A couple of years ago, with the company's survival on the
line and mounting debt in the hundreds of millions (the
result of a foolish belief that big-time licenses + 16 bit
cartridges = great profits), Acclaim turned their act
around and acknowledged that they were following a
misguided business pattern that was pissing off gamers and
investors alike. Is Clinton about to pull an Acclaim on
the American public now that his "essence" maybe all over
Lewinsky's dress by acknowledging he lied when we waged the
finger at us back in February? And what kind of sick woman
keeps a dress full of "love stains" (anything to avoid
using the word semen..oops! :-O) unwashed as a collector's
item? OK, back to the regularly-scheduled Acclaim rant:
ever since acknowledging its sins, the company has banked
on N64 games for its return to profitability ("Turok",
"Extreme-G") and has struck gold. Although sales of
"Forsaken" and "Jeremy McGrath Supercross '98" for PSX
proves that Acclaim games are now selling well on PSX, they
hardly match the quality efforts of the N64 line-up.
That's when big-time developer Iguana comes up to the plate
and delivers one of the best American-developed wrestling
games ever programmed, with all the atmosphere and
visual/audio fireworks of the USA Network's #1 rated cable
show (in direct competition with TNT's "WCW Nitro" on
Monday nights). What the game lacks in its limited roster
(a dozen WWF stars, plus a handful of secret characters
which include a different-colored version of steve Austin)
it more than makes up with a mode that lets you customize
and create your very own monstruosity. And what little
glitches there are in the game (lackluster background and
loading times) are overshadowed by the sheer mayhem of
having two or four players slugging it out. Ultimately it
will be your feelings regarding wrestling and its leagues
(are you a WCW or a WWF man, or neither?) which will
Þdetermine how much enjoyment you get out of the game.
GAMEPLAY / FUN FACTOR: B
Different modes of play keep the game a fun frolic for all
involved: there's Tag Team (four players bitch-slapping
each other at once simultaneously), Challenge (get the belt
by defeating every opponent in a "season"), Weapons Match
(grab the closest TV/folding chair/baseball bat and beat
the crap out of your opponent), Training (select/create a
character, learn his moves, practice 'till you're a killer)
and Cage Match (you and an opponent inside a steel cage).
With a multi-tap up to four players can have fun in the
proceedings and there is enough variety in the modes to
keep the game fresh (within the limits of the "sport"),
although it should be noted that the N64 version will come
with a few 4-player exclusive modes not available on Sony's
grey machine.
IF you love the antics of Hart, Undertaker, Goldust, Austin
and Co. every week on TV, now you too can join in the wacky
antics of the "sport" that (along with "Rugrats" reruns on
Nickelodeon) tops the weekly cable TV Nielsen ratings
regularly. Is this a great country or what (sigh)?;
atmosphere is king, and "Warzone" (besides the generic ring
and pixel-fest crowds) has it by the bucketload. The
characters all have their trademark moves (or so I heard,
because I don't watch wrestling on TV; it conflicts with my
CNN/MSNBC/CNBC viewing schedule on that "other" burlesque
spectacle known as the Clinton presidency, but I digress),
and the ability to create up to thirty unique wrestlers
that could be saved to the memory card make this a game
with endless replay value. Who wouldn't want to create a
300-pound, red-skinned, tattoo-filled monstruosity out of
your worst hang-over nightmare? Or a "Santo" lookalike
from the Mexican Federation with the stamina and agility of
an Ahmed Johnson?
The controls and set-ups in the game are OK, but still have
that "lagging" feel that is often associated with other
wrestling games; they are fluid and do the job, but lack
the split-second precision of a "Tekken" or a "Street
Fighter II" because the real-life matches aren't entirely
believable to begin with (understatement of the year!).
Every button in the pad is being used, and the sheer amount
of potential actions (kick, punch, block,run, climb the
rope, slide left/right, and the tie-up) combined with the
meter that determines if your wrestler attacks, gets dizzy
and/or pins the guy down and the many possible combinations
(are you holding/attacking/throwing?) makes the game a
bitch to control when the on-screen antics demand immediate
button commands. To Acclaim's credit the game is a blast
regardless of what style (inputing commands or button
mashing) the player chooses, although the time me and a pal
spent wacking each other always ended up with a mindless
attempt to yell and taunt the other player into
distraction; just don't expect another "Tekken 3"-like
experience from a wrestling game.
GRAPHICS / VISUALS: B+
If the crowds weren't such an eyesore of naked pixels (when
are we going to get another cool crowd watching a "sport"
like in "Slam & Jam" or "Wrestlemania"?), and if there were
more variety to the fighting stage besides the 'blah' ring,
"WWF Warzone" would have reached a much-deserved 'A'. The
much-touted motion-capture studio that Acclaim sank a ton
of money into years ago finally hits paydirt with the most
realistic-looking and moving characters I have ever seen in
an Acclaim game (much better than "NFL Quarterback Club
'98" or "Turok"). Add to it the create-a-wrestler option
and you have a license to get wacky with the tools
developers use to design the games; select masks, skin
tones, outfits, weight distribution, agility, moves, etc.
and make them look as colorful or muted as your heart
desires. The Menu/Option screens are somewhat lackluster
and unpolished compared to other games, but the simplicity
and bare-bones look works to the game's advantage by
following the KISS theory (Keep It Simple Stupid), which
may not be a bad idea when you consider the target audience
Acclaim and the WWF usually appeal to (schwing!).
The textures on the polygon characters are a tad on the
soft-skinned side, but the game's close-to (but not quite)
high-resolution and constant 30 frames-per-second (a tad
less when two or more players are roughing it out; could
that be the reason why there isn't a ref on the game, to
keep it moving fast? Mmmphh!) are more than enough to
pronounce the WWF League a winner of the graphics showdown
against THQ's "WCW World Tour" and "WCW Nitro" (PSX). For
kicks, the PSX has exclusive FMV cinemas of the wrestlers
taunting you and showing their stuff (in the very average
intro sequence) that is not available on the N64. Beware
that the loading times, though not as bad as those in other
games ("BattleSport", "Mass Destruction") are somehwhat
lengthy and could be a potential mood-killer. Did I
mention you can create your own wrestler??!!
MUSIC / SOUND EFFECTS: B+
The two-man commentary by authentic WWF announcers and each
wrestler's authentic entrance music (don't ask me their
names or the songs, because as I said before, I don't watch
this stuff in my spare time; too busy watching "The Secret
World of Alex Mack" and reading stuff to keep up with a
fake "sport") gives an air of authenticity to the
proceedings, besides being damn funny and nearly on-target
most of the time; when the Undertaker is taking it in the
chin, MacMahon is sure to call attention to it no more than
a few nanoseconds after it actually happens.
When the wrestler actually enters the arena, the music is
precisely mixed with the crowd so one won't come out louder
than the other (just like a professional TV broadcast); if
your wrestler is a punk and the crowd dislikes him, they
can be won over by your ring actions or they can grow even
more restless. You'd have to get a FIFA game from EA
Sports in order to get a crowd that is as tuned with the
field action and interactive with the participants as "WWF
Warzone"... but the proximity of the gladiators with their
fans is what gives the "sport" and hence the game a better
feel of authenticity, right? (I'm grasping for analogies
here folks; please forgive my lack of knowledge about the
subject matter of the game that I rented but that is based
on a "sport" I'm trying to pretend I know jack about).
OVERALL: B+
The ultimate complement I can give Acclaim, Iguana and the
WWF Wrestling league is that I had fun playing their silly
little game despite being illiterate about the characters
and/or the whole battle with the WCW and other leagues. Me
and a friend only have seen a couple of WCW and WWF
matches, along with the always-good-for-a-laugh Mexican
wrestling seen on cable's Galavision, and to be honest are
quite unable to put our finger on the whole booming
wrestling phenomenon that has made the "sport" take off
like a rocket in recent years.
But if everyone's happy and loves "WWF Warzone", no harm
and/or foul shall come between us and the stacks of cash
Acclaim is making from this overhyped game: gamers love it,
the press loves it (look at all the raves), retailers love
it, WWF officials and wrestlers (who get a cut of the
profits) love it, Acclaim stockholders love it, etc. I bet
the only one not loving it is the guy who wishes he could
prove once and for all who's boss in a winner-takes-all
bout: WWF's "Stone Cold" Steve Austin or WCW's "Hollywood"
Hulk Hogan. Then again, that guy probably has spent
half-a-day creating his own version (complete with
trademark moves) of Hogan on the create-a-wrestler mode of
"Warzone". A must-rent for non-wrestling fans!
