ECW Anarchy Rulz

"In This Case, Anarchy Doesn't Rule."

Acclaim's ECW Anarchy Rulz is the fourth title to use the WWF Warzone engine. When Acclaim released Warzone, fans complained about the horrible control and poor collision detection. Acclaim responded to the critics by releasing WWF Attitude, the sequel to Warzone, with a modified engine. If by ''modify'' they mean ''make it extra glitchy and slower'' they certainly succeeded. Acclaim slapped this overused engine on their newest license ECW, thereby enraging hardcore wrestling fans as well.

The game has regular Singles matches, Tag-team matches, Weapons matches, Death match, Three way and Four way dances, and the dreaded ''I Hate You'' match. On the surface this may seem like a good idea, but in reality its just more crap. In actual ECW matches, disqualification is a rarity. The only ways to finish a match are by pinning your opponent, or forcing him to submit. Every match has the potential to become a ''weapons'' or ''hardcore'' match, so the match options in the game are really unnecessary.

It seems Acclaim tried to stay faithful to the actual show by adding gratuitous amounts of blood into the mix. Nice try, but rarely on the show do people bleed from the small of the back after being punched in the nose like in this game.

The graphics in this game are a disappointment. Every character appears to have been palette swapped from Acclaim's old WWF games. They look and move exactly the same. Not a good thing, as those other games are dated.

I expected more from the sound effects in this game, though I don't know why. The inclusion of announcers Joey Styles and ''The Quintessential Stud-Muffin'' Joel (insert dirty limerick here) Gertner may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but like everything else in this game, it's poorly executed. Some of the comments are funny, but they repeat too often and are always four or five moves behind the actual action.

The gameplay is exactly like the previous Acclaim titles in this genre. The copy on the booklet states ''All New Control System!'' but it feels the same to me. Y'know, tap down, left, punch, tap back, back, kick, etc. It feels counter intuitive and ultimately doesn't work well. I was able to improve my record by playing while wearing oven mitts.

As a fan of wrestling and a serious gamer, I find myself offended on two fronts. There is no excuse for slapping this outdated engine on game after game. Even Capcom updates the Street Fighter engine every once in a while.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/03, Updated 03/28/03