"A good game for hardcore wrestling fans."

Intro:

WCW: Mayhem is a port of the console version that was on the Sony Playstation and the Nintendo 64. The console version was a very realistic wrestling game with good graphics and great commentary. But it's strange that the GBC version is the opposite. Im not saying it's a bad game, it's just that unlike the realistic console version, the GBC version is very cartoon-ish. But that doesn't mean it's a bad game. There's still some fun to be had in WCW: Mayhem. Plus, it's the first handheld wrestling game to have backstage areas to fight in. This game is in the step in the right direction.

Graphics:

The Wrestlers in the game are, like I said, very cartoon-ish. They have big heads with such a small body. But they are very colorful and recognizable by the way they were created. It does bring some charm into this title. The wrestlers have their own gear on, so they never look alike. The ring is in a side view with the crowd watching from behind(like past titles on the Gameboy). The ring is very colorful and, just like the wrestlers, very exaggerated. They made it very big and the wrestlers still fall out very easily. The crowd looks okay and they move as well. There are two backstage areas in the game. The Locker Room is in black & white with a little recording icon on the top left to make it look like you're watching through a security camera. And then there's the Back Alley, which looks very impressive. These are graphics are better than most handheld wrestling games and do beat Wrestlemania 2000 in some areas.

Gameplay:

The gameplay in WCW: Mayhem is very simple, and is mostly button mashing. All the wrestlers have the same moves(except finishers). When the match starts you have a punch(A), a kick(B) and if you press both A and B, you grapple. The moves are very basic and very limited. If you mash 'A up' you perform a Suplex, 'B Down' you do a Piledriver, and if you mash the START button you do a Atomic Drop. SELECT is the pause button in this game. Those limited moves are very exaggerated in a comical way. A Suplex will toss your opponent out of the ring no matter what. And for the Piledriver you jump, like, ten feet up in the air. The Atomic Drop is the only normal looking move in the game. There are running moves like a drop kick and a shoulder block. The backstage areas give a refreshing atmosphere to fight in and you could do some unique maneuvers like jump off the top of a locker or climb a ladder to the top of a dumpster. To perform a Finisher, your opponent needs to have their life gauge low, and when they're dizzy you have to press a button combo to perform their finishers. The wrestler's finishers are very inaccurate. Each wrestler's finishers is just a extended version of some grapple move. Such as Goldberg's "Jack Hammer" is just a punching & kicking combo, finishing it off by sky rocketing up to the air with a Atomic Drop, and they pin automatically after that. You can also pin without performing your finisher, as well. It may not be their real moves, but they're fun to watch. Another good thing about WCW is that the crowd sometimes throw weapons in the ring or in the backstage areas. You can also taunt your opponent by pressing START. The play modes are also limited. They are as follows: Quest For The Best- beat every wrestler(including yourself) to win the championship, 1 Player- you vs. com, 2 player- you vs. friend(link cable), and Options- turn off sound, music, or weapons. The roster contains 12 wrestlers: Sting, Goldberg, Hollywood Hogan, Kevin "Big Sexy" Nash, Randy "Mach Man" Savage, Diamond Dallas Page(DDP), Bret Hart Bam Bam Bigelow, Ric Flair, Buff Bagwell, Lex Luger, and Booker T. It's hard to tell who's in the nWo Black & White and in the nWo Wolfpack, since when the game came out, a lot of people were switching factions.

Sound:

The music is average at best. With only, like, two songs that play through out the game. The wrestler's grunts sound okay and the sounds of the wrestlers hitting the mat are okay as well. There's not much in the sound dept. for this game.

Conclusion:

For EA Games first wrestler on a handheld, they did a pretty good job. And left room for improvements. It's too bad WCW folded a year after the release of this title. It did bring some new things to portable wrestling games such as backstage areas(something that wouldn't happen in a handheld wrestling game until Smackdown vs. Raw 2006, five years later!) and breakable weapons(ECW: Hardcore Revolution for GBC was the first to have weapons in handheld wrestling games, but didn't break and were outside of the ring only). This game, even though it lacks some fundamentals, is in the step into the right direction. If only WCW stayed around for a little longer.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/07