WWE WrestleMania 21

Written by Glenn Wigmore  on April 27, 2005

Review: In the words of good ol' JR, this game is like a "one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest."

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Still, Wrestlemania 21's biggest problem is the way that the grappling system and motion-captured animations tie togetherЕerr, don't tie together. When attacking your opponent, you'll have four different grapples (quick, strong, specialty, submission), as well as strikes, situational grapples, and flying attacks. The problems arise from the motion-captured animations that each wrestler has been designed with, and how the animations are forced to Уplay out,Ф causing many frustrating sequences and one-sided matches. The plainest example of this comes from the flow in a singles match, of which there really is none. Basically, one person can essentially lead off the match with a strike, then a quick grapple slam, and then a power move Ц end of match. Well, not quite, but it more or less is, due to the mo-cap animations that cause you to watch helplessly as your wrestler struggles to gain his footing and you're essentially at your adversary's mercy; this plays out the same when you are beating down the CPU as well. For this reason, most matches (especially singles) don't last much longer than a few minutes. In fact, things often get so one-sided that wrestlers end up УoversellingФ moves, which really hinders any sort of flow the game could've had. Now I'm all for area-specific damage on a body, and selling of power moves, but when I'm using Kane and he's taken a few power moves a couple of minutes into a match, and then proceeds to take a full minute to get up, there is obviously something wrong; literally, it took me 15 seconds to writhe around in pain, another 10 to 15 seconds to push up off the mat, and then another 10 seconds or so to stand dazed on my feet. None of this would be such an issue if there was a proper countering and reversal system in place, but since the existing system concentrated more on УcoolФ animations and style, there's not much functionality to it. You'll get the chance to reverse any strike or grapple, as indicated by a small blip below your player's status icon. By pressing the corresponding trigger fast enough (R for strikes, L for grapples); you'll be able to counter the move(s). However, the issue here is that while the strikes can be occasionally countered, the grapples are next to impossible since the blip comes up so fast that you are basically guessing as to when to press, especially since you have to quickly identify the move being applied, since the reversals are situation specific to each move. Some people may say that you need to really study each move to get down its reversal timing, but with the gameplay being this bad, it's not really feasible that someone would take the time to learn every situation of every move and when they should be pressing a button; even knowing the situation doesn't guarantee that they'd get the reversal. Add to all of this the fact that grapples and strikes are somewhat sluggish to initiate and you can see where this game can truly provide some one-sided beatdowns.

Speaking of one-sided beatdowns, look no further then a TLC/Ladder match to witness this in practice. I will outline the steps needed to procure yourself a title belt that hangs above the ring: first, smack your opponent with a strike move; secondly, apply two or three grapple moves (pick some moves with style, as the match will be over soon); third, go outside the ring and grab the ladder, then come back in and smack your opponent; finally, set up the ladder, climb it and retrieve the belt. YAYY!!! World Champion!!! Apparently, it's just that easy, as the opponent is so dazed from the ladder shot that he honestly has no way of stopping you. The animations are chiefly to blame, but the limited move selection to bring down the ladder is also a culprit Ц No Mercy ladder match, where are you? In fact, get that whole damn game portedЕ NOW! Frankly, any time a match can end in a minute, there's something really broken in the game. Other gimmick matches fair slightly better (like the Royal Rumble and Hell in a Cell), but since the other aforementioned gameplay flaws still present themselves, it's still a frustrating or boring affair. The omission of 3- and 4-player gimmick matches (TLC, HIAC, Ladder) is definitely puzzling, as well.

One of the few areas to show promise in this game is the Career mode, which allows you to create a superstar and take him (no girls allowedЕ nice work, Studio Gigante) through the pitfalls and plateaus of the WWE scene. You'll make your way through the various weekly shows (Velocity, Smackdown, RAW) and also participate in Pay-Per-Views. The strong part about this mode is the cutscenes and dialogue, as many superstars and personas have actually recorded some good stuff to make the storyline believable. In fact, there's some really cool stuff involving backstage beatings, in-ring interviews, and pre-match jawing Ц it's actually pretty well done. Still, the big issue is that between all of these mildly entertaining cinematics is the hideous gampelay. Fortunately most matches are singles matches, which helps a tad, but it's still not very fun, especially the tag matches with the AI being truly abysmal. Oh yeah, what's with the single voice option for the character that you control? It's extremely silly when you create an African-American character and they act befuddled by Smackdown GM Teddy Long's street speak Ц I guess the developers expected most to play as Caucasians? It wouldn't have been hard to lay down a few more voice tracks here. I will say that this Career mode is something Studio Gigante should focus on (if they get the next game's assignment), as it has the foundation to be quite strong.

There are also creation features within the game, which chiefly center around unlockable moves, clothes, and items from the WWEShopzone. You'll have a fairly robust list of tweakable settings for your created persona including options for their head, upper body, lower body, hands and feet. Admittedly, the settings for the face and body type aren't that great, as you'll often get similar looking grapplers who all have six-packs and similar heads. This is also the case for clothing, as the options are somewhat limited at first, and are only slightly improved by the unlockable items, which require far too much money to unlock Ц especially in lieu of the shoddy gameplay. Championship belts can also be created, and you can unlock various plates and studs to use on them. The idea is that you can defend these belts online and build up their prestige, but this system is definitely embryonic and in need of some adjustment for any future rendition.

In regards to said online play, it's once again a catch 22: the gameplay trumps the potentially cool feature. Once the online mode is enabled via patch, you'll get to use the game's plain-looking interface for QuickMatch, OptiMatch, and Create-A-Match features, plus friends lists, voice messaging and online options. Most match types can be played online, but even so, the gameplay is a major stumbling block. The thing is though, even if the gameplay was decent, the lag online is quite noticeable and affects matches dramatically. Moves will be delayed even further and reversals are almost impossible with no visual indicator and floaty timing. I actually experienced quite severe lag, even with someone I play with all the time in other games Ц plus I have a 5 Mbit down and 1 Mbit up connection Ц so I don't know what was going on there. I've heard others have faired better, but it still shows a lack of polish when any sort of distance creates unplayable lag.

The visuals for Wrestlemania 21 are about the only strong suit for the entire game. Wrestlers look accurate and detailed, with clothing, muscle tone, and hair all looking very real and believable. Additionally, the arenas and crowd are truly gigantic and do manage to create a rabid atmosphere for the matches as you watch the superstars enter the ringЕ too bad the action blows from that point on. Blood coming off the wrestlers also looks quite real, and even has different stages of severity as more damage is inflicted. Animations for the various moves, finishers, and reversals are all quite good, and most seem authentic, with a few of the usual exceptions and omissions present. But, while the animations do look good, they do still provide problems, as said, for the actual gameplay Ц hand drawn would've been the way to go here.

The game doesn't embarrass itself in the sound department, but it doesn't light the ring on fire either. You have the requisite licensed music for all of the superstar entrances, plus the ability to burn your own song into a custom entrance Ц a feature that is puzzlingly locked when the game is first put in. Other menu and game music is standard fare, with generic rock beats and riffs filling some gaps. The effects are alright for the combatants themselves, but the crowd does get awfully quiet during some of the matches and is only (somewhat) effective during the entrances; some more rising and falling crowd reactions would've gone a long way to filling the eerie silences present in many matches.

So there you go: Wrestlemania 21 is not the game Xbox owners wanted to have spinning in their consoles for the foreseeable future. I, like many others, was very excited about the possibility of dramatic online title defenses, refined gameplay, and true WWE style and presentation, but this game only (maybe) delivered one of those. You'd think THQ (and its hired developers) could get one of these games right after the past five years, but apparently the wait goes on. Sorry fans, but this is not a game worth picking up Ц wait until the next generation.