WWE Road to WrestleMania X8

"Better than the WrestleMania"

Last year, THQ cooked up a huge dissapointment, the WWF Road to WrestleMania. From that day, I swore to god I would never ever waste my money on another GameBoy Advance wrestling games. Unfortunately, my uncle got me the WWE Road to WrestleMania X8 for the christmas present to add it to my wrestling games collection. I didn't play it for week or so but when I got bored to death, I decided to give it a chance. This game got my little interest. Now onto the review:

Graphics: 9
Now you're probably wondering why I gave such a high score to a graphic like WWF Road to WrestleMania's. Well don't be jumping to the conclusion because wrestlers are now actually 3D not pixel graphics. They're also really smooth. Their finishers look like ones in the real life. UnderTaker's Last Ride for example. He puts his opponent's head between his legs and looks around the crowd and raises the opponent into the air and pulls the pants and slams hard againt the mat. It's just RVD's 5 Star that has to be concerned. He doesn't stretch himself in the air, it looks like it's just a body press. The crowds are still 2D, and holding same signs, but I won't get into that so much since it just really is for GameBoy Advance anyway. Also, when you run and try to kick your opponent's face off with Test(or Taker and Kane)'s big boot, you need exact timing and position so that it actually hits. If you don't you'll just be running around dancing. Overall, really good job on the graphics.

Sound: 5
Agh, I can't stand the battle music and the sound system in this game. The battle music is really annoying in my opinion. I know I know you are saying ''well why don't you just turn it off?'' Well sure if I want an entrance without the theme music. Yes if you turn off the battle music, you won't be able to hear the entrance theme until you turn the battle music on and the only way to do so is in the match. On the other hand, the themes are really well done. UnderTaker has updated music (the one that says ''Deadman Walking..''before a rock music comes in), Edge has his ''Never gonna stop'' theme and RVD has his ''One of a kind'' theme and all the other wrestlers have their own. There are no voice except the beginning like The Rock's ''If you smelllllllllllll'' quote. But we don't really need them as long as we have the music especially for GameBoy Advance right?

Control: 7
Well well well. The biggest (I think) dissapointment in the previous WWF Road to WresleMania. Moves are easier to pull off in this game (one of these where you have to grapple first and press buttons) but it still kinda sucks because you have to press A+B at exact same time (Why can't they just use select button since there's no job for it?)to pull off the finisher. So you will probably find yourself just keep body slamming your opponent all the time. Thank god the special bar doesn't go down as fast as it does in WWF No Mercy(Nintendo 64). When you try to flip the opponent, sometimes you wake your opponent up and when you want your opponent on their feet, you flip them because you're basically using same button. It's kind of random.

Gameplay: 7
All I have to say about the career mode is just win win and win matches. No story. But the types of the matches are awesome. Not as good as the SmackDown ones(PS1, 2) but it's enough for GBA. It includes cage, elimination, 4 way, triple threat, Lumberjack, ironman and 3stages of hell. You can create your own pay per view too. Royal Rumble and Gauntlet are kind of same as one wrestler comes in when you defeat one. Yes one by one.

Rosters: 6
There are only 15 wrestlers. They also took someone very important out!!!!!!Well just play the game and you'll see.

Repliability: 7
Well I know it's not like adventure game or something, but you have to defend you title once you win it.

Buy or rent?
Well it decides on if you have money or not. If you have extra money and are a wrestling fan, you should buy it. If you don't have money and are a wrestling fan, rent it first. If you don't have money and are not a wreslting fan, you wouldn't want to do anything about this game at all. Well it's all up to you. I promise that this game won't let you down as it did (I think) in WWF Road to WrestleMania.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/03, Updated 01/10/03