WWF War Zone

"WWF Warzone: Time Tested and proven to be the Best Wrestling Game ever."

Having now playing virtually all wrestling games out for the playstion and N64, I am under the firm belief that Warzone is the best of them all. It may not have the better graphics or options that the newer ones (Attitude and WMania2k) boast, but it's control and gameplay is unparralleled. And after brief exposure graphics, sound, and 'quirks' quickly lose their luster, and whether the game continues to be played depends on how well it 'plays'

All wrestling games out I've played (witht he exception of old school Pro Wrestling for NES ^_^ ) are based on one of two engines. The The 'THQ' engine or the 'Acclaim' engine. The THQ engine consists of Strike, TieUp, Block, Backaway, and Run; the Acclaim engine consists of Punch, Kick, Block, Tieup, and Run. However the Acclaim engine also has non-Tie Up 'ready' moves... and quite a few for each charecter. In addition, in THQ whoever grapples first always wins the grapple (unless reversed), while in Acclaim who wins depends on what moves players pick inside the grapple. In Acclaim versions a player's health is determed by a bar that slowly decreased to Red through various color stages, and recovers at a slow, constant rate. In addition, after a certain amount of damage, one player will becomed stunned, and will be hapless for punishment. In THQ players will wear down, but there is no life bar. Instead there is an attitude bar that tracks recent tides of the battle as opposed to the long term picture. The higher the bar, the quicker and more powerful the wrestler, and if it gets all the way to the top, then your wrestler can perform their special. In Acclaim the special can be performed instead when your opponent gets to Red health. Stun in THQ is cumulative..after taking more damage the charecter spends more and more time on the mat..an aspect that tends to get very annoying towards the end of a fight where one moves puts you on your back for a good 20-30 seconds.

After playing both types throughly, I have found the Acclaim engine to be much more complex and satisfying. It is somewhat harder to learn, and much longer to master, but it is the kind of game you can pick up and no matter how many times you've played you learn something new. There are many many levels of complexity to the game that are not readaly seen by beginning players. But once you get over the hump of learning, and have a friend who is close to your skill level..it provides hours of enjoyment.

This is especially true with Warzone. While Attitude has it's benifits, it controls are definitely 'dumbed down' from Warzone, and thus is not nearly as deep a game. With Attitude once you learn the basic controls, you can pick up any charecter and master them quickly. While at first this seems like a benifit...the divisity of charecters in Warzone is definitely one of its benifits. Once you think you have everything in Warzone figured out, try using another charecter. Because each charecter has different charecteristic, different moves, and different move positionings (which influence speed), each charecter must be played in a different manner. Your Sidewalk Slam, Sidewalk Slam, Hiptoss, Toe-Hold combo that works so well for one charecter doesn't work with the next. I've been playing the game for about 6 months and can only say that I have mastered one of the charecters so far. I can switch to several others, but to truely learn them takes months of practice. In essence, Warzone takes on a style much more like a Fighting game than a Wrestling Game.

However, there are some drawbacks to Warzone, which keep it (even though it is very close) from being a 10. The first is the computer AI. Once you've played Warzone for 3 days you learn how to beat it forwards and back on any difficulty level. It can't beat ready moves at all, and telegraphs what it is going to do horribly. This is a game I would NOT recommend to someone who is going to be playing entirely one player, unless you enjoy inflicting pain. Also, the 3 and 4 player mode, and all the Tag Team modes, basically suck. Taging-in or out is a pain, it is very difficult to chose who you want your wrestler to target, and everyone in the ring becomes totally chaotic. Still, this is better than not having it at all I suppose.

Compare Warzone not to Wrestlemania or WCW Revenge, compare it to Street Fighter 2 or Mortal Kombat 2. Both suck with 1 player, both are made for 2 player brawls. And that's what you will get, a heart-thumping, quick paced grudge match of wits and thumbs that will leave you consistantly saying "Best 2 of 3"? Highly recommended.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/09/99, Updated 12/09/99