Score: 70
Overall User Average: 7.20 / 10 (70.5%)
Gameplay User Average: 6.80 / 10
Graphics User Average: 6.80 / 10
Sound User Average: 6.95 / 10
xj74
Date reviewed: November 5, 2003.
Overall: This is a fun game that has good and bad qualities. It is definitely not a game that you sit down for the first time playing it and think to yourself this game rocks! No in fact it takes an hour or so of playing with the instruction manual sitting next to you to figure out all the moves otherwise I think one would just toss it aside and say forget it.
If you do give it a chance (rent it first, which sucks because the rental stores usually don't include any instructions) you might just end up enjoying it. I purchased it at half.com for the cost of renting it from Blockbuster so I didn't have much to lose. If your a hardcore wrestling fan that has been watching it since the early Hulk Hogan days then you'll have a good time with this game.
Gameplay: The gameplay is great after you figure out the controls and everything you can pull off like picking up objects (chairs, 2x4s, guitars) under the ring and beating the living tar out of your opponent.
The single player game which is called career mode is quite good and entertaining. You travel across the states winning belts and moving on to the next region. The multiplayer is fun also which can include up to 3 of your buddies going at it at once in 4 way battle or in a tag team match.
Graphics: Hmmmmm, the graphics......yes, well they just plain. The guys are big, real big but they look like plastic action figures and move like it too. The animation is good sometimes and downright awful at other times. Overall they look good and the action is more important in this game than the graphics but I would expect a silky smooth framerate for PS2ish graphics but when you get 4 people on sceen the framerate take some major hits that are just unacceptable. Not that the crowds are a big deal but they are pretty horrible, some 3d people up front with cruddy 2d sprites right behind them. There is an option to turn blood on which adds a nice touch if your into that sort of thing which was big back in the glory days of pro wrestling.
Sound: The sound is ok, it does the job but I'm giving it a 3.5 because it does let you use your soundtracks which not enough games allow.
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 50 %
Sound: 70 %
Floody_Style
Date reviewed: September 14, 2003.
Overall: OH WOW .... oh WOW you REALLY don't know how BAD this game is! I mean Ching Gow! I wouldn't take this for free! I wouldn't Give this as a gift to someone who was even a Wrestling fan! It blows big time!
Gameplay: WHAT Appeal? There is none WWF RAW is like a GOD compared to this.
The Wrestlers are ALL Designed Funny they don't move properly It's SLOW AS hell. Designing wrestlers HAHAHAHA this thing LITERALY threw a FIT! it went nuts when I was in the design a wrestler mode! I think this was A POOR SUPER LAZY develoed game! I am guessing the programers fell asleep and their Drool landed on the keyboard, that's how this game was Programed!
Graphics: OH WOW terrible like they wanted to show the worst side of XBox they possibly could. Like someone paid the programers to do this game by pressing their butts on the keyboards!
Sound: Like it even matters! I didn't notice ANY Sound because I WAS IN AWW of how terrible the game was! This is the worst game XBox has and they Charge over 50$ for it HAHAHA What a Joke!
Suggestions: Ya I have a suggestion, Be AWAKE when you Make games, well for XBox anyways I don't care when you sleep on any other playforms just BE Awake when Designing XBOX Games!!! This you SHOULD Have been FIRED For!
Don't you have people Checking your work???? Are these all WOMEN programers who can't Program so they Blow their Suppervisors to keep their jobs???? is this How this got through the cracks????!!!!
Overall: 30 %
Gameplay: 20 %
Graphics: 20 %
Sound: 20 %
ARONO129
Date reviewed: March 9, 2003.
Overall: This game is by far a better wrestling game than RAW. There is even a blood mode that adds to the excitement of the game. The caw is actually pretty good. The collision detection is excellent and there are many legends to choose from. This game is hugely underrated.
Gameplay: This game is a lot of fun. The controls take some getting used to but once you learn them it's not a problem. There should be more types of matches to choose from though. That's why I gave this category a 4 out of five.
Graphics: The wrestlers look cartoonish but I think the developer intended them to. The graphics are actually quite good. and of course there is no other Xbox wrestling game where you can turn the blood on. It's nice to see that the blood effect is not overdone.
Sound: You may ask why anyone would give 5 out of 5 for sound in a wrestling game. The reason is that you can play custom soundtracks during matches. It's a neat feature.
Suggestions: Add more types of matches for variety. The blood mode is a nice touch.
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %
Y2D
Date reviewed: January 2, 2003.
Overall: Being a huge wrestling fan, as soon as I bought my X-Box I wanted to hire this game to see if it was any good, and I'm not really dissapointed it is quite a good game, but strictly for wrestling addicts only.
Gameplay: Allright gameplay, a fair bit to keep you going and a custom soundtrack in create-a-wrestler mode was awesome but the controls were a bit off, and button bashing- owww!
Graphics: Probably the worst part of the game, the wrestlers all looked like they'd just got out of a swimming pool full of grease, plus they didn't move very well.
Sound: Custom soundtrack + a wrestling game = awesome, the sound was great and listening to all the old themes was great. The only bad part aboot the sound was that the entrances were too short so you didn't get to listen to much of the entrance music.
Suggestions: Try to make it more like RAW or RAW 2, with tons of wrestlers, make it look better and keep the custom soundtrack.
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 50 %
Sound: 100 %
thunder0810
Date reviewed: January 1, 2003.
Overall: the concept of this game is great LEGENDS OF WRESTLING but the game is very dissapointing in the end. and this is being said by a hardcore wrestling fan.
Gameplay: parts in the game werent too bad but overall dissapointing. Mostly the gameply. also all the unplayble charectors theres always hidden wrestlers in the game but there were too many in this one.
Graphics: the grpahics were great but theres also a downside to that. a lot of the wrestlers dont look like they really do in real life. the faces and some wrestlers are just tooooo buffed its like the wrestlers in the game took steriods.
Sound: i dont care about sound so ill give it a 4.0 for no good reason. the soundtrack could be better next time though.
Suggestions: yeah dont make a lot of players locked for #2 and throw in more match types (which they are doing for Legends Of Wrestling 2 availble now)
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 60 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 80 %
hiter101
Date reviewed: September 6, 2002.
Overall: not such a great wrestling game there are better choices out there. the graphics are kinda scetchy and the sound well the sound pretty much bites.
Gameplay: the gameplay is alright can be better kinda weird if u dont say so. like i said there are better choices for wrestling games.
Graphics: Graphics pretty much blow in this game they look all sketchy and stuff kinds remin you off wcw Vs the world for psx.
Sound: wellllllll the sound is not all that great you can live with it but if you wanna buy a game with great sound dont bye this one
Suggestions: fix the graphics
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 50 %
Graphics: 40 %
Sound: 40 %
MixMasta
Date reviewed: September 2, 2002.
Overall: This is a fairly fun wrestler with not much depth but enough to provide a few hours of entertaiment. Its better than Raw, but its not the best wrestler.
Gameplay: The gameplay i like any other wrestler. Fun and exciting at the beggining turns to more repetitve at the end. There is no, no, no, ladder matches or any type of those cool specialty matches.
Graphics: This game has the funniest looking graphics ever. The people look like plastic, and it provides some laughs. They are pretty much just bland, and ordinary next gen graphics.
Sound: The sound is ordinary too. Nothing special, but not bad either. It is cool how u can make you wrestlers entry music any song ripped on your hardrive.
Suggestions: Make some graphic tweaks, and add more match modes!
Overall: 70 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 80 %
mrmp3
Date reviewed: August 27, 2002.
Overall: I played LOW for PS2 and noticed the game was plagued by much clipping, glitches, and control movement issues. So once I heard the Xbox version fixed many little control problems I decided to try it out. The first thing that caught me by suprise was 6 man and 8 man tag team matches. I was astonished to see those in the Xbox version. I love the 6 man tag match but in the 8 man match the camera is zoomed out way too far for you to enjoy. Next, I noticed the movement problem was fixed, sort of. The guys move smoothly, yet they move so fast that u can literally run from one corner to the next in about half a second. Overall, LOW provides an outstanding multiplayer experiences for a month or so, but lack severly in it's single player and CAL departments.
Gameplay: I see what Acclaim tried to do with this ISP tie up spiel. And I love the idea,however this is nowhere near enough moves to keep me interested. For ex. No Mercy had 2 buttons (A and B) and it was possible to do 10 front and back grapples. In this you get about 3-4. I really can't stand seeing the same move so many times over and over. However, weapons save the day. Weapons basically add a ton of appeal (to me at least). Weapons make loud noises, dent, can be used for weapon oriented moves, and do something other wrestling games cannot do, make someone bleed. And trust me, you can mess up a wrestler's face pretty bad. There are so many cuts and it looks much more better than it did in the old ECW and WWF days. The blood also drips onto the mat. Now although the puddles of blood are the same circular shape (but not the same size), it still looks very cool. Another thing this game has SD! and WMX8 do not have is guys in the veggie stage. When you beat the crap out of your opponent, his !&%$@#* isn't gonna wake up for a while which gives you time to hit him with a weapons 3-4 times or do 2-3 moves before the person wakes up. There are no gimmick matches at all. I'm disappointed in this because many people wrestlers in that game have made the cage match classic *cough* Jimmy Snuka *cough* and made the once in but taken out before release, Scaffold Match, known by almost all wrestling fans *cough* Sabu *cough*. Speaking of which, he is in and is my favorite wrestler. However, I believe his moves do him no justice as his finisher now a days is the guillotine leg drop with the chair instead of the camel clutch. Speaking of chairs, weapons oriented moves are in this game. Merely press Y with the weapons your wrestler does his weapon oriented move with, and wham! you can do Russian leg sweeps with a signapore cane *cough* Sandman *cough* and the Van-daminator with mr. PPV R-V-D. I could seriously do these moves for hours as I love how almost everytime I do it guys bleed more and more. The career mode is interesting but not in depth. It doesn't keep me interested cause there is no story line and there are waaay too many matches. You gotta go after like 10 belts in one career. Although what's cool is the fact you can unlock moves for your wrestler. The CAL has a major problem. Having only one face to work with makes most if not all your creations look a like. None the less, if you get good with the create-a-stencil, you can make anything from eye rings to tattoos to face paint. There are lots of moves to choose from which is a major plus. AND, this game allows you to put in custom tracks for your wrestler. I was going crazy when Sandman actually came out to Enter Sandman (BTW, Sandman isn't in the game. He was just my CAL). This game also has in gamesoundtrack support (but for some reason XBA says it doesn't at the top of this page...odd) There is a tag-team co-op tournament mode thing where you can unlock about 4 wrestlers and is very fun until you unlock everything. All in all, LOW adopts a ton of great ideas, but didn't include the detail and polish to make these features great. I gotta feelin THQ is gonna steal half of them and polish them and make it seem like they invented it. Hope Acclaim beats them to the punch.
Graphics: LOW uses extremely huge characters. Hulkamania looks pretty much like he did in the old days, he looked like roid-o-mania. However, it appears almost, if not all, wrestlers have this big muscularness to them. I never remember Bret Hart or RVD being extremely jacked. As for the faces, everyone looks like themselves except a couple who have a slightly cartoonish look but none the less are close. The audience is 3d but it's not that hard when you have such a small arena. The arenas are not all that impressive. Animations are sometimes smooth and sometimes stiff but they always seem very simplistic i.e. when RVD does the van-daminator it looks like he skips from the frame of him about to jump to the frame of his foot on the chair. Like I said earlier cuts on the face look awesome and so do the puddles of blood. Again, it's decent, but with more detail and polish, it could have been tons better.
Sound: This is a mixed bag. The advice from managers in the career mode are very annoying and the animations with them talking are horrible (I thought only Italians used their hands when they talked :D . Apparently, Capt. Lou Albano and Jimmy Hart do too) In game sound effects are not that great. Impact of moves on the mat and outside are weak but chair shots and top rope moves sound tons LOUDER and better. The custom BGM's are pretty close for most people (i.e. LOD and Sabu). Again, more detail and polish was needed but it was needed more than ever in this department.
Suggestions: Don't make the guys move like a million MPH's when they run. Add more frames to the animations they look kinda sloppy at times. Fix all clipping problems. Add gimmick matches, and give me more faces to work with in CAL. Also give me a better career mode to play with a friend in tag-team or have 3-4 players on a team competing for 6 mand and 8 man tag belts. I think LOW 2 will be much more polished so keep working hard on it.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 60 %
RVD
Date reviewed: August 3, 2002.
Overall: Overall LOW was diassapointing. The highpoints were graphics and career, and the low points were in my opinon animation and sound
Gameplay: Ok the gameplay took alot of getting used to. The running moves were weak, and the grappeling system was (For me personally) complicated. One thing i greatly enjoyed was climing out of the ring and beating my oppenent senesless with a variaty a steel chairs, kendo sticks, and other assorted weapons.
Graphics: The game Looks fine. while a bit to "Meaty" the wrestlers really looking like there real life counterparts. However when they start moving around the weak animation really shows.
Sound: Errr what sound? all i heard was a grunt here, or a steel chair hitting this guy or that guy. no music that i heard and very little crowd noise.
Suggestions: Work on the animation, Give us some more complex striking moves. Explain the grappleing and countering system a bit better.
Overall: 50 %
Gameplay: 60 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 20 %
Marc
Date reviewed: July 28, 2002.
Overall: Legends of Wrestling does a great job of making you feel like you are in an old school environment. I watched Ric Flair beat Buddy Landell senseless in Greenville when I was a kid. I also saw him steal one from Kruscher Krushcev in my college gym. When I first popped in Legends of Wrestling, I got that old school feel that I felt at those matches. It kind of enamored me to the game just to feel those old feelings. I especially like the regional set up, where you start out fighting in one region until you win the title and defend it a couple of times. I liked the game more than I thought I would. Still, there are a lot of "legends" missing from the game.
Gameplay: The gameplay is nothing to write home about, yet it kept me playing for about eight hours, even after my friend stopped and went to bed. The moves aren't hard to pull off, but I have to confess I didn't manage to pull off all the available, yet limited, moves. The highlight was hitting the 5 star frog splash with RVD. One thing that adds a full .5 to the gameplay is the endless supply of weapons found beneath the ring and how easy they are to use. Overall, the gameplay is pretty basic and the moves are pretty limited.
Graphics: The visual appeal leaves a lot to be dedired. THe wrestlers look like badly drawn cartoons and are not anything like real life. I will say that the developers did a good job of capturing that "thick" look wrestlers have, they just overdid it a little. One thing I REALLY liked about the visuals was that after the match, you can tell how bad you destroyed the other guy by the damage on his face. Another thing that this wrestling game has that others need is blood. Still, I found the visuals sorely lacking.
Sound: I didn't really notice the sound. The announcer sounds old school, but he only talks before the match. The in game music must not be too bad, because I didn't notice it. However, it can't be that great for the same reason. The sound could be improved a great deal.
Suggestions: I felt like my score was a little high, but I enjoyed the time I spent playing the game. However, I wouldn't go out of my way to play it either. It needs more matches, modes, and wrestlers. The entire game needs to be reworked graphically if you plan on competing with the big boys.
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 60 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 50 %
Swerve
Date reviewed: July 28, 2002.
Overall: Legends Of Wrestling is a game that has a whole lot of potential to be one of the best. All it really needs is some more features. I've read about part 2 and it has all the features i was talking about.And on the xbox version it supports the soundtrack.
Gameplay: The game play is a new system that acclaim really needed for there wrestling games. The controls are great and fun especialy with the reversal system.
Graphics: Now the Graphics are up to bar on other game systems. But the xbox version could look alot better. These other systems don't have the power of the xbox.
Sound: NOW the sound is the highlight of the game. Xbox exclusive soundtrack baby. You can come out on your own toons on this xbox version.And the chair shots and punches are on the money 2.
Suggestions: Keep doing what your doing your on the way to something new and great.
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 100 %
The Source
Date reviewed: July 24, 2002.
Overall: Legends of Wrestling is an awesome wrestling simulation. it's fun, nostalgic, captivating, and a refreshing turn away from games based on WWE story lines, which are usually outdated by the time the game hits the market. Not that Raw was a bad game, I liked it allot and found it had pretty good replay value, but there are allot of characters in that game who were pretty unpopular and that most people probably forgot about by the time they bought Raw (i.e. haku, k-kwik, shaneomac, the old billy gun, etc.). Legends of wrestling brought back to life the famous and infamous wrestlers that made wrestling a cornerstone of American culture, guys like Ted Dibiase, George the animal Steele, Hulk Hogan, King Kong Bundy etc. Any fan of oldschool wrestling would certainly appreciate the LOW roster.
Gameplay: The Gameplay for LOW is very good. If you use RAW standards to judge LOW's gameplay, you'd probably think the gameplay was bad, at first I felt this way because I was playing RAW for the past few months and was used to the feel of the wrestler's movement, the speed, and the other physics of the game. When I played LOW for the first time I thought the way the wrestlers moved and threw punches were slow and unrealistic. But as I played on and learned how to use the grappling ISPs and The combo meters, moving around became more or less unimportant. The real challenge was properly using the combo meters. The combo meters where a great improvement over raw. This allows the players to reverse moves and to create combination attacks. I really like this feature, It adds a certain amount of skill into the game. Reversing moves in RAW was based largely on luck, LOW requires speed and skill to get the job done. The fact that the combo meter varies in speed and target size really gives you a discernable feeling of control over the game. The ability to hit a combo allows you to plan strategies for winning your match. This aspect of player control is one of the most important parts of a wrestling game and is really implemented well in LOW. In my opinion, the combo meters make LOW more interactive than RAW.
Graphics: The Graphics in LOW were quite different than RAW. RAW did a fabulous job of creating life like and outstanding depictions of todays favorites. The backgrounds and entrances were also a treat. Legends of Wrestling used a cartoon like and somewhat slapstick method of portraying it's wrestlers. I loved it. Acclaim did a wonderfull and truly creative job of recreating yesteryear's superstars in a way that not only captured the ambience of Wrestling's glory days but also personified the various personalities and gimmicks of the time. The colors where bright and the textures where shiny and rubbery. Someone else said that It was like they brought to life the old style wrestling dolls that were made out of rubber, remember those? I think that says it all. The fans , arenas, and referees were all excellent as well. You can even choose from a primary and secondary costume for your legend. RAW didn't have secondary costumes. Lastly one huge benefit of LOW is the blood option. What wrestling match would be complete without someone being busted open and spilling blood all over the map. It doesn't get any better than that.
Sound: The sounds in LOW where not bad at all. Although the entrance music for the wrestlers were not authentic, you can ripp your own music into this game and use it for the entrance. A feature that was disapointingly absent in RAW.
I did however find the generic entrance music very pleasant, they fit well with the wrestlers. Other great sound effects where the fans cheering and booing, the referee's voice, the weapon attack sounds, the wrestlers moan's and groan's and the voice of the managers when distracting the referee were very amusing. I found the wrestlers groans and such to be accurate and different from person to person, whereas RAW generally used two or three different voices. I also personally liked the menu music in LOW better than RAW, which used this annoying track when setting up a versus battle.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 60 %
SlightlySycho
Date reviewed: June 10, 2002.
Overall: If you've been looking for your XBox wrestling fix, wait for fall. You'll be getting sequels to RAW and Legends of Wrestling with more match types, more wrestlers, and (hopefully) refined engines. However, if you're a hardcore wrestling game enthusiast (raises his hand sheepishly) and you desperately need to cleanse your brain of the horrendous experience that RAW was (raises his hand emphatically) then, by all means, buy this game. It has its faults, but Legends of Wrestling is better than nothing if you can't wait.
Gameplay: First, the engine, which is actually quite good and could help secure the franchise's success with a little streamlining. The reveral system is much better than those used in THQ's games, which effectively have you flying blind (which I've found quite frustruating, particularly after the game reverses like five of my attacks in a row). When an opponent attempts to perfom a maneuver on you, a little slider will appear under your name. When it goes into the green area of the slider, you press the appropriate button (X or A) and reverse the move. There's also a combo system that works quite similarly. I do, however, feel that there should be a limit on the number of time a character can reverse a move in a row. You'll see what I mean when you attempt a body slam maneuver on someone; he'll reverse you into a gutwrench position; you'll reverse that with an elbow which puts you in the gutwrench position; he'll reverse that with his own elbow . . . I think you get what I mean. You'll throw elbows for like three minutes before somebody's timing is off. The green spot on the slider does get smaller with each successful reversal, but the slider often moves slowly enough to make a reversal quite easy despite of that. Otherwise, the system works splendidly for both reversals and combos.
However, there are some problems on the gameplay front. First, entrances. As opposed to a fixxed, pre-rendered entrance you can make your character taunt or appeal to the audience while he is on his way to the ring. While this is quite dynamic and innovative, it just doesn't come over well. The gameplay could also use some streamlining. I found it nearly impossible to tag (the "sweet spot" is either very specific or very random). I also found it quite difficult to perfom aerial maneuvers; by the time the game realizes that you want to climb the turnbuckle instead of stomp your opponent, he's just about to get up. Also the slider bar to reverse striking attacks doesn't always pop up. Another problem is that the game only allows you to perform your finisher after you've raised you "Attack Bar" (can't remember the actual name of it) high enough. Unfortunately, this always seems to happen at the halfway point in the match, so your finisher is hardly a finisher. Also, the create-a-wrestler mode doesn't seem to tell you how to perform the character's finisher. One final note: you have to move with the analog stick; the directional pad is used to call out to your manager/partner for assistance. But games like this are just better played with the directional pad, and you just never really get used to the analog stick.
There are a few neutral notes. As mentioned, you can call your manager to distract the referee. However, this doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose. There's no disqualfication or count outs, so the only way this could be helpful is near the end of a close match and your afraid you're going to get pinned. Speaking of weapons, you can actually pull off grapple type moves when you're holding a certain weapon type as opposed to just smacking them in the head. Given, they're all pretty similar (with the exception of the Vandaminator) and the maneuver doesn't really do much more damage than just smacking a character over the head with the weapon, but it's still a cool feature.
The create-a-wrestler feature is quite well fleshed out. Aside from the failure to tell you how to perform you finisher, it's quite good. You can choose from several body styles (as opposed to RAW's single body type), and clothing options are very diverse. The tattoos could use some work, however; they appear dead center on the body part. While this works for a character's chest and back, it looks funny on the arms and legs. You should be offered the choice of centering on the forearms on biceps. The move assignment is also pretty good. You can choose from several styles (grappler, high-flier, technical, or all-around). Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. Grapplers for instance can't do aerial maneuvers, but have access to all the tie-up and ready moves. Certain move slots are locked initially, but they (as well as more attribute and ability points) can be unlocked by advancing the character in career mode. You can make about twenty created characters in total (never counted). This will probably be enough for most people; however, I make alot of created characters. And they're really shouldn't be a limit on created wrestlers; the XBox's Hard Drive is huge.
Graphics: First and foremost, in Legends of Wrestling you have to realize that the character models aren't really supposed to be realistic; they're going for a somewhat cartoony appearance with their Legends. I'm sure that this will probably irk some individuals. However, I feel that this is better than attempts to make wrestlers look real and failing miserably (if you remember Wrestlemania from the SNES, you know what I mean).
The second thing you'll notice is that wrestlers have been give a little sheen for the XBox version. It's similar to what you see in King of Fighters (though not as intense). It looks pretty nice . . . on the Legends at least. The downside is that it also makes clothing shine too, which you'll notice if you make a created wrestler with some sort of upper body clothing. In this case, it looks pretty crappy.
The arenas are nothing to write home about. The audience looks somewhat better than RAW's cardboard cutouts, but the actual arena itself isn't quite as good looking. You do get more arena types though, but they're all carbon copies. It'd be nice if you could take fights into the backstage, but you can't do that in RAW either (no points lost their).
So, why did I give this category a five? Simple: BLOOD. Acclaim has always done blood effects in their wrestling games well, and Legends of Wrestling kicks it up a notch. Not only do character models actually bleed (they're wounds grow as they take more damage), but the models actual drip blood onto the canvas. The effect is similar to what you see in Ultimate Fighting Championship games, only the blood spots remain until the end of the match. It has to be the most beautiful representation of violence I have ever seen.:) That's what gives this a five.
Sound: I wouldn't necessarilly call the game's music "bad," just generic. The entrance music is sort of hard to hear. It would have been nice if they had recieved the rights to use the classic entrance music, but I'm sure that would have raised the price of the game in turn. The option to use custom soundtracks is a saving grace (particularly for entrance music). Unfortunately, the game seems to only play the first ten songs from the soundtrack, so I hope you picked good ones.
The wrestler voices, however, are just plain goddawful. They actually seem to be whining more than grunting. Some verbal taunts would have been cool too.
Suggestions: There's already a sequel in the works. You can read about it hyah: http://www.aressReleases/product.html
My suggestions? More match variety. They're off to a good start already. First Blood, I Quit, and Last Man Standing Matches would also be good additions. I'd also like to see some female legends. Given, I can really only think of two candidates (Fabulous Moolah and Medusa), but they're legends too. One last thing: a watch mode is a must in any wrestling game. It should be put in.
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 60 %
FlashL21
Date reviewed: June 8, 2002.
Overall: Great game, excelent presentation, but is rough around the edges. Could have been deeper in all aspects. Fighting was fun brought back vintage moves that you don't see today.
Gameplay: A little etchy. CPU reverse too easy and too often, even when you have beat the hell out of them. Should be more smack talking. Managers need to get smacked a little.
Graphics: Graphics are pretty nice. The wrestlers are almost perfect. The stadiums need a little work. The Entrances just plain sucked. Where is Hogan's "I am an American" run out song.
Sound: ANNOUNCERS. Come on where is The Brain and Gorilla. Got to get at least a two man booth. You can't really tell if the croud is with you or against you. Needs more chants. When Hogan fought Slaughter USA USA!! hat was a big part of wrestling. Without the fans, there is no wrestling.
Suggestions: More options in create a legend. Fan, Hulkamaniacs are a must have. Deeper fighting modes. A big part of wrestling back in the day and still now was the backs-stabbing. If there is a way to tie that in the career modes it would have a huge effect on the game. Trash talking, taunts, tag teams gone sour, managers going sour, the works. Oh yeah let me make a couple of HUGE suggestions. If you want people to buy part 2 you got to give thim what they want: ULTIMATE WARRIOR, LEX, FLAIR, ANDRE, HACKSAW, THE ROCKERS, BIG JOHN STUD, JUNK YARD DOG, JAKE THE SNAKE, MANCHO MAN, THE OLD STING, MR. PERFECT, AND A FEW MORE. These guys paid there dues and are loved by many fans show some respect and makethem a LEGEND.
Overall: 70 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 50 %
JRBoutit2002
Date reviewed: June 5, 2002.
Overall: This game is fun overall, The Create a Wrestler is pretty good and the game has a unique reversal system. The Entrance Music is corny, but the ability to use ripped songs as superstars entrance Music is really cool and you can even go back and change the legends theme music.There is a referee present in every match so they can be distracted by your manager while your tag team partner comes in and helps you whale on your opponent. The Create a Wrestler is pretty deep you can create almost any modern star or legend from HHH to Ultimate Warrior. If you are a wrestling fan deffinatly pick up this game it is the best availible on X-BOX and blows RAW out of the water.Until RAW 2 comes out next spring this will do for your wrestling game fix.
Gameplay: The gameplay overall is pretty good there is a good amount of different moves that can be done from each position. The reversal system is cool because you have to push the A button at the right time on the meter to reverse it. The only downfall is that when you run it feels like you are on a jetpack making it difficult to pull off running attacks. The Career mode is really cool you win different titles for each section of the US you win in, Your wrestlers popularity goes up after each match depending on how exciting it was, when you reach 100% You get a title shot.
Graphics: The visuals of the game are mediocre the wrestlers look somewhat like their counterparts but more like enlarged superheroes. You can control what your superstar does on the way to the ring (tagging fans, raising arms, ect.)The Blood in the game is really cool, it drips of superstars heads and stains the ring. Each superstar has their signiture moves. The coolest is RVD because he can do Rolling Thunder, Split Legged Moonsault,Vandaminator, and Five Star Frog Splash.
Sound: The entrance music for each superstar sucks, but the reason i rated it so high is because of the fact that you can put your ripped songs from the hard drive as your superstars music and that is including the legends. So you can ignore this, If the music really bothers you go buy the WWF the music CD that has some of the superstars songs and load them on there.
Suggestions: I suggest to Acclaim that they add more wrestlers such as Jake the Snake,Andre the Giant,Macho Man,Stone Cold, The Rock, and Many Others and also to add more match types, Like First Blood, Backstage Brawls, Royal Rumble. Also add full Entrances and more color options to the Create a Wrestler.
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 90 %
Maverickman
Date reviewed: May 31, 2002.
Overall: If you're a diehard wrestling fan like me you want to get your grubby paws on just about anything. RAW was a disappointment. Legends Of Wrestling isn't outstanding, but it does more then RAW and at this moment that's good enough for me. Although the gameplay is lacking, Diehard fans will get a kick out of it. If you love wrestling, Buy it. If you're a casual fan then rent it.
Gameplay: The gameplay is lacking and the manual that comes with the book doesn't give you all the info you need to play this game properly. After 3 hours of playing it by myself in 2 player mode I started to figure out how this thing works. It does have a very interesting Combo/Reversal system that is pretty easy to use once you figure out how it works. Like RAW, Unless you know the finisher of your wrestler, you'll have a hard time pulling it off. Legends Of Wrestling does have a rather interesting career mode with plenty of chances to win titles. It's lacking storyline wise but in the 70's and 80's who cared about storylines? Coolest in game feature is the ref. When you knock him out you get a "ref Bump" bonus. You can play as the ref and have all kinds of fun. I must admit that the cheating option is pretty nice too. You can have your manager distract the ref or call in a tag team partner. The only drawback, You can use weapons at any time even in front of the ref. If the cheating option worked correctly it would make using weapons and distracting the ref more fun. Gameplay modes include Vs Matches, 2,6,& 8 man tag team matches, Tourney Mode, Tag Team Title Tourney Mode, and Career Mode. You can choose from up to 42 Legends and as far as I can tell, there is no limit to the amount of wrestlers you can create. One big downside to gameplay is the arcadish nature of the game. The game speed is way to fast. When you run across the ring it's as if you have a jet engine strapped to your back. It makes running moves diffcult to pull off if you're even a tad bit slow on the buttons.
Graphics: Visually, Don't look for the wrestlers of Legends Of Wrestling to look super detailed like thier real time counterparts. Much like they where in the 70's and 80's, The wrestlers appear larger then life. Even blown up they don't look bad. The ring's and the arena's look pretty good and you do have a wide variety to choose from. One sweet Visual is the optional Blood mode. You can turn it on and let the bloodbath begin. You can even see blood dripping from the foreheads of the busted open wrestlers. In the Create a Legend deapartment, you can make just about anyone from Junkyard Dog to Kurt Angle. The mode is a tad bit deeper then RAW and it has a Stencil System so you can make your own logos. tattoos, and patterns.
Sound: Let me explain why I gave this such a high rating. The provided soundtrack that comes with Legends Of Wrestling is in two words, GOD AWFUL! The Ring announcer sounds like a reject from a Boxing promotion. It's Bad. The FX Sounds are the typical bumps and groans of most wrestling games. HOWEVER, You can use your own downloaded soundtracks with the game. You can even use them for your wrestlers music including the 42 superstars already in the game. When you go to the Creation screen you can pick Legends. It will load them and from there you can edit them. For instance, with the help of a few old WWF CD's I have Hulk Hogan come out to "Real American". Bret Hart comes out to his old WWF Music. I even created Kurt Angle. He comes out to hsi own current WWF music. Also in the sound department, when you create a wrestler, you can choose a first name, last name, nickname, and hometown all from a premade list. If you use premade names, the ring announcer actuall says them. The big suprise is that with the large variety of names, you can actually make Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, and even Junkyard Dog. That and the edition of using your own soundtracks is what leads to me giving sound such a high score.
Suggestions: My suggestion for Acclaim as they work on Legends 2. Add a choice of faces to the create a legend feature. Also add more hair styles, more color, MORE boots (as the current selection kinda sucks), Add more everything! One more thing that could use a tweak in this department, Allow for placement of stencils you make or the stencils already preload. It would be nice if you can move the logos where you wanted them. Also, Move the tattoos on arms up to the shoulder and move the wrist options down to the wrist...not the forearm. As for gameplay, Slow it down a bit and take some of the arcade feel out of it. Wrestling fans want wrestling, Not DOA 3 Fighting.
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 60 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 100 %