Wrestlemania: The Game review by Joe DeRouen

WWF Wrestlemania
by Joe DeRouen

Okay, I admit it; I love professional wrestling. I've watched it since I was eight years old, I've been to live matches countless times, I subscribe to The Wrestling Torch newsletter, and I know if it's fake or not. (But I ain't telling!) Needless to say, I was excited to receive Acclaim's WWF WRESTLEMANIA: THE ARCADE GAME in the mail.

Unfortunately, my excitement at playing it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong; it's a great game. The VGA graphics are lively, exciting, and fast-paced. The gameplay is pretty decent, too. Even though three of the eight wrestlers it offers are no longer with the organization (Lex Luger, Doink, and Razor Ramon) it does portray all of the wrestlers extremely well and gets their moves down perfectly. So why was I disappointed?

Because (and some of you will probably see the irony in this) it wasn't as realistic as I'd hoped. There's no referee to count pinfalls, when wrestlers are hit they "bleed" cute things (hearts come out of Shawn "The Heartbreak Kid" Michaels, for example), and each wrestler has a "special" move that totally blows away any realism the game might have had. Lex Luger, for example, can turn his hand into a huge mace if you hit the right key combinations; Doink the clown's special move is a joy buzzer that shocks his opponents senseless. While these things probably make the violence a little less so for kids (and thus more socially acceptable for their parents), it just tends to annoy grown up wrestling fans.

The game could have been so much better if Acclaim had left these little "extras" out and maybe added a referee to count pinfalls or added tag team match ability. The thing I was most disappointed in, however, was the lack of SVGA graphics. WWF Wrestlemania could have been literally a graphics bonanza with SVGA; as it is, even though it does sport digitized graphics, it just falls short of the standard set by some of the other fighting games out there like FX Fighter and (also by Acclaim) Mortal Kombat III.

Despite these flaws, I've enjoyed the heck out of this game. As I said, I've been a wrestling fan since I was a little kid; any wrestling game catches my eye, and this one is far from bad. If you're at all into wrestling, you'll probably enjoy pitting Shawn Michaels, Bret "Hit Man" Hart, The Undertaker, Yokozuna, and the rest against each other in battles for the Intercontinental and World titles, just like I did.

WWF Wrestlemania can be found at most big software stores for around $30. Requirements include a 486SX/25 Mhz machine or better, VGA graphics, a CD-ROM drive, 17MB hard drive space, and DOS 5.0 or greater. The game is Windows 95 compatible, and a sound card and game pad is highly recommended. Acclaim, 516/624-9300.

SIDEBAR:

If you're really into wrestling, you should check out Oliver Copp's TNM wrestling game. It's an all-text game, written for DOS in Quick Basic. In all honesty, it's the most real realistic wrestlig simulator I've ever seen. Check it out via Oliver's World Wide Web page at http://www.fh-landshut.de/~lyger/. No true wrestling fan should be without this simulator!

Joe DeRouen is a staff writer for Computer Currents Magazine. You can write to Joe at Computer Currents, via Sunlight Through The Shadows BBS at 214/620-8793, on the Internet at jderouen@crl.com or jderouen@airmail.net, on AOL via jderouen, or through CompuServe at 73654,1732. Be sure to stop by and check out Joe's World Wide Web Home Page at http://www.crl.com/~jderouen/ while you're traversing the Web!

(c) 1996 Joe DeRouen. All rights reserved.

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