Legends of Wrestling

"A blast from the past!!!"

Tired of the WWF/E Smackdown! series? Bored of the same old arcade simulation wrestling games? Do you love the “old school” wrestlers? Want something that is similar in gameplay to WWF No Mercy, which is for the Nintendo 64? Then this game is for you!

With over 40 wrestlers to choose from, you will not get bored easily. There are fan favorites like Hulk Hogan, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, and Rob Van Dam. While there are also a bunch of heels (a.k.a. Bad Guys) that range from “Cowboy” Bob Orton to “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. Also include in the game is notables such as Bret “The Hitman” Hart, the Von Erich Family, the Road Warriors, and Jerry “The King” Lawler.

The thing that sets this game apart from all of the other wrestling games on the market is the fighting style. This game is like a real-life simulation. You will not punch someone in the face without that person taking some pain and damage like in the Smackdown! games. When you slam an opponent on the mat, they will not pop right back up. Legends of Wrestling does play slower than the Smackdown! series. Mainly because Smackdown! is an arcade simulation.

Believe it or not, but there is an actual referee in the ring while you wrestle. This is pretty cool, well to me it is! You can knock the referee out and have your tag partner interfere and help you out.

There is a unique Career Mode. You select a wrestler, and then you are guided by a manager, which will be “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart or Captain Lou Albano, through many different regions. You must win the title of six different regions before you can become the U.S. Champion. Then, you will be able to get in the hunt for the World Championship belt.

Along with the Career Mode, there is a Tournament Mode where you select a wrestler and you compete in a tournament. You can also have a Tag Team tournament. Finally, there is an Exhibition Mode. The Exhibition Mode will help you get prepared for Career and Tournament Modes.

There is also a Create-A-Legend Mode. In this mode, you are able to make your own “Legend,” or in other words, wrestler. There is not much to choose from for your Legend though. You cannot even change the way their face is.

As far as graphics go, they are top notch. The graphics are almost like watching the wrestling on television. If you are looking for a good wrestling game because of it’s graphics, then this is it.

Another of the very few flaws of this game is the entrance music. Acclaim did not use the real-life entrance music of the superstars. I think it would have been great if Acclaim would have used the real entrance music for each legend.

While we are on the subject of sound, other than the entrance music deal, the sound is decent. The timing is almost perfect on the “action” sounds. By “action” sounds, I mean like when someone punches another person. Or when one legend slams another legend in the ring. After a while, you might get annoyed at hearing the same music played over and over again during a match, but that is what radios are made for. Just mute your TV set and turn up the radio.

The controls of Legends of Wrestling will take a little while to become used to. There are a lot of different grapple moves that you can do in this game. The grappling system is the hard part to learn, though. There are four different types of grapples that you can put your opponent in. And from those four grapples, you can put your opponent into up to four different moves.

If you were debating on whether to buy Legends of Wrestling or to rent it, I would say rent it. Rent it to see if you like the fighting style. If you are use to the Smackdown! series, then you might not like this game, but give it a try anyway.

So in conclusion, this is one of the best wrestling games of all time. It has a variety of Legends to choose from, along with great graphics.

Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Overall: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/25/03, Updated 05/25/03