PREVIEW: WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania (360/PS3)

Scribbled on March 10th, 2009 by Matt Jo
Filed in Microsoft Xbox 360, Previews, Sony PlayStation 3, Sports

WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania lets us travel back in time to relive the greatest moments in wrestling history. Play as the Hulkamaniac Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and more.

I begin this review saying that I am in fact a huge wrestling fan. Yes, I know it’s fake. And I understand that it involves grabbing a guy in tights. So let’s get past the gay jokes and see if this game is worth buying.

Available in the demo are the Single Match game mode, where we can choose to be either Hulk Hogan or Andre the Giant. The second mode, Relive, lets the player reenact famous moments in wrestling history.

I began with Relive.

We are introduced to the infamous Rock vs. Steve Austin with the video that depicts the moments that led up to the fight. We are then shown the objectives of the match. If these are completed, then Gold is earned, presumably to purchase unlockables in the retail game. I then entered the ring as Steve Austin, ready to beat The Rock into submission.

The matches begin with the familiar facedowns, seen in past WWE Smackdown vs. Raw games, where a button press will decide how the match begins. The gameplay runs rather smoothly. Different variations of mashing X cause certain punches, while A grapples the opponent. There are also some sequences that involve quickly pressing the button that appears on-screen to put your opponent into a submission. Also, pressing all face buttons at once until the yellow circle fills up is how to get up and defend pins. I must admit that I lost my first match, and the controls take some time to get used to.

Next I ventured over to Single Match. I chose to use Hulk Hogan over Andre because I favor speed over power. Plus, Hulk has a hot daughter. But that’s another story. With a little experience under my belt, I easily disposed of the giant. Without having to worry about the odd controls helped me enjoy the game a bit more.

The graphics of this game don’t impress me any more than all the other 360 wrestling titles. Although the motions seem a bit smoother, I still encountered a lot of jumping and popping into place by the characters. It would take a lot of work to make the graphics of this game impress me.

The premise of this game is still pretty cool. Taking all the best wrestlers from the past and throw them all into the ring sounds like a lot of fun. The only problem is its presentation. I still find the gameplay fun, but it’s a bit complex. I honestly wanted a decent wrestling game, but Legends follow the same generic trend of most other WWE games. For that, I award it a 6/10.

The Good

1. Amazing roster full of memorable wrestlers
2. Relive is a nice feature
3. Slightly better motion graphics than past WWE games

The Bad

1. Too much jumping and popping in of characters
2. Unimpressive visuals
3. Complex control scheme

The Ugly

1. How many steroids did Hogan take to be able to lift Andre over his head?

(Review by: Brandon Van Landuyt. Originally posted at G3.)

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