ECW Hardcore Revolution

"Hmmm, I think i'll play Attitude again.Oops, this is Hardcore Revolution! How could I make such a mistake?"

INTRODUCTION

I must admit I was slightly disapointed when I heard that Acclaim had lost the WWF license. I had been a big fan of WWF Attitude and WWF Warzone, and I thought Acclaim did a great job with their wrestling games. However, when I heard that the had captured the ECW license I was pleased. They would continue to make great wrestling games. So my expectations were reasonably high for ECW Hardcore Revolution. I was a bit disapointed in the least. Hardcore Revolution is an extreme Attitude remake that it sickens me. It doesn't have the ECW attitude. No pun intended.



GAMEPLAY

ECW Hardcore Revolution features a complete roster of all your favorite ECW stars. Many of the great ECW superstars are included like Rob Van Dam, Raven, and many others. There is also a host of many hidden characters. Some of these are Tazz and Joey Styles.

ECW Hardcore Revolution features pretty much the exact same game modes as WWF Attitude. You can select a match that is the same as a royal rumble only with a different name. Vs. matches are where two wrestlers go head to head in a war. Tag matches are the same as Vs., but you can tag in an opponent back and forth to recooperate and gain energy back. There are many types of modes such as gauntlets, triangles, and wars. You can also have handicap matches of one on two or one on three, where one single wrestler takes on two or three opponents. You can also have 6-man and 8-man tags, which are very much like tags, only each team has 3 or 4 members on it. You can also set many match modes. Hardcore scattermany wpons around the ring you can use to dispose of opponents with. A steel cage match is the first person to escape from the cage wins. There is only one difference from chttitude's match modes and Hardcore Revolution's. There is now a barbed wire mode in ECW Hardcore Revolution. It's actually a pretty stupid mode. Instead of ring ropes, you have lengths of barbed wire. You whip your opponent into these causing massive damage. However, that's all you can do. You can't stradle them on the barbed wire. You can't rub their face in the barbed wire. It just doesn't have much depth to it. You can also set win modifiers which change the way you win a match. You can have an iron man match where you set a time limit and whoever scores the most pins in a match win the iron man match. An I quit match is where all of the pins are turned off. You must win the match by submition. First blood is the man to draw first blood wins. Finisher only is the first man to execute his or her finisher wins. And 2 out of 3 falls is a regular match, only it's judged on best 2 out of 3, not just one pinfall wins.

ECW Hardcore Revolution's career mode is a very, very, very cheap rip on Attitude's career mode. You start out at the botton of the Acclaim belts, wrestling on cheap shows and move your way up. After you conquer the Acclaim belt you proceed on to the ECW TV belt and finally the ECW world title. Hmmm, doesn't this career mode seem familiar to anyone else? It mixes the concept of Warzone and Attitude in that different wrestlers unlock different cheats as you go through with them in the career mode. Attitude did this, but you only had to win with one wrestler: Warzone had you complete the WWF Challenge with nearly every wrestler to unlock the cheats.

ECW Hardcore Revolution, or any wrestling game for that matter, wouldn't be complete nowadays without a good create a wrestler mode. ECW Hardcore Revolution doesn't have a superb or perfect Create a Wrestler, but it's a good CAW all the same. Just like Attitude and Warzone, Hardcore Revolution has literally thousands upon thousands of customizable options that you can choose from from their eyes to their feet and everything in between. You have many different options to choose from. You can also set your wrestler's moves, personality, and other information. Some of the categories, like theme music, seemed rather limited, but for the most part it is very indepth and a very good Create a Wrestler.

ECW Hardcore Revolution works exactly like Attitude. Button combinations are used to execute moves. You press a series of buttons and directions to do the moves. You and your opponent each have a life bar. When it is yellow, trademark moves can be performed. When the meter turns red, the person in the red's in trouble, because they can be pinned for the 3 count and have finishers executed to them. Most do not like the button combo system, but I myself like it. You might not though. It's not easy for a newbee to come along and pick up this game and play it. Also, unless you have a decent memory, you'll have to pause the game to look at the move list for a while until you master your favorite moves. The controls are another downfall of Hardcore Revolution. They seem more sluggish and don't responde as well as WWF Attitude did. I was also very disapointed in the lack of ECW stuff in it. Where's the flaming tables? Where's the twenty foot drops through tables covered in barbed wire? It's just not here, and that's what the ECW is known for. How can a game be successful if it doesn't have the federation's main high point included?

GAMEPLAY SCORE: 6.6/10



GRAPHICS

The graphics in ECW Hardcore Revolution are actually a step down from WWF Attitude. It looked like Acclaim just used Attitude's bass for graphics and through on the top rather quickly, which is probably what happened seeing how the space from Warzone to Attitude was much larger than Attitude to Revolution. That's why the game is such an Attitude rehash in many aspects, because the game was rushed and Acclaim used what they already had in their next game. Anyway, the characters look exactly like their real life counterparts do to the motion capture, which is what Acclaim used in the game. However, this causes for many problems, the largest being the collision detection. Rten times moves will seem to go right through the guys, or when a guy is picked up, the guy picking him up's hands will seem to go right through them. Sometimes, for a split second, when the wrestlers hit the mat it seems like they drop right through it like the mat is a gas and not a solid. Very bad if you ask me. The ring looks a bit blurry, but for the most part it looks rather well designed and detailed. The crowd is a huge problem. Just like Attitude, the people look like paper cut ous pasted on to your screen. The signs look like little white blurs and are not legible. Overall, the graphics in ECW Hardcore Revolution are average, and they step down from Attitude's graphics, which weren't even that great in themselves.

GRAPHICS SCORE: 6.2/10



MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS

The music in ECW Hardcore Revolution is not that great. The only music that plays is the intro music and menu music. The menu music is pretty good I will admit. It has a nice sound to it. The intro music however, sounds all the same. The ECW has never been known for classic and memorable theme entrances, and this shows quite clearly in ECW Hardcore Revolution. Most of the songs sound very generic and unenthusiastic. There's no huge trademark type things like Undertaker's bell or Austin't glass shattering in the ECW entrances, making for less of a great atmosphere. But this is more the faubt of ECW itself from the game, but it still hurts the game.

The sound effects in ECW Hardcore Revolution are much better. The wrestlers have all recorded unique grunts, screams, yells, and cries that are exactly like them, because the wrestler's recorded them. The sound of the weapons hitting also sounds very realistic for the most part. The turnbuckle sounds good, but the barbed wire and turnbuckle sound identical??? Doesn't seem right does it. Joey Styles does a good job of commentating, but with only one guy you can only go so far. It would've be nice to see nother announcer like Jerry the King Lawler to help him have. However, he does something that King and Shane didn't in Attitude, and that's call out moves like ''Vertical suplex!'' This was something in Warzone that, to my dismay, was removed in Attitude. Acclaim got the drift and put it back in, and I am glad they did so. Each of the wrestlers have recorded some voice clippings to taunt their opponent. They will say a catchphrase or taunt at the beginning of the match or if they think they have the match in hand. Overall, the sound in ECW Hardcore Revolution could use some improvements, but it is very good.

MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS SCORE: 8.1/10



DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

ECW Hardcore Revolution is not very difficult. The hardest part is memorizing the moves and getting used to the game engine. If you were good at Attitude and Warzone, you'll have very little to no trouble with ECW Hardcore Revolution. The career mode does not throw as many impossible matches at you like Attitude, thus making it even easier.



REPLAY VALUE: MEDIUM

ECW Hardcore Revolution isn't a game you will come back to to play again and again. However, some of the hidden characters like Tazz and Joey Styles I wanted to get, so I found myself playing it with those characters. I had to play the game for a while to get them, because Tazz requires you to win the ECW title on the career mode. So the game requires you to play it a lot. A cunning tactic to geltiple rentals, keep playing even though the game isn't all that great.



OTHER GAME INFORMATION

RENT/buy?: MULTIPLE RENTALS

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4

GENRE: PRO WRESTLING



OVERALL SCORE: 6.9/10

ECW Hardcore Revolution is an average game. It was a rehash of WWF Attitude no question. True, WWF Attitude was a fantastic game, but you just can't make the same game twice and expect to succeed twice. You could easily save yourself $40 by simply creating all your favorite ECW superstars and playing them on the much better Attitude. All you'd be missing out on would be the 6-man tag, the 8-man tag, and the barbed wire mode. None of these 3 game modes are worth $40. The game does have a reasonable amount of fun for a little bit, and I suggest you rent ECW Hardcore Revolution two or three times. However, I do not think you should buy ECW Hardcore Revolution. The differences between ECW Hardcore Revolution and WWF Attitude are simply just not worth going out and purchasing this game if you already own Attitude. only way I'd want to purchase this game is if I'm a hardcore ECW fan or don't own attitude. Otherwise, a couple trips to the video rental is more than enough for you to get your fill of ECW on the Playstation for now.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/00, Updated 07/05/00