Legends of Wrestling II

"Could've been something great, but just falls short."

First off, for those of you that don't know, I've been a wrestling fan for a few years and have played every wrestling game on a sony system as well as those on the sega genesis. With that in mind, you may here me refer to other wrestling games for the Genesis, PS, and PS2 occasionally because I frequently compare them.

Graphics: 9/10
The graphics in this game look great. The wrestlers are a bit deformed but that is to make them look more like legends then just a bunch of old guys. It is in a style similar to the old wrestling figures you could get a ways back, so it fits the mood. The only reason I took a point off is because it seems really dark, at least on my TV and compared to all the other wrestling games I've played.

Sound/Music: 10/10
This game has the single best soundtrack of all wrestling video games done to this date (including the smackdown series). Wrestler's don't come out to their original theme songs but Jimmy Hart writes new ones for them that match very closely to their old ones. The entrances themselves are much like before, though now they have a bit of pyros in them too. It all fits just fine.

Gameplay: 1/10
I hate to give such a low score, but it is one of the most important features in a video game. The controls aren't very sensitive and are slow, but the action is fast. This makes matches confusing and extremely hard. If you are one of those people who like an insane level of challenge and tough controls, then this is for you. Unfortunately, most people aren't like that. Moves are very difficult to pull off and finishers require exact timing at the exact moment (not to mention knowing what that person's finisher is to begin with). While the linking system is a great idea, they are so hard to pull off that they might as well not be there.

Features: 10/10
This is the part where the legends of wrestling series has always put the smackdown games to shame. Not only does Legends of Wrestling 2 have a large roster filled with the best wrestlers of the past several decades, but it has a ton of other features that can blow you away. First off, every single wrestler in this game has 4 real alternate costumes (real, as in costumes they've worn at major points in their career), there is an eight man tag mode (as well as 3-way and 4-way normal tag matches), blood that drips off their faces and stains the mat, the ability to exit a cage through the door or over the top, Create-a-legend mode complete with entrance attire, the ability to defend titles in exhibition matches, and the ability to link moves. All those that I just mentioned are either not included in the smackdown series at all, or have made it into a few of them but not all. The career mode also reflects a setup similar to how wrestling was back in the 70's, regional. You have to work your way up from being just a local boy to a world champion, which is really cool. Much like with Acclaim's previous wrestling games, you can create as many wrestlers you want as long as you have the storage space, so you can create all the wrestlers your dark little heart desires (in your ****ing face Yuke's!).

If it wasn't for that big gameplay problem, this would've been the best wrestling game ever created, in my humble opinion.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/04