Cons: Road To Wrestlemania could use work. Surpassed by THQ's Own WWF No Mercy.
The Bottom Line: The only thing that keeps this game from getting five stars is the fact that WWF No Mercy is out, which improves on WM2K in almost every way.
marty1982's Full Review: WWF: WrestleMania 2000 for Nintendo 64
WWF Wrestling has been a part of my life for many years. I could never forget those Saturday afternoons I would spend with my dad watching such greats as Randy Savage humorously mouthing off at each other and Hulk Hogan showcasing his amazing strength and talent as a wrestler. Even today, with as much as the WWF has changed over those last ten years, the organization has never lost its appeal. The acrobatics of the Hardy Boys, the constantly witty catch phrases of the Rock, and the stereotypical snootiness of Olympic medalist Kurt Angle are only a fraction what make WWF Wrestling so much fun. Unfortunately, however, the sport has been rather hard to emulate as a video game. For quite a while, the only wrestling game really worth playing was Pro Wrestling for the NES. Sure, the fictional wrestlers were pretty cheesy, the crowd consisted of what looked like about thirty or so Kyles (from South Park), and the only option you really had was straightforward wrestling (no tag team nor battle royal matches here). But the game was still both highly addictive and highly challenging. Unfortunately, however, no future wrestling game had ever come close to matching the fun of Pro Wrestling. That is, until THQ released WCW vs. NWO World Tour. The game, while far from perfect, featured everything a wrestling fan could ever want. Tons of options, a strong selection of moves, lots of wrestlers, and an excellent multiplayer mode. Then WCW/NWO Revenge was released a year later and was even better. The game featured even more wrestlers, more moves, and more options than its predecessor. WWF Wrestlemania 2000, of course, only improves on Revenge with even more options, moves, and not to mention the WWF license (thank goodness THQ had the sense to steal it from Acclaim after that company produced the mediocre WWF Warzone and WWF Attitude games).
WWF Wrestlemania 2000 uses the same gameplay system Revenge and World Tour used (lovingly titled the grappling system). You press the A-button to grapple, and press whatever button you like afterwords to perform a body slam, to toss your opponent through the ropes, or anything along those lines. You can also punch and kick your opponent if possible (the computer reverses just about every move you pull off after a while), and perform special moves by simply giving your opponent a strong grapple (hold onto the A button while in a grapple for about one extra second) and then tapping the analog stick. This is far more realistic and effective than the tedious button mashing mess of Acclaim's wrestling games because it is so simple, as it should be in a wrestling game. In a fighting game, those long drawn out combos may work, but in a wrestling game, we want to simply be focusing on the actual wrestling rather than memorizing millions of useless button combinations.
There is quite a selection of options here. You can participate in such WWF Pay Per View events as King of The Ring, Summerslam, Royal Rumble, and of course, Wrestlemania. You can also participate in such matches as single matches, tag team matches, triple threat matches, cage matches (it's a shame you don't see these too much in real WWF wrestling anymore), Royal Rumble, and King Of The Ring. Unfortunately, there are no Handicap, Iron Man, nor Survivor Series matches here (odd since the Survivor Series arena is included here). There's also an excellent create a wrestler mode, which nicely sacrifices outward appearence for what really counts: your wrestler's move system. Of course, I don't think I need to go into too much detail about the multiplayer mode since you probably already know how good it is.
With all these good things I'm saying about this game, you're probably wondering why I gave it only four stars. Well, for two reasons:
1) The Road To Wrestlemania, while pretty good overall, could use some work as far as storyline goes. One of the main reasons we watch WWF wrestling is because of its brilliant wrestler angles and storylines. Well, Road To Wrestlemania mostly just focuses on the actual wrestling matches and keeps storyline to a minimum. And when I say minimum, I really mean it. Any dialogue during wrestler interviews/conversations consists of only about two or three generic lines. Lines that even a third grader would be embarrassed to speak when encountering the school bully. For example, I was playing RTW as The Rock. When I was fighting in a single match against I don't remember who, Chris Jericho (one of the better wrestlers in the WWF as far as taunts and one-liners go) made a run-in and immediately started attacking me. Afterwards, I came to a cut-scene where he walked into the ring (theme music and all) and challenged me to a grudge match. Here was what he had to say, "Don't Be Foolish. Now you have one of two choices: You can either leave here in one piece. Or you can fight me and let me leave you in pieces." Uhhh, that doesn't explain why he attacked me like that, and it isn't even a very good catch phrase to begin with. But it gets better (or worse, depending on how you put it). The Rock (the king of taunts and one-liners) responded with this: "You'd better be more careful about what you ask for." C'mon Rocky! You, one of the most entertaining speakers in the WWF, sound like a parent trying to teach her child that old saying "Be careful what you wish for cause you just might get it." After I beat Jericho to a pulp in that match, he never fought nor challenged me again (so much for a rivalry between the two of us). But sometime later, the Undertaker made a run in during another single match and started attacking me. Afterwards, I came to another cut scene WITH THE EXACT SAME DIALOGUE AS THE ONE WITH CHRIS JERICHO. Seriously, there are no wrestler specific lines, and that one catch phrase doesn't sound like anything the Undertaker would have said at the time (he still had his "most evil man in the WWF" gimmick in this game).
2) The game's follow-up, WWF No Mercy is out (and has been for quite some time). Considering the fact that it has a larger selection of wrestlers, a more recent (though still dated) roster, the ability to fight backstage, and not to mention an actual storyline in its story mode (which is still fairly cheap), there's no reason to pick up WWF Wrestlemania 2000 now unless you must see each wrestler's full entrance (the entrances were clipped short in No Mercy) or you actually cared about such one-timers as Meat and The Blue Meanie.
But when judged on its own merits, WWF Wrestlemania 2000 is an excellent game. Even though it's a little dated, it's still a lot of fun. However, if you never bought it and are looking for a good wrestling game on your N64, I strongly suggest going with WWF No Mercy which features virtually everything Wrestlemania 2000 had, only more.
Over 50 WWF superstars with unique moves, 7 different events, Clear and detailed sound effects and 3D rendered graphics, Original entrances, Create a ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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