WCW/nWo Thunder

"THQ did not screw WCW/nWo Thunder, They both screwed everyone out of a good wrestling game!"

After the horribly sorry WCW game, Nitro, I thought THQ was going to give us a little hope for WCW games. I was horribly wrong. Revenge for the Nintendo 64 was excellent, but Thunder simply does not stack up against War Zone, Attitude, Revenge, or any other PlayStation or N64 wrestling game. It hardly stacks up against SNES wrestling games.

Graphics: 0.01 out of 10
Grainy, flat wrestlers against grainy, flat 2D backgrounds and crowds. War Zone had greatly detailed wrestlers, but in this game basically every wrestler is the same height, with a few exceptions. Plus it's horribly slow with more than 2 people onscreen at once.

Sound: 0.01 out of 10
Very annoying ingame music, and the theme to the TV show Thunder is the most annoying theme I have ever heard, even more annoying than the Nitro theme. The game has some very annoying sound glitches also. For example, I was Rey Mysterio Jr. and I did his Flying Head Scissors when the king of dimwits, Tony Schiavone, yells out ''Powerbomb!'' Also the commentary gets very repetitive, announcing the same thing for every move for every wrestler. They don't even mention the names of the wrestlers in the match.

Control: 0.01 out of 10
Very slow and sluggish. Everybody's moves are the same, with three exceptions to each person for their special moves. Hit the punch button, and he won't punch for about 3 seconds.

Story: 0.00 out of 10
This really isn't a category in a wrestling game, so I can't blame them for that. They already did everything else wrong.

Innovation: 1.0 out of 10
No create-a-wrestler made me very mad. When is WCW going to give in and have a tieup action? Why didn't they even use a game engine even remotely close to WCW/nWo Revenge? The only thing that saved this score from a 0.00 is the fact that you can change alliances.

Fun: 0.01
Sorry graphics, lousy gameplay and sound, no innovation; the perfect ingredients for a poor game.

Realism: 5 out of 10
Most of the moves look realistic, and everybody's finishing moves are well done and lifelike (except for the secret character's). But things like Rey Mysterio Jr. powerbombing the Giant and The Giant doing a dropkick if any move off of the top rope. However, with the wrestling alliance option, THQ recreates some of the realism of the world of pro wrestling.

So, overall, if you like sucky graphics, lousy gameplay, sorry sound, and an overall crummy game, go out and buy WCW/nWo Thunder. If you're like the rest of us, buy WWF War Zone, WWF SmackDown!, WWF Attitude, or if you're looking for fun WCW games, WCW Mayhem isn't half bad.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 04/09/00, Updated 04/09/00