WWF War Zone

"WWF's first 3-D entry on the Playstation."

WWF War Zone is the first 3-D WWF game to be featured on the Playstation. It features 16 playable wrestlers which feature some still around today such as The Rock, Steve Austin, and Triple H. There are two hidden wrestlers, Dude Love and Cactus Jack, but they pretty much borrow most of Mankind's moves and some of his sound bytes. Each wrestler has several meters that come up during the match such as a condition bar which measures damage your wrestler has taken, a stun meter measuring the time you'll be stunned and open to attack, and a pain meter which comes up whenever your opponent uses a submission hold on you.

Graphics: While this is an outdated wrestling game, War Zone has excellent graphics sporting exact character looks from how each wrestler was in 1997 to 1998. The ring looks good and the audience is okay despite its 2-D appearance. The Titan Tron in the background gives exact images going in the match and the move animations are okay with no pop up. The only flaw would be load times that occur in Challenge mode during the entrances and during the Royal Rumble when wrestlers are coming out. They can be long at some times.

Sound: Each wrestler has their own smack talks that occur in certain situations which are done very well. Audience voices are good as well along with the smacks, slams, and entrance music of each WWF superstar that enters the ring.

Control: WWF War Zone uses an arcade style system for wrestlers to do each of their attacks. The style is very responsive and works well on the Playstation controller though there are some wrestling moves that can be a bit frustrating to pull off. The finishers are even tougher to pull off and you can't do them until your opponent's condition bar is red.

Gameplay: War Zone offers a wide variety of matches and modes for you to clash in. Up to four players can clash in Singles, Tag Team, Cage, Weapons, and Royal Rumble matches. Unique to War Zone is the Challenge mode where you clash through opponents to reach the WWF Intercontinental Title at first then the WWF Championship which once you get, you can challenge your friends to get the title from you. Also in Challenge mode, you will have rematches with defeated opponents who want to challenge you to special matches, mostly a Cage or Weapons match. If you lose 3 times on Challenge mode, you have to start from scratch all over again. There's a Training mode where you can practice your moves on a trainer drone you can take your abuse on. Also new is the Create-A-Wrestler mode where you can assemble your own jobber from appearance, stats, moves, music, and personality. You can build up the custom wrestler's stats by winning different matches. There is also an arcade style scoring system that can track your score and can be saved onto a memory card.

Overall: WWF War Zone's major fame is called for. It wasn't only the first 3-D wrestling game for the WWF but the first to introduce a create-a-wrestler mode which would be used later on in future wrestling games even for WCW. This game is worth to buy even if it is 4-years old.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/23/02, Updated 04/23/02