WWE WrestleMania 21

"Okay but not good."

I have to admit that the boxart of this game is what made me get this game. I now really know now not to go off the boxart , and think it will be a good game. I read the reviews, and heard the trolls on the WM21 board. I played and though this was going to be great, but man this game is too limited to be good. Good thing I got this game for free from someone that didn't want it or I would be mad that I payed money for this game at all. Here is my review.


Graphics 9.5/10

The best part of the game is the graphics. The realism is there, and most of the wrestlers look like themselves. I don't know what people are talking about when it comes to the glitches. I had only seen one glitch in this game, and I played a good amount of times. The only problems that I did had was the logo would not spin like it should when loading, and it sometimes has a bit of a hard time loading replays. That is all I have to say about the games looks.


Sound/Music 7/10


Well the in game music is not bad and it fits the mood. There is play-by-play done by JR, King, Tazz, and Cole. I find the PBP to be very good, and I never get tried of hearing it. Now here lies the problem with it. One time I was having a wrestling match with only the divas, and the PBP thinks there men as well. Plus the PBP can be off sometimes, and I find that bit funny.
Entrance music is done very well and the Videos are high quality. That is all I have to say about the sound and music.


Gameplay 5/10


Well here it is. Why this game is does not work for me very well. Before I get to that I must say that the fighting system in this game is great. The No Mercy sim type style is cool, and is better than the arcade type gameplay. Now that I got that down I must now get to the part that makes this game bad in the gameplay area. The movesets are super limited. I mean there must be 100 moves or less in this game because of this most of the wrestlers have the same moves. Why on earth does HBK does a standing Shooting Star Press by the way? When I try to do the same grapple by pressing another arrow on the d-pad, and there is the same move again. Another problem with the gameplay is that the specialty type matches are too easy too win, and too short. For example in an ladder match I got a ladder into the ring, I get knocked down somehow, the CPU climbed up easily, and started to dangle for the title. I found no way to try to pull the *** CPU down from the belt. That match ended in less than 2 minutes. I forgot to say that there is not that many high flying moves in this game so specialty matches will not have that risky high flying spice to it. Talk about limited movesets.



Controls 7/10


The learning curve is a few matches. I really don't have much to say about the game controls.


Story 7/10

You take your superstar up the ranks of the WWE, and one day become a legend. There is only one path in this game. You can't make or break teams or you can't choose your own destiny. Interesting storyline at least, but you will only find yourself playing it at least once.


Create-a-Superstar 5/10

Well I messed around a bit with the CAW, and it is not that bad. 3 problems are that one you can' t map moves to the buttons you want, two there are not that many moves to choose from like I said early on, and 3 YOU CAN'T USE THE CURRENT ROSTER'S MUSIC! You have to burn your own music to the hard drive or have to use the in game music as your theme. I find this very unfair since there are people out there that can't burn music to the drive or don't have a CD-burner. I used to be in that category, and it was pretty bad.




Final words


I find this this game to be the worst of the bunch, but not the worst ever. If you want a real wrestling game, get RAW 2 for the Xbox. Its not the best, but at least its what it should have been.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/14/05, Updated 01/05/09

Game Release: WWE WrestleMania 21 (US, 04/20/05)