Showdown: Legends of Wrestling

"Highly flawed, yet oddly fun wrestling game."

After playing the first two entries in the LoW series, I left them wanting a game that could truly capture the essence of not only the wrestlers within it, but the styles represented by them, and their respective eras. Upon seeing Showdown in screens, I thought that the switch to a new development crew might see this happen, sadly, after playing this, I'm still left wanting a game that actually does justice to the wrestlers and eras represented in it. Luckily though, Acclaim's Austin development studio allowed this series to make some major strides in key areas, but as with everything else in this series, there is a catch, as other elements that made the series enjoyable in the past are now gone.

What they did accomplish was make the game flow in a much more realistic manner. In previous entries, you had a meter with a point in it that determined when you could do a move. While this allowed for some nice counter wrestling, it was very clumsy, as the action was either far too slow to be exciting, or far too fast to be controlled. In Showdown, a happy medium is found between these two speeds, and the meters are eliminated, allowing for real-time countering that goes just as deep as previous LoWs, but with none of the needless wait. I would go so far as to say that the counter wrestling is leagues ahead of WWE SmackDown: Here Comes the Pain, but falls a little short of WWE WrestleMania XIX, which leads the pack in terms of counter wrestling. If you're a fan of hand-to-hand fisticuffs in your wrestling games, well, this one's for you, as this game features the absolute best slugfests I've ever experienced in a wrestling game. You can actually go back and forth in them, and dominating one requires you to use cunning and skill. This is definitely a pleasant surprise for Showdown. Quite frankly, I'm stunned at how well things flow in the game considering how poorly they did before.

Sure, there are still some hiccups in the actions that shouldn't be there, such as it being needlessly difficulty to throw your opponent wherever you want to from an Irish whip, not having much control over aerial attacks, and only being able to go for a pin when your opponent is stunned, but all things considered, I'm just glad that Acclaim pulled off what they did. There's a solid gameplay base in the series for once, and the stuff that isn't fine-tuned now (such as the aforementioned things, along with some really alarming glitches, including one I saw where my opponent pinned himself) can be corrected in future installments of the series. The extra development time taken served the gameplay well, and hopefully, more care is taken with the next game to prevent some of the slip-ups that appear here.

Showdown stars 73 of some of the sport's biggest draws, and most amazing wrestlers. It reads like a who's who of wrestling lore, barring some folks who won't be in this series until, at a bare minimum, their WWE contracts run out. Just counting folks who are new to the series with Showdown, you can relive the amazing Sting-Rick Rude feud over the Untied States Heavyweight Title in 1992 (something referenced in the commentary during the game) and the boundary-pushing Rick Rude - Jake “the Snake” Roberts feud from 1988 (yet another one mentioned during commentary.) Dipping into the deep roster pool from all of the games, you can relive the Davey Boy Smith-Bret Hart Intercontinental title match from Wembley Stadium (recreated in this game) from the 1992 SummerSlam, the Hennig-Bret Hart IC title match from the previous year's SummerSlam, and many WrestleMania classics, like Hogan-Andre and Savage-Steamboat, both of which can be relived in the Classic matches mode.

The inclusion of a match recreation mode is nothing new in wrestling games, as Giant Gram 2000 on the Dreamcast pioneered the mode, but this is the first time it's been done in a U.S. wrestling game, and the execution is a bit different, as you can only relive a match from a certain point, leaving you with either more health or less health than your foe. Matches are recreated in classic arenas like Madison Square Garden, the Mid-South Coliseum, and the Omni. The matches taking place at varying points during the bout is both good and bad. On one hand, it's exciting to first start out, as you don't know how much health you'll have, or how much your opponent will have, or how close either of you are to being able to do your finishers.

This will add tension before the bout begins, and can really get you into the mindset that you have to succeed, no matter what the cost. It's like the Brain says, “Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.“ Since all of the matches in this mode have no DQs, and the varying degrees of health, either result is a realistic outcome. I rather enjoyed the selection of matches available, I think there are some notable missed opportunities though, such as the IC title matches between Bret, Hennig, and Davey Boy, and the Muraco-Snuka and Snuka-Backlund cage bouts, the former of which was used to hype the cage match mode coming into the series in the second game, which has been improved greatly here. I would have liked to have seen more tag team matches present in this mode, given that this game allows for a decent recreation of the art of tag team wrestling.

Acclaim did a great job improving the tag team wrestling here, since in Showdown, you can cut the ring in half, trap your man in your corner, and even low bridge your opponents. The same things hold true for your opponents as well, so expect to fight your way out of the opposing corner as quickly as possible, especially true in 8-man tag matches. So if you're a fan of the Rock N' Roll Express' style of tag team wrestling, or the Andersons' style, you'll love this game's recreation of this particular aspect of the sport.

On top of improving existing modes, such as allowing the ability for the referee to open the door in the cage match, and the overall improvements that come along with the smoother gameplay style, Acclaim also added in some neat stuff, like an eight-man elimination tag team (Survivor Series-esque) match mode, which hasn't been seen in any form since WWF Raw on the Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Sega 32X. Of course now, it's possible for all eight combatants to be at ringside at one time, making it more true to life in that respect. An iron man match mode has also been added, allowing you to relive the Steamboat-Rude one (oddly enough, a classic match that hasn't been mentioned yet in this review…shocking, I know.) These additions are more signs that Acclaim really wants this series to work, and they're on the right track by adding significant modes of play to the mix, and improving the gameplay. Now if they could manage to do that while not degrading the quality of other aspects of the game, maybe folks would be able to enjoy the series more.

Case in point, Acclaim brought back stuff for the create-a-legend feature that made it great in the original, namely the ability to clone in-game wrestlers and alter them, and improved the already fantastic ability of having tons of pre-set names for your created guys so their names will be called out during the game; however, they also removed the create-a-stencil option from the mix, easily the most redeeming feature about the CAL mode in previous games, as it allowed you to tailor-make your characters, and make up for the shoddy appearance options. Well, on top of removing THIS, they also removed the ability to change the color of attire for your wrestler, so unless you're ably to really make use of changing hair color, be prepared for some horrid-looking creations.

On top of that, the move selection is STILL lacking in nearly every way, making it hard to recreate matches from any of the three eras represented in the pseudo-career mode (70s, 80s, and 90s), or for that matter, recreating stuff from the ‘30s. There's no reason that a wrestling game in 2004 should seemingly have fewer available moves in it than the first 3D wrestling game, released in 1995.

Also, if you weren't a fan of the career mode in previous games, then maybe you'll love the streamlined “Showdown Challenge” mode that essentially replaces it. Here, you go through three “eras” of wrestling (the aforementioned ‘70s/'80s/'90s), with the end-result of finishing all three five match-long eras being a bout with the Showdown world champion, Hulk Hogan at the end of the ‘90s. While this mode could have turned out really well, nothing really ties anything together beyond a loose show of respect for the championship of the given era, which doesn't mean anything as it's never made mention of after you win it. This is something that could have been so much more than it is, they're on the right track with it though, especially with the decade-themed videos that precede a showcase of that era's talent. Hopefully, they can turn thing around with this mode, as it stands, there just isn't much here, especially since it's supposed to be the primary mode of the game.

Much like the gameplay, the controls have also benefited greatly from the new method of play used in Showdown. Moves that once took a while to execute due to muddy, unresponsive controls can now be done with ease. Some slight adjustments have been made to the button configuration, but they help the game out more than anything else. Of course, as should (sadly) be expected with this series, the good stuff will end rather soon. While the on-the-mat controls are done well (beyond the horrid problems with Irish whipping your foe that I mentioned earlier), pretty much everything beyond that is a mess. Climbing the turnbuckles, entering the ring, exiting the ring, jumping off of the apron, climbing onto the apron, grabbing your foe on the apron, grabbing your foe from the apron, diving off of the turnbuckles…well, you get the idea. To say that these aspects of the game are sloppily-controlled would be an understatement.

On the Dual Shock 2, they're a chore to execute, and when going for a retro kick fitting with the theme of the game, I even tried my Retrocon, which improved the controls for moving around the ring and executing grapples, but executing that Jericho-esque listing of moves was still a chore. I hope whoever handles the development of the next entry in the series can make strides in other aspects of the game as great as Acclaim's Austin studio did with the in-ring stuff. The collar-and-elbow tie-up grappling is the most intuitive of anything out there now, beyond XIX, and as with the core game, there's a solid base to improve upon.

This is exactly what happened with the graphics, which were good, leaning towards great in some ways before, and now just look astounding. Then you see the game in motion, and it's a mixed bag. Some things, like the selling of a chop, are the best representations of it that have been seen in a game. Other things, such as glitches like…oh, a chop being sold without one ever actually being animated, and yet executed, are just…embarrassingly funny. I'm not sure whether I should be laughing or seriously worrying about the future of gaming when I see a small package being done where the two participants in the move are feet away from each other, or see Bret Hart do a Sharpshooter to thin air, but they certainly do make for some Kodak moments, if nothing else. The entire game is riddled with graphical anomalies such as these, and as I've mentioned before, they negatively impact the gameplay quite a bit, especially when they come at you in rapid succession.

When these things don't happen, it can be rather enjoyable to just sit back and watch the move animations run their course. This series has always had great transitional animations, with suplexes going to floatover suplexes, and Frankensteiners going into pins seamlessly, without a break between them. This same level of care was taken with many of the game's taunts as well. Sting's bellow has never been animated with such gusto, and it's a shame that they couldn't get a sound byte to match it. Likewise, I can't think of any game beyond WCW/NWO Revenge that showed off the subtle finger motions that Randy Savage did when he pointed and spun around.

I wish that much care had been taken with some of the finishing move animations though. Seeing Randy Savage's flying elbow start off is great, then the move gets going, and he will always overshoot his opponent. I've done the move dozens of times in the game, and have yet to see it realistically connect even once. On a similar note, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, and Sting each share the same basic hold, the scorpion deathlock/sharpshooter.

You see, each man a had unique way of executing it. Bret would always put his left leg in-between his opponent's legs, while putting his left foot next to his opponent's right hip, then grapevine the legs and grab them with his left arm, using his right arm for leverage by grabbing onto a kneepad, or anything else he could use. He would sit down on the move, keeping his legs close together to make sure the most damage was being done in as little time as possible. Sting did the same thing, only with his right arm, and putting his right leg next to his opponent's left hip. Unlike Bret, he tended to do the move with a wider base for his legs, giving himself a little more leverage, and allowing his superior power to make up for any loss of damage by not keeping them close together. Owen did the move like Sting, but raised his left arm in the air as a sign of celebration, knowing that a victory would be forthcoming, or at least damage would be done.

Given that I'm able to rattle off the wrestlers doing that off the top of my head, I figure that it's not unrealistic to expect this kind of detail to be depicted in a game developed in a year and a half that is supposed to be showcasing these talents. Sadly, it looks like I expected too much. What is given is a hodge-podge of generic move animations thrown together with some taunts that get across the personality of the wrestler. No one has their own unique wrestling style, or countering style, nothing to set them apart from the rest aside from taunts and signature attacks. Showdown is a callback to the 16-bit WWF games from Acclaim in that sense, which is sadly telling.

While it doesn't appear much care was taken in regards to the animation, the same can't be said for the in-game arenas and stadiums, which add a level of realism and charm that other games can't match. Acclaim has done everything could do, legally, to bring as much authenticity to the arenas and their surroundings. You won't see any “WrestleMania” text on the aprons of the ring, but you will see some “ShowDown” text there, bringing together just the right level of nostalgia and legal maneuvering to make everyone happy. Seeing Acclaim's clever take on famous stage designs, like the WM X8 metal grating, or the current Raw set, or even a SmackDown-esque Showdown logo in the Tokyo Dome brings a smile across my face.

Seeing the care taken with smaller things, such as the way the apron looks and moves, warms my heart and puts a tear in my eye. The aprons in the game are probably the richest ever in a game with regards to color and depth, as many shades of blue, white, black, and silver will adorn them. Similar care was taken with the wrestlers' outfits, which again brings about feeling of joy. Much to my amazement, Ted DiBiase actually has his Million Dollar Man attire and name here, no more Richest Man in Wrestling name, or dollar sign-lacking trunks for him. Similarly to DiBiase in LoW II, Hennig is now the legally Perfect One, in a stroke of Lanny Poffo-level genius, and he comes complete with a towel, but no chewing gum. One seemingly small visual flaw in this game comes in the form of motion blur that comes up whenever a move is done. This blurring is attached to the limbs, boots, ropes, and anything that moves at a fast rate, and while it doesn't hurt one-on-one matches much, it really gets distracting, and downright disorienting, in tag team matches, or heaven forbid, 8-man tag team matches, in which case, Dramamine should be taken beforehand. I wouldn't mind it if there was an option to turn it off, but there doesn't seem to be one, sadly.

The LoW series has always had great audio, and this game surpasses the previous installments in terms of not only the amount of audio in it, but in the quality of it as well. New to the series is commentary during play, with Tony Schiavone doing the play-by-play, with Bobby “the Brain” Heenan and “the Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko providing color commentary. As someone who loved any combination of these men behind the mic, I was ecstatic to read that they would be doing stuff for this game. Luckily, the in-game commentary lives up to its potential, and then some. I came into it expecting some hyperbole, mixed with some accurate moves being called, and some humor. And I left it with that, and getting factoids about the wrestlers in the match while it was going on, made even cooler when the facts involved both of the people in the ring, recalling their history with each other in the squared circle.

The in-game music has been changed from hard rock stuff to a softer rock sound that helps ensure that the focus stays on the in-ring action and the folks calling the action. I have to say that it's probably the best in-game wrestling music I've heard, which might not be the highest praise in the world, but it's certainly something to be proud of. The sound effects for the series have always been pretty good, and this game is no exception. Beyond little things like having a different sound effect for a guy being slammed on the mat on the floor and being slammed directly on the concrete floor, I can't really think of any that would need any alteration.

The theme music used for the wrestlers is pretty much the same stuff used for LoW II, it's clear, varying in quality, with it generally being downright insulting (see: generic Mexican tune for Eddie Guerrero and Mil Mascaras) to pretty awesome (like Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka's theme.) Here, Hogan's “American Made” WCW theme returns, sans lyrics, and he also has a generic guitar song that is used for his Hollywood Hogan attires. Sting features two themes as well, one capturing the essence of his “Turbo Charged” NWA/WCW theme, while the other comes pretty close replicating the feel of his moody Crow theme. Hennig (called Henning in the CAL mode) features a knock-off of a knock-off of “Exodus”, which works perfectly with his character, while Rick Rude uses “the Stripper”, his first WWF theme, that captures the essence of his character well. I was hoping his “Simply Ravishing” theme would make it in, but that wasn't to be. Savage features a version of “Pomp and Circumstance”, odds are, it's one of the billion or so versions he used in WCW, it fit's the character well, and sounds clear; while DDP has a great knock-off of his WCW “Self High Five” theme, which is another knock-off of a knock-off, this time with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” instead of Exodus” and Jake Roberts has a sound-alike of his WWF “Snake Bit” theme. That pretty much does it for the new themes, and beyond some audio glitches and weird looping during commentary, a top-flight job was done in the sound department all things considered.

I've got to say that while this game has a plethora of glitches and flaws, including many that probably could have been remedied with a few more months of development and debugging, it's still fun. In spite of the flaws, it's usually a fun game to play. The glitches are more funny than they are annoying, and while they shouldn't be there in the first place, it does give the game a rather odd appeal. It's neat to play it and see which glitches will pop up during the match, and how. Seeing a new one come up is almost like opening a gift on Christmas, there can be joy, laughter, and excitement all at one time.

While I wish that the wrestlers were actually done justice here, that might be an impossible task, as it's one that Acclaim is no doubt trying to do with this series. The Firepro games have always handled the legends very well, and I would imagine that for the folks developing them, they were merely an afterthought, whereas here, they're the main attraction. Maybe the pressure of knowing this caused Acclaim to try a lot of things with the hope that things would work out well in execution. Sadly, that isn't the case all too often here, but when things do work in this game, they work better than most other games, and at least this game's failures have some silver lining to them.

If you're a wrestling fan and want to pay tribute to these legends by playing as them in a game, either wait for this game to drop to $20 or so, or just get a GBA and one of the U.S. Fire Pro games for about the same price as this game costs brand new. It's pretty much impossible for me to recommend this game at $50, as it's not a good wrestling game, let alone a good game, or even a decent replication of any form of professional wrestling. If you absolutely must have every wrestling the second it comes out, then you'll likely get your $50 out of this game, if not, then wait for a price drop. Acclaim has done a better job than I expected at showing respect to the wrestlers in the game, and I'd like to commend Acclaim for putting in an area that pays tribute to the deceased wrestlers featured in the game, and beyond spelling Big John Studd's real name wrong, it was done about as well as could be expected. Plus, the Bret Hart-led tutorial mode is a nice trip down memory lane with the matches shown during it, and the excellent execution of it, with Bret rattling off the technique, along with how to do it, and an accompanying graphic showing you how it is done reminds me an awful lot of the hints that were put on commercial WWF tapes back in 94/95 for Acclaim's WWF Raw.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/28/04, Updated 07/01/04