besides the huge roster of legends. I also like how in CAW that you can place a first and last name together form the list to have the announcer call out your CAW’s name, such as Ric Flair. Nice effort by Acclaim, as LOW is way much better than Warzone/Attitude/Hardcore Rev/Anarchy Rulz.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/01, Updated 12/14/01