"A lot of fun at a great price"

When this game was first announced, the general opinion of most people was that this game was going to be crap and it wouldn’t even be worth a rent. About 1 year later, WWE Crush Hour has been released and while it probably won’t be nominated for 2003 Game of the Year, it is definitely worth every cent of its $30 (I’m Canadian) price tag. This game includes numerous different game modes plus more then 30 different characters and it is actually a great game.

The first thing you will see when you start up the game (after all of the various screens telling you who made & published the game) is the opening video, which explains the premise of the game. The story begins with a news flash that says Vince McMahon & the WWE have taken over all of the television networks. This results in the WWE Superstars being placed in various television shows & commercials. While the story is kind of stupid, it is also kind of funny & explains the game quite well.

Once you get to the main menu, you are really only presented with two modes, Exhibition (including multiplayer) & Season. The exhibition mode is exactly like it sounds. It is just a one-player match against AI opponents in any one of the 13 arenas (which I will talk about later). After setting the rules & picking your superstar (which I will also talk about later), you will get into the match.

The controls of the game are very simple to learn. You start out with the basic Gamecube driving controls (A makes you go, B makes you stop/reverse & the control stick allows you to steer). In addition to those, you use R & Z to fire weapons, X to use your turbo, the control pad to change your secondary weapon, the C-Stick to change the camera angle & L for power sliding which allows you to pull off quick turns. The power sliding is an essential part of this game & it is necessary to master the use of this to get really good at this game. Another feature of this game is the use of a special. Your screen features a special meter that will fill up with each shot you deliver to an opponent. Once your meter is full you can press Y button to execute an instant kill move on your opponents. The controls in this game are great overall because of the simplicity & the fact that the used every button on the controller very effectively.

The main feature of this game is the 32 WWE superstars that are available (when the hidden nine are all unlocked) to play as. This game features the most popular superstars such as Steve Austin & The Rock as well as less popular superstars such as Billy & Chuck. Each superstar drives a character specific vehicle. While some choices like Austin’s monster truck & the Undertaker’s motorcycle, others like Kurt Angle’s SUV & the Hardy’s Wood Paneled Station Wagons are just plain stupid (although the one that I really want to mention has to be unlocked, so I can’t say anything because it would be a spoiler). Like I mentioned above, there are also specials for the superstars which are mostly just random rockets that either seek out opponents or just fire straight ahead. Another feature is the almost non-existent superstar entrances. These just consist of the wrestlers driving out while their music plays.

Another big feature of this game are the 13 different arenas that are available (once they are all unlocked). The arenas range from being completely based on WWE shows (Raw & SmackDown!), to just being named after WWE events & matches (Hell in a Cell & Royal Rumble) to having absolutely no relevance to the WWE whatsoever (Running the Gauntlet). Each arena contains a special set of rules but you can also use free for all & tag team rules. The rules for most of the arenas are pretty stupid & you will probably end up playing free for all most of the time. One of the ones that I find the worst is the Royal Rumble match. This match could have been done as easily as having people getting pushed off of a rooftop to be eliminated but instead you have to collect & hold on to crowns. Some of the arenas are a lot of fun to play in & are the matches that will keep you playing this game but others will either bore you to death or make you toss the controller across the room.

While playing in any of the arenas you will also find a number of weapons & pickups. The weapons, just like everything else in this game, range from great to stupid. Weapons like the annihilator & the laser guided rockets are very useful when playing, other weapons like the atomic drop & the grenade launcher are pretty useless. All of the pickups in this game are very useful. The main pickups are health & turbos, which add to your health or give you more turbos. You can also get armor, which will temporarily increase your defense & the invulnerability, which will make you invincible for a short period of time. The most useful pickup, without a doubt, has to be the ramming power. This (temporarily) makes your rams more powerful & when used with a turbo, is almost an instant kill.

WWE Crush Hour also features a 17-week season mode. In the season mode you will compete in each of the 13 arenas (some more then once), until you get to the final battle against one of the hidden superstars. Throughout the course of the season mode you will also get to see the WWE superstars in different television shows. These cut scenes are humorous but after you see them once, you will probably just end up skipping them. The main purpose of the season mode is to unlock new arenas & new superstars like Hulk Hogan (which isn’t a spoiler since he is pictured on the back of the case). I really can’t see anyone playing the season mode after they unlock all of the superstars unless you really want to see all of the wrestlers with belts on.

The main draw of this game, however, is the multiplayer mode. This is also what bumps the score of this game down to a seven. The multiplayer in this game consists of two player split screen action. Yes, for some strange reason, this is only a two-player game. Don’t get me wrong, the multiplayer in this game is still great fun, but this is definitely the type of game that should support four players.

The other part of this game that could really be improved is the presentation. The graphics in this game aren’t really bad but they are pretty bland. The cars look quite nice & the backgrounds are decent but the smoke & explosions could have been greatly improved. This normally wouldn’t matter at all to me but in a game that is based on explosions, they should look a lot better.

The sound in Crush Hour also suffers. The sound effects of the explosions & the guns are O.K. but could have been done better. There is also in game commentary by Raw play by play man Jim Ross. While commentary sounds like a good idea, the end result is something like:

“Rob Van Dam…. Has….. The Laser Guided Rockets”

There are a lot of horrible pauses in this game that makes the commentary sound like it is just pieced together (which I am pretty sure it was). The plus side is that I am pretty sure that it can be turned off in the options menu. The game also features comments by the superstars that you hear when someone is blown up. These comments seem out of place & you will probably end up just ignoring them. This game also suffers from the same audio problem that was in WWE Wrestlemania X8 for the Gamecube where some wrestlers feature horrible fake themes instead of their real entrance themes. This is probably due to licensing issues but while some of the fake themes aren’t that bad, they could have been better (like Hulk Hogan who should have been given his old “Real American” music instead of a really bad instrumental song). Overall, these problems can be easily solved with a CD player & the mute button.

While WWE Crush Hour does have its fair share of problems, they don’t change the fact that this is still a very fun game. If you can ignore the mediocre graphics & the poor sound, you’ll find a very fun game that is easily worth its very cheap price tag

Scores

Gameplay: 9/10
The controls are easy to learn & the numerous superstars & arenas make this a fun game.

Story: 7/10
The story is a little humorous but it is also kind of stupid.

Multiplayer: 6/10
This multiplayer is great fun but it should have supported four players.

Graphics: 6/10
Effects are bland and look like N64 graphics.

Sound: 4/10
The pieced together commentary & boring sound effects will make you reach for the mute button

Replayability: 7/10
Once you unlock all of the hidden superstars you will probably just stick to multiplayer.

Overall: 7/10
WWE Crush Hour is a fun multiplayer experience but offers little for a single player.

Buy or Rent:
If you like wrestling & car combat then there are worse things you could spend $20 on but for anyone else, this is probably a rental with a possible purchase later.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/03, Updated 04/05/03