In the past, the official WWE games that have been released for Nintendo’s cubic console haven’t been as good as they really should have been. Was it not for the exhibition mode in Wrestlemania XIX, you would hardly have known that you were playing a ring-based fighting game, since most of it took place it parking lots and such. THQ and Yuke’s are back to redress the balance between the Cube and the other consoles, and WWE Day Of Reckoning contains more than you would expect.
Die-hard fans of the N64’s WWF No Mercy (such as myself) have been crying out for a title that takes the fighting engine from that game and brings it up-to-date, and the first thing you’ll notice about WWE Day Of Reckoning is that no game has come closer to achieving that feat. “Light” and “Heavy” grapples and strikes are available depending on the length of your button press, whilst finishing moves are activated with a “Special Taunt” and are then pulled off by pressing the grapple and strike buttons together. Familiar so far’ Well, what isn’t familiar is the funky story mode.
Day Of Reckoning doesn’t allow you to take your favourite wrestling superstar and put them through their paces in the story mode, since that would just throw the game’s world upside-down. Why would Triple H or The Undertaker suddenly become a nobody and have to build their career from scratch, whilst their enemies are already at the top of the profession’ So, to get into the story mode, you must create a character and build his or her career from scratch. And when I say from scratch, I mean from scratch. You start as a complete rookie – with little in the way of skill points – and must take on and complete a constant barrage of challenges if you’re ever going to make it onto the likes of the Smackdown! or RAW TV shows. These challenges are generally along the lines of using two finishers in a match or helping out your tag-team partner in a singles match by knocking the referee unconscious and then using your finisher on his opponent. In some cases, doing this will cause the game to switch to a cut scene mid-match and show you the results of your actions.
The story mode is driven along well by the cut scenes that not only provide believable (for the WWE, at least) storylines, but also increase the tension for your upcoming match. On top of this, once you’ve completed the story mode by wrestling for say, the Smackdown! brand, you can go back through it and choose to wrestle on RAW to get a whole new story. Add this to the challenging bouts that you have to complete to proceed to the next level and you have a game that provides a good amount of value for money.
If you played Wrestlemania XIX and are dreading creating a character in Day Of Reckoning, then let me put your mind at rest. The create-a-wrestler mode in this new title is right up there at the tippity-top when it comes to options and ease of use. You can even choose to alter the fullness of your created wrestler’s lips and how big their ears should be by using a simple set of sliders. Further items for use in this mode can be purchased in the ShopZone, along with new arenas for exhibition mode.
And talking of exhibition mode, Day Of Reckoning provides you with all the options you’ll need for multiplayer action, with TLC, Hell In A Cell, Ladder and Table matches all making an appearance, alongside such oddities as the Bra & Panties match, where the two female combatants fight it out to see who can keep their overclothing on the longest. An interesting addition, but there is little to crow about when you’ve only got four or five female fighters to play with – no pun intended.
In fact, looking at the roster shows a string of mysterious holes. There’s nothing to be seen of the fabulous Dudley Boys, Hulk Hogan, Lita, Maven, Goldberg, Steve Austin or Brock Lesnar, and only five “Legends” have made it into the game as unlockable characters. You still have forty or so wrestlers to use, but the point is that not many people will choose to be Garrison Cade or Mark Jindrak when they could have just as easily had the Hulkster or Goldberg. You could always create them, though…
Another interesting addition to the gameplay in WWE Day Of Reckoning is the “Momentum Shift”. If you’re getting the tar kicked out of you, an icon will appear above your status box, indicating that you should press A and B together. This will allow you to pull off your momentum shift move, which is generally a move that is big enough to send your opponent reeling, but not big enough to be classed as a finisher. Also, it gets you away from that looming knock out as it fires your character up.
Graphically, I feel that Day Of Reckoning runs a little too fast a times. Wrestlers fly across the ring at the speed of light and when pulling off an Irish Whip on your opponent it is far too easy to completely miss them as they bounce off the ropes and come back across the ring towards you, simply because your move is so difficult to time. Also, there is a fair amount of clipping that occurs and you can end up with bizarre freaks of nature on the mat with three arms and a leg where there really shouldn’t be a leg. Maybe not game-killing problems, but notable nonetheless.
Put shortly, WWE Day Of Reckoning really is the undisputed wrestling champion on the Gamecube. There is still a deal of catching up to do with the Smackdown! series on the PS2, but if you are a wrestling fan that’s tired of waiting for Smackdown! vs. Raw or doesn’t have access to one of Sony’s machines, you should be rushing to the store to find out when your Day Of Reckoning will be.
