The Avatar
23-03-2006, 05:40 PM
Legends of Wrestling is a game about wrestling. *GASP* NO WAY! I know, shocking, who would have thought it so? It centers on the good ol' days of wrestling, the days of Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, and my favourite Brett "the hitman" Hart. In this game you take the role of one of these characters and have a bash at the title. You can also create a customised character and use him in the game. This game features an arcade mode and a career mode. Each mode has multiple different fighting type in them like tag team or 2 versus 2.
Before each match, there is a huge fight intro, with each wrestler walking into the ring, followed by the referee introducing each one of the tools (ahem, I mean wrestlers). Then comes the pain! Actually, this is so much more true for the player rather then the game because as soon as it begins this game becomes a button mash frenzy. It doesnt matter if your hitting the correct button or not, because you soon lose interest, and enthusiasm for this game. I know this sounds very harsh, but read on, you will see how much this game really does suck.
GRAPHICS Score:15%
Woeful, that's all I can say here. This game would have looked standard ten years ago. Now, let me get this straight, this game was developed by Acclaim Studios, not some independent production without funding, so what exactly happened? Why are the graphics so lame? How can a huge software developer like Acclaim release such a graphically sub standard product?
I started considering the factor of quality control at this point.
SOUND/MUSICScore:30%
Annoying sound effects here, with the sounds of smacks and hammering out of sync of the movements. There is tired and old rock music when introducing the wrestlers and thats about it. Blah.
Quality control again lit up in my mind as anyone testing this game would have clearly seen and heard that the sound effects are way out of sync with the action. It could have probably been fixed then.
MULTIPLAYER Score:6%
Four player gaming can be found here. They used the word "mayhem" for it. I used the word "ostracizing" here, as if you invited some friends over for some "mayhem" gaming, and shoved this pile of manure into your cube, the end results would be losing your friends. Honestly, there are so many better four player games out in the world then this bastard.
I can state for a fact that quality control was never used for this game, as had four employees actually sat down and played this game, I seriously doubt that Acclaim would have even released it. I'm also sure that the programmers responsible for this job would have also gotten the crap kicked out of them by the four employees who had to play the game. Maybe this was why Acclaim didn't do any quality control? Maybe they wanted to avoid staff violence.
(RE)PLAYABILITY Score:1%
I bought it, played it for 2 minutes, and then it sat there collecting dust for around 3 months before I forced myself to put it into the cube (I swear, I heard my cube scream) to review it.
Unless you have a family member who may be a little suicidal and you want to give them a little nudge towards oblivion, stay away from this game.
Again quality control? Where is it? If someone had sat down and played this game, they would have thought afterwards: "Thank Crap that's over, I never want to play that game again!" And then said employee would have had a nice light bulb ping into existance above his head with the thought: "Hey, maybe we shouldn't release a game like this, as its so shit to play?". This whole tragedy could have been avoided.
CONTROLS Score:0%
If there was one part of this game that pissed me off the most, it would be the controls. Controlling a wrestler is impossible. In fact, I felt that I might as well have been holding a dead fish in my hands, as the controller was useless.
When playing the game, button mashing is the key to, not just one victory, but every victory in the game. Dont even try to move around the arena as the wrestler will respond so slowly that its not even worthwhile, and pressing away from an opponent will result in movement in every direction EXCEPT the direction you want (and are currently pressing) to go in. Pathetic attempt here.
I could rant about the woeful controls for so much longer, only 3 buttons to use?!? Punch, Kick and Special. Well, wont those make for a huge range of moves! Combo's? What the hell are they? It seems that all you do in this game is trade blows with one another.
But I must move on because the veil of red behind my eyes gets stroger each time I think about how badly designed this game is. This game makes me angry, and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry (cue hulk transformation music).
What were those magical words again? Quality Control.
ATMOSPHERE Score:5%
The crap graphics, the woeful gameplay and the horrible controls ruined any atmosphere this game had. At some point in the design phase of this game, a wrestling fan would have to have been present, if only to give out the names of the wrestlers used in this game. Im sure after he had said the names, the design team promptly shot him and them proceeded to urinate on his dead carcass. That's pretty much what I gleamed the atmosphere of this game to be.
If that wrestling fan wasn't shot in the design phase, then rest assured he would have had a stroke when quality control of the game came about and he was asked to test it. I'm sure afterwards, all the employees involved in the creation of the travesty would have come round and urinated on him anyway. Seriously, that's what this game is all about.
WEB INTERGRATION Score:0%
There is an official site, but it was down when I looked it up, the whole Acclaim site was down. I did however find heaps of reviews about this game on other sites, and found it very reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who found this game to suck.
OVERALL Score:8%
Stay away from this game. Even if you see it on special for nothing! If you are really desperate for a wrestling experience, then bang your head against the wall, as you will get more enjoyment from that then this woeful title. Acclaim should be ashamed by this lackluster effort. They go into the official Zgames Shame Game files. What's worse, this pile of horse dung has a sequel.
EDIT: Its been around a year and a half since I wrote this review, and suprisingly enough, there is a year and a half worth of dust on this game. Stay away from it at all costs!!
Before each match, there is a huge fight intro, with each wrestler walking into the ring, followed by the referee introducing each one of the tools (ahem, I mean wrestlers). Then comes the pain! Actually, this is so much more true for the player rather then the game because as soon as it begins this game becomes a button mash frenzy. It doesnt matter if your hitting the correct button or not, because you soon lose interest, and enthusiasm for this game. I know this sounds very harsh, but read on, you will see how much this game really does suck.
GRAPHICS Score:15%
Woeful, that's all I can say here. This game would have looked standard ten years ago. Now, let me get this straight, this game was developed by Acclaim Studios, not some independent production without funding, so what exactly happened? Why are the graphics so lame? How can a huge software developer like Acclaim release such a graphically sub standard product?
I started considering the factor of quality control at this point.
SOUND/MUSICScore:30%
Annoying sound effects here, with the sounds of smacks and hammering out of sync of the movements. There is tired and old rock music when introducing the wrestlers and thats about it. Blah.
Quality control again lit up in my mind as anyone testing this game would have clearly seen and heard that the sound effects are way out of sync with the action. It could have probably been fixed then.
MULTIPLAYER Score:6%
Four player gaming can be found here. They used the word "mayhem" for it. I used the word "ostracizing" here, as if you invited some friends over for some "mayhem" gaming, and shoved this pile of manure into your cube, the end results would be losing your friends. Honestly, there are so many better four player games out in the world then this bastard.
I can state for a fact that quality control was never used for this game, as had four employees actually sat down and played this game, I seriously doubt that Acclaim would have even released it. I'm also sure that the programmers responsible for this job would have also gotten the crap kicked out of them by the four employees who had to play the game. Maybe this was why Acclaim didn't do any quality control? Maybe they wanted to avoid staff violence.
(RE)PLAYABILITY Score:1%
I bought it, played it for 2 minutes, and then it sat there collecting dust for around 3 months before I forced myself to put it into the cube (I swear, I heard my cube scream) to review it.
Unless you have a family member who may be a little suicidal and you want to give them a little nudge towards oblivion, stay away from this game.
Again quality control? Where is it? If someone had sat down and played this game, they would have thought afterwards: "Thank Crap that's over, I never want to play that game again!" And then said employee would have had a nice light bulb ping into existance above his head with the thought: "Hey, maybe we shouldn't release a game like this, as its so shit to play?". This whole tragedy could have been avoided.
CONTROLS Score:0%
If there was one part of this game that pissed me off the most, it would be the controls. Controlling a wrestler is impossible. In fact, I felt that I might as well have been holding a dead fish in my hands, as the controller was useless.
When playing the game, button mashing is the key to, not just one victory, but every victory in the game. Dont even try to move around the arena as the wrestler will respond so slowly that its not even worthwhile, and pressing away from an opponent will result in movement in every direction EXCEPT the direction you want (and are currently pressing) to go in. Pathetic attempt here.
I could rant about the woeful controls for so much longer, only 3 buttons to use?!? Punch, Kick and Special. Well, wont those make for a huge range of moves! Combo's? What the hell are they? It seems that all you do in this game is trade blows with one another.
But I must move on because the veil of red behind my eyes gets stroger each time I think about how badly designed this game is. This game makes me angry, and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry (cue hulk transformation music).
What were those magical words again? Quality Control.
ATMOSPHERE Score:5%
The crap graphics, the woeful gameplay and the horrible controls ruined any atmosphere this game had. At some point in the design phase of this game, a wrestling fan would have to have been present, if only to give out the names of the wrestlers used in this game. Im sure after he had said the names, the design team promptly shot him and them proceeded to urinate on his dead carcass. That's pretty much what I gleamed the atmosphere of this game to be.
If that wrestling fan wasn't shot in the design phase, then rest assured he would have had a stroke when quality control of the game came about and he was asked to test it. I'm sure afterwards, all the employees involved in the creation of the travesty would have come round and urinated on him anyway. Seriously, that's what this game is all about.
WEB INTERGRATION Score:0%
There is an official site, but it was down when I looked it up, the whole Acclaim site was down. I did however find heaps of reviews about this game on other sites, and found it very reassuring to know that I'm not the only one who found this game to suck.
OVERALL Score:8%
Stay away from this game. Even if you see it on special for nothing! If you are really desperate for a wrestling experience, then bang your head against the wall, as you will get more enjoyment from that then this woeful title. Acclaim should be ashamed by this lackluster effort. They go into the official Zgames Shame Game files. What's worse, this pile of horse dung has a sequel.
EDIT: Its been around a year and a half since I wrote this review, and suprisingly enough, there is a year and a half worth of dust on this game. Stay away from it at all costs!!