Showdown: Legends of Wrestling

"Showdown. Oh what could have been..."

Showdown: Legends of Wrestling is the third installment in the Legends of Wrestling series. Acclaim made some nice improvements to the wrestling engine, but some other aspects of the game left me asking, “What were they thinking?”

First off, Acclaim overhauled the wrestling engine. Instead of the “golf” meter they used in the previous 2 installments, they dropped it for a slightly different look. The new wrestling engine uses more moves out of the ready position than the previous installments, which was a gripe I had with Legends of Wrestling 2. Additionally, there are 16 moves out of the grapple position. (8 in front, and 8 in back.) Certain moves can be linked into pins or combinations with other moves by a press of the A, B, or Y buttons. For instance, you can link a body slam into a rear chinlock by pressing the appropriate button combination. You can put together a combination of a spinebuster into a figure 4 leglock seamlessly.

The new wrestling engine suffers from the same problems the previous 2 did. The controls are very clunky. Your wrestler does not seem to respond to presses of the buttons very well. Moving your wrestler around the ring in the direction you want can be very trying. It is very difficult to fight back when you are being attacked on both sides. Additionally, you can still reverse moves with a press of a button, but you can no longer counter a reversal.

Overall, I like the new engine. I never realized how much I was only paying attention to the meter and not the in-ring action until I played the new engine. Moves occur much quicker, without the delay like the previous games.

The graphics engine has also been overhauled. In the previous 2 LOW games, the wrestlers looked like the old WWF LJN toy wrestling figures with blocky frames. In this version, there is much more detail in the wrestlers. You can see every ripple in Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude's physique. The new graphics are excellent. Speaking of Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude, they are 2 of the new wrestlers in the game. They join Curt Hennig, Randy Savage, Dusty Rhodes, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Nikita Koloff, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sting as newcomers to the Legends of Wrestling series. As with the last installment, each wrestler has 4 unique looks. That means you get 2 blonde Stings, a Crow Sting, and an N.W.O. Wolfpac Sting. The latter 2 Stings come with different ring entrances and theme music than the earlier 2. The roster is excellent from top to bottom. They are still missing a handful of notables like Verne Gagne, Nick Bockwinkle, Dino Bravo, Pedro Morales, Ole Anderson, Lex Luger, and The Midnight Express. Some Japanese legends would be nice, too. I guess they need to leave some people out for a sequel, if that happens.

In my review for Legends of Wrestling 2 for Gamefaqs, I was all over the developers for omitting wrestler's trademark moves like Jerry Lawler's top rope fist drop, Ricky Steamboat's arm twist/savate kick, the Backlund Bridge, Hogan's back rake, Scott Steiner's Frankensteiner and double underhook powerbomb, and Eddie Guerrero's splash mountain, Gory Special, and dropkick to the knee. In Showdown, they added all of those moves. They also added more old school moves like an airplane spin and a jumping headbutt. However, the developers did it again. Anyone who has ever watched the WWF in the late 80s and early 90s know that the setup for Jake “The Snake” Roberts' DDT was a short-arm clothesline. You would expect that move would be in the game, right? Well, it's not. WHY NOT??? Most of the new wrestlers added to the series this year are missing their trademark moves. Off the top of my head, missing from the game are moves like:

-Jake Roberts' short-arm clothesline
-Curt Hennig's jumping shin breaker
-Hennig's neck snap move out of the piledriver position
-Rick Rude's slingshot suplex
-DDP's pancake (face first) piledriver
-DDP's discus clothesline
-DDP's spiral bomb
-DDP's many variations of the Diamond Cutter
-Randy Savage's hanging clothesline
-Randy Savage's running neck snap over the top rope
-Nikita Koloff's Russian sickle (I will not accept that poor excuse of a clothesline as a substitute.)

It appears that they have given up on even trying to give “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert a “Hot Shot” for a finisher because his finisher is now a cradle piledriver. They still have not implemented fireballs and Abdullah the Butcher still does not carve anyone up with a fork even though that was his forte while wrestling. Dr. Death Steve Williams still does not have a backdrop driver and his Oklahoma Stampede. I could go on and on and on. I probably would not be so harsh about this aspect if Justin Withers, lead programmer, would not have preached “authentic, authentic, authentic” during interviews prior to the game's release. Authenticity would mean that Curt Hennig slaps his gum and throws his towel over his shoulder during his ring introduction. Rick Rude would grab the microphone and do his “What I'd like to have right now” spiel. Authenticity would include specific post match celebrations like Ted Dibiase stuffing a $100 bill in his opponent's mouth, Terry Funk using his branding iron, Nikolai Volkoff waving the Soviet flag, N.W.O. Hogan spray painting his beaten opponent's back, or Jake Roberts placing his snake Damien over the body of his victim, etc. Authentic would include voices to the wrestler's taunts. I would hear “HOOOOOOO” when Jim Duggan sticks his thumb in the air or “Owwww” when Sting cups his hands to his mouth.

Another gripe I have is wrestlers in Showdown still use moves they never would have when they were in active competition. Andre the Giant uses the human frisbee move made famous Al Perez and Sid Vicious, Curt Hennig uses the Kryptonite Krunch, Randy Savage uses the Northern Lights Bomb, etc. If you want to fill out a moveset, give the wrestler moves like an arm wringer, side headlock, side headlock takeover, flying mare, single leg takedown, or other moves that were actually used back in the day instead of Pedigrees and Diamond Cutters. That leads me to my next point. One advantage that the WWF Smackdown series has over the Legends of Wrestling series is the sheer number of moves available in Smackdown when it compares to Showdown: Legends of Wrestling. In Showdown, there is only 1 clothesline out of the running position. In WWF Smackdown, there are in excess of 10 different running clotheslines. My problem is that Hulk Hogan's Axe Bomber clothesline is different than Nikita Koloff's Russian Sickle. Randy Savage's hanging clothesline is different than Ultimate Warrior's clothesline. However all 4 wrestlers have the same stupid clothesline. Like comic book fans, pro wrestling fans are a fickle bunch. Watch some classic videos and cater to us, Acclaim.

On the brighter side, the best aspect of the game has to be the inclusion of commentary during the matches. Showdown uses a 3-man commentary team with Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbysko, (why he was not a playable character is beyond me) and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Hands down, this is the best commentary ever in a wrestling game. Instead of just calling out the names of moves as they happen, Bobby Heenan and Larry Zbysko will drop tidbits of historical information about the wrestlers who are in the match. Heenan would make comments about famous feuds or titles wrestlers have won. The only drawback is that it is apparent that Bobby Heenan was suffering when he taped his vocals. He has/had throat cancer, and his legendary voice does not sound the same.

Another nice addition to Showdown is the addition of real-life venues. Arenas like Madison Square Garden, The Cow Palace, Sky Dome, Tokyo Dome, and Mid-South Coliseum are all in the game. However, the developers decided to spice up the arenas. For the life of me, I don't recall a Titan Tron being at the Mid-South Coliseum in 1983.

Showdown also added a feature not seen in a wrestling game since Japanese import Giant Gram 2000, and that is the recreation of classic wrestling matches. You will get an opportunity to either recreate or change history in classic matches like Savage vs. Steamboat, The Russians vs. The Road Warriors, or Hogan vs. Andre. You will start the match in various predicaments like taking control of Hogan as he is in the clutches of Andre's bear hug or Andy Kaufman as he is being piledriven by Jerry Lawler. Your energy level will vary based on the predicament you are in for each match. Classic matches are a nice feature for Showdown. My only complaint is that the matches are all too easy. The only match that was difficult was Lawler vs. Kaufman. It's also funny that I don't recall Ricky Steamboat giving Randy Savage the unprettier during their match in 1987. Well, he can now in Showdown.

That leads me to match modes. In Showdown, you can have cage, ladder, tag team, 6 man tag, 8 man “Survivor Series” elimination matches, 3-way dances, 4-way dances, hardcore, and battle royals. New this year to Showdown are Ironman matches, first blood matches, and table matches. All of the matches play well. However, Acclaim dropped the ball here. They had an opportunity to be an innovator in pro wrestling games by added a match mode never before seen in a pro wrestling game like a scaffold match, dog collar match, Russian chain match, Wargames, coal miner's glove match, finisher vs. finisher match, or the classic bungee cord match involving Steven Dane and Chaz seen in the Global Wrestling Federation on ESPN back in 1992. (Okay, I was kidding about that last one.) A barbed wire match has yet to be done well in a wrestling video game. Instead, Showdown chose to add table matches, which have been a staple in wrestling game for years. Besides, it's not actually like the USWA, World Class Championship Wrestling, or Calgary Stampede Wrestling were known for their table matches years ago.

Also new this year is Showdown's career mode called the Showdown challenge. I really enjoyed LOW 2's career mode involving wrestling regions and region bosses. Although they did not vary a whole lot, I enjoyed the 50+ different storylines. The Showdown challenge instead uses era based “storylines.” You start out in the 70s, work your way through the 80s and 90s to face Hulk Hogan in 1999. During the years, your wrestler will change his look to reflect the times. For instance, while wrestling in the 1970's Tito Santana will wrestle in his plain red trunks. In the 1980's he will wrestle in his white Strike Force tights. In the 1990's, he will wrestle in his El Matador getup. That is a cool feature. In the Showdown challenge mode, you are given a wrestling magazine presentation. Your storylines appear like an article in a pro wrestling magazine. However, the storylines are bland and boring. They are only explained in a paragraph or 2 and are things like:

-Another wrestler is hitting on your girlfriend
-Another wrestler is talking trash
-A wrestler turns on you and attacks you backstage
-A wrestler promises to end your losing streak
-The promoters want you to be in a new match for the region, a table match
-etc.

The storylines would be much better if there were cutscenes where you actually saw your wrestler being attacked backstage or a cutscene where you were confronted face to face by an opposing wrestler. However, you are only shown a photograph and given a paragraph to explain the storyline. Weak, very weak. Also, some storylines make little sense. I took Abdullah the Butcher through Showdown Challenge. In 1971, I met Sabu in a hardcore match that was booked by the promoter. The problem? Sabu was around 10 years old at that time. Also, some of the matchups make little sense. In the 1980's, while wrestling as Tito Santana, I was placed in a tag team match. Guess who my partner was. No, not my Strike Force tag partner Rick Martel. Instead I teamed up with Koko B. Ware to take on the famous tag team of Robert Gibson and Greg Valentine. Huh? Showdown Challenge could have been so much better, but I am left wanting more. Storylines also repeat quite a bit too.

Let me touch briefly on the Create a legend feature. I do not think the mode is as terrible as some other people. You have the ability to clone existing wrestlers in the game and edit their appearances. I had a difficult time finding a base wrestler in the normal Create a Legend mode that resembled me in an appearance. However, I was able to add a goatee to Davey Boy Smith to come pretty close to my appearance. One knock is that you cannot change colors of costumes or outfits. You can no longer create stencils to add to your CAL. In one of those, “What were they thinking” moments, you cannot edit the attributes like the speed, strength, and ability to absorb punishment of your created wrestler. Besides looks and movesets, what is going to differentiate my CAL of Yokozuna from my CAL of Sean Waltman? (aka Lightning Kid, 1-2-3 Kid, Syxx, X-Pac, and Syxx Pac) What were they thinking??

I have not even touched on the glitches and bugs in the game. I played the Xbox version. The Xbox version seems to have less glitches than the PS2 version, but they are still there. Wrestlers will be frozen in a grapple with nobody and you will have to restart the match. Wrestlers slide all the way across the ring like the canvas was a sheet of ice. Although you are about 8 feet away, your wrestler will react like a punch he threw was blocked and countered by an opponent. The game is also bound to freeze on occasion, especially if you exit the Edit a Legend feature without saving.

Now, let me get to the “What were they thinking?” portion of this review. First off, when exiting the ring, each wrestler has their own ringout count. Huh? Also, the referee counts down from 10 to 1, instead of 1 to 10. To win any match, one only needs to throw his opponent out of the ring and then hop out a second later. Keep fighting with them until their ringout time reaches 1 and they are counted out. (or disqualified as the game puts it.) Since when in wrestling history does each wrestler have their own ringout count? Oy!

Also, there are no unlockables in this game. What were they thinking? I am okay with having all wrestlers available from the beginning. I'd be angry after seeing the Ultimate Warrior or Sting on the cover only to have to unlock them through hours of gameplay. However, it would be nice if things like extra outfits, moves, cheats, videos, or new modes are able to be unlocked. You get absolutely NOTHING when you defeat the showdown challenge and classic match modes. As much as I hated the gambling portion of LOW 2, I still played through it so I could unlock everything. The storylines in the Showdown challenge mode are not interesting enough for me to want to play through it more than 3 or 4 times. The fact that there were no unlockables is what made my decision only to rent the game and not buy it. There simply is not enough replay value. The game engine alone is not fun enough to justify a purchase of the game. What were they thinking????

Deep down, there is a good game buried in there somewhere. However the glitches, lack of authenticity, intriguing storylines, and unlockables take Showdown from a pretty good game down to a mediocre one. If this series is to continue, they need to fix the problems in this game and add something to give this game any kind of replay value.

Overall score: 6.2/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/02/04